Played 6/28/07 perfect weather. Sadly Trump's touches -- huge marble fountain, fake stone waterfalls on the first green -- detract from the site, as does the environamental preservation of hundreds of acres of "natural" weeds. The course architecture is narrow, lots of forced carries, yet boring. There are no reasonable tees between blue (6200 yeds) and the tips (7200 yds). Greens and bunkers are good, though some of the greens are tricked up with odd undulations. You hit off mats on the practice tee. People are nice. But the general feel is like Trump: gaudy, reaching for a level of class that feels, basically, crass. For an expensive public course that's done well, try Pelican Hill 30 miles south.

I live just around the corner from the Trump National Los Angeles Golf course and can’t help but look out across the course as I drive by each day. Fortunately, the $200.00 weekday and $300.00 weekend prices keep me driving by. I did treat myself to a birthday gift and played the course with five of my buddies. Upon driving into the course you can’t help but notice the effort that was put into the facility to make it a first class location. It took a while, but we were eventually met by the valet who seemed taken by surprise that someone had arrived so early. We treated ourselves to breakfast prior to the round. Our waitress attempted to take all six orders without writing them down. Of course she messed up the orders and we settled for what was delivered. With time to kill, we had hoped to loosen up on the range only to be told that it was closed for maintenance. Maintenance? The lay out of the facility puts the driving range on the far south end of the course. If you want to use the range, you’ll need a cart to get to it. The range is free to paying players and $20.00 a buck for none players. We opted for a few quick puts and hit the course. At 8:00AM, we were the only two groups on the course. Overall, the looks and landscape are great and even breathtaking. Some of the waterfalls and lakes are very Vegas like. The course plays narrow and there is not much room for forgiveness so leave the driver in the bag. If you happen to miss a fairway, there is very little rough that separates the fairway from the shrubs. If you end up in the shrubs, you are forbidden to go into it to retrieve your ball. Overall I was surprised that the ocean did not affect much of your play. Hits in the fairway stay up and did not roll towards the water. The greens also rolled true to your reads and were about average speed. A couple of the greens are almost ridiculous with rollercoaster hills and dips that make no sense at all and make you wonder what they were thinking. The bunkers are as white as snow and are very inviting but do avoid them. Some are incredibly deep and the sand is very heavy to hit out of. If you opt to fork out the 2-3 hundred dollars for a round, play early. By eleven AM the wind off the water kicks up very hard and changes your game completely. Playing in the afternoon wind would be a complete waist of time and money. Overall, I had a good round, but walked away disappointed. I guess I over hyped the course in my head. This course will definitely not be on my regular rotation only because the price does not make it worth it. When ever you bring up Trump National in a conversation, the price is the first response. If I lived in Monterey I could see the reason for milking the tourists, but this is Los Angeles with scores of quality golf courses miles from each other. For half the money, I’ll make the trip down the 405 into Orange County and play courses that are just as nice.

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