The Best Golf Courses in the San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley doesn't do glamour golf — it does volume, history, and value, and it does all three better than anywhere else in Los Angeles. The best San Fernando Valley golf courses split into two worlds that barely acknowledge each other: a pair of flood-control basins stuffed with honest municipal golf where half the Valley learned the game, and a handful of gated clubs where old Hollywood went to hide from the studios.
Start with the everyday stuff, because it's genuinely good. The Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area holds three City of Los Angeles munis — Balboa (1954), Encino (1957), and Woodley Lakes (1975) — laid out on floodplain ground that was deliberately designed to go underwater when the dam does its job. Add Hansen Dam, built on the face of another Army Corps flood-control project in Pacoima, and Knollwood rolling through the Granada Hills, and you have the deepest bench of public golf in the city.
Then there's the other Valley. Lakeside, where Bing Crosby won five club championships; El Caballero, a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design fresh off a Rees Jones restoration and now hosting the LPGA; Woodland Hills, a 1925 William P. Bell layout hiding under a century-old forest; and Mulholland Hills, the former Braemar, reborn in 2024 after a $22 million overhaul. Here's the Valley, top to bottom.
Hansen Dam Golf Course — Pacoima
If Valley golf has a people's champion, it's this one. Hansen Dam opened in 1964 on the face of the Army Corps' 1940 flood-control dam, and David W. Kent's layout has two distinct personalities: an open front nine to score on, then a tree-lined, elevation-changing back nine where out-of-bounds left lurks all day. At 6,801 yards with a 72.1 rating and 124 slope it's a legitimate test — enough of one to earn a Golf Digest "Best Places to Play" award — and the long, uphill par-4 18th is as good a finisher as any muni in Los Angeles. Start your Valley golf education here.
Balboa Golf Course — Encino
Balboa is the elder half of the Sepulveda Basin's original 36-hole complex — a 1954 William P. Bell & Sons design renovated by Steve Timm in 2008. It's the tighter, more demanding sibling: narrow, tree-lined fairways that punish anyone who insists on hitting driver. At 6,628 yards with a friendly 70.5 rating and 116 slope, it's the best place in the basin to learn to hit it straight without getting beaten up on the scorecard.
Encino Golf Course — Encino
Across the shared lighted range sits Balboa's big brother. Encino — opened in 1957 as the Sepulveda North Course, another William P. Bell & Son design — is 7,023 yards of wide-open, Bermuda-covered parkland built for the long hitter. The par 3s are brutally long for a muni (the 6th and 15th both play over 220 from the tips), regulars point to the 425-yard 9th as the best hole on the property, and the course has been a Hollywood-local favorite for decades.
Woodley Lakes Golf Course — Van Nuys
Woodley Lakes is the youngest 18 in the entire City of LA portfolio — a 1975 Ray Goates design — and the friendliest: pancake-flat, wide, walkable, with some of the largest greens in the city system and roughly nine acres of namesake water. It stretches to a real 6,816 yards, but the generous corridors make it the best course in the Valley to chase a personal-best score. The all-grass driving range is a genuine LA muni rarity; just call ahead after big storms, because the flood basin occasionally does its actual job.
Knollwood Country Club — Granada Hills
When the basin feels too flat, head north. Knollwood is a daily-fee public course from William F. Bell and William H. Johnson that has rolled through the Granada Hills since 1956. At 6,385 yards, par 72, it gives up little in length, but the scenic elevation changes and a 124 slope keep every round interesting — this is the Valley's public course with actual topography.
Lakeside Golf Club — Burbank (Toluca Lake)
Tucked between Warner Bros. and Universal City, Lakeside is where Hollywood's golden age actually lived: Bing Crosby won the club championship five times, and Bob Hope, W.C. Fields, and Oliver Hardy held court in the card room. The golf deserves the lore — a 1924 Max Behr design of wide fairways and bold greens, restored by Todd Eckenrode's Origins Golf Design, playing to a par 70 with a 245-yard reverse Redan 9th that's the consensus hardest hole on the card. Strictly members and invited guests, and worth saying yes to any invitation.
El Caballero Country Club — Tarzana
Pound for pound the best golf in the San Fernando Valley, and the numbers agree: par 71, 7,019 yards, a 74.6 rating, and a 137 slope. El Caballero is Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s 1957 design, given a $10 million restoration by his son Rees that finished in 2021 — and the LPGA promptly moved the JM Eagle LA Championship here for 2025 and 2026. The name is even older than the club: an earlier El Caballero hosted the 1927 Los Angeles Open on adjacent ground.
Woodland Hills Country Club — Woodland Hills
The west Valley's Golden Age secret. Woodland Hills opened in 1925 as Girard Golf & Country Club, a William P. Bell design threaded through the 120,000 trees developer Victor Girard planted to sell his townsite. It's a compact par 70 of just 6,429 yards, but the 130 slope tells the truth: grabby kikuyu rough, quick Poa annua greens, and the barranca-guarded par-4 17th make placement worth far more than power. Private, and managed by Troon Privé since the membership sold the club in 2020.
Mulholland Hills Country Club — Tarzana
The old Braemar Country Club, reborn. Mulholland Hills is Ted Robinson Sr.'s 1963 layout of 27 holes on the Valley's hilly southern rim, remade in 2024 by a $22 million renovation with World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins redesigning two of the three nines. The rebuilt greens are bentgrass — a genuine Valley rarity — framed by exposed rock outcroppings uncovered during construction. The Trails/Canyon composite plays only 6,119 yards, but a 132 slope and roller-coaster terrain demand precision over power, with panoramic Valley views as the reward.
How to Pick Your Valley Course
Want a tee time this weekend? Hansen Dam is the complete round; in the Sepulveda Basin, pick Encino for length, Balboa for an accuracy tune-up, and Woodley Lakes when you want wide fairways, big greens, and a confidence-building score. Knollwood is the move when you're craving hills.
As for the private side — if an invitation ever comes, take it. Lakeside for the history, El Caballero for the sternest test in the Valley, Woodland Hills for Golden Age charm, and Mulholland Hills to see what $22 million buys. That's the San Fernando Valley: muni golf you can play tomorrow, and club golf worth waiting years for.