Celebrating Triumphs at Encino Golf Course

The arrival of 120 new golf carts at the Encino Municipal Golf Course coincided Thursday with a celebration of the course's recovery from the March floods.

The new electric carts were needed to replace the facility's small, aging fleet.

Encino-Balboa golf course manager Robert Cavanaugh said the facility had had a short supply of carts for more than six months and players were not happy.

“We’re going to offer a discount starting in July of $5 off carts, which is a special incentive to get the people back that, unfortunately, we didn’t help while we didn’t have enough carts,” he said.

Normally, the rental fee for a cart at Encino-Balboa golf course is $24 for a double-rider cart and $16 for a single-rider cart. Starting July 1, it will only cost $19 for a double-rider and $11 for a single for two weeks.

Also Thursday, city workers were honored for helping restore the golf course after it was flooded in March. The course was inundated when the Los Angeles River overflowed its banks during heavy rainfall.

“Several holes were severely damaged,” Cavanaugh said. “We brought in crews from outside of golf in the forestry department and from park maintenance. They came in and scraped up all the mud off the greens, they cleared the fairways, cleared all the debris, did an immense amount of work over a monthlong period.”

About 40 people were honored in the banquet room at the Encino course with an award certificate in recognition of their work.

“It’s nice to be appreciated for your hard work because it’s above and beyond what the normal job entails,” Cavanaugh said. “There were some areas where there was six feet of debris, so it was pretty substantial.”

For more information about the Encino Municipal Golf Course, call 818-995-1170 or visit golf.​lacity.​org/​cdp_encino.​htm.