Bixby Village Golf Course

Signature Setup

Bixby Village is a Ron Fream design that opened in 1980, tucked between the San Gabriel River and the Long Beach Marina at 6180 Bixby Village Drive. It is a 9-hole executive layout — par 30, 1,795 yards from the championship tees, 1,671 from the back regulation, and 1,521 up front — and most players loop it twice for an 18-hole par of 60. The card carries a 57.5 rating and an 87 slope. Six of the nine are par-3s; the par-4s sit at holes 3, 4, and 8. It will not test your driver much, but the wind off the Pacific gives it more teeth than the yardage suggests.

Hole-by-Hole Wind & Playing Lines

This is a coastal course barely a mile inland, so afternoon play means a SW onshore breeze, usually building after noon.

• Hole 8 (322y par-4) — the longest hole and the one that decides your round. In the morning calm it is a driver and a short wedge. By mid-afternoon, into the SW sea breeze, the second shot stretches a full club-and-a-half — driver plus an 8-iron. Favor the right side off the tee to keep your approach angle open.
• Hole 7 (184y par-3) — the card's longest one-shotter, and dead into the prevailing afternoon wind. That 184 yards plays closer to 205. I take one extra club here every time the flags are standing out and accept the front of the green.
• Hole 3 (290y par-4) — short enough that aggressive players eye the green, but the onshore breeze quarters left-to-right; a stock drive drifts into trouble. Lay back to a full wedge number instead of flirting with the corner.

Green & Fairway Characteristics

The fairways are the SoCal kikuyu you would expect — grabby in the rough, sitting the ball up cleanly when mown. Greens are small and run firmer than the 87 slope implies, especially once the marine layer burns off and they dry through the afternoon. Distances are short and varied: the par-3s range from a flip-wedge 99-yarder at Hole 6 and a 105-yard 9th up to the 184-yard 7th, so club selection swings five or six clubs across nine holes. The two opening par-3s (136 and 113 yards) ease you in before the par-4 stretch at 3 and 4 (290 and 274 yards).

Seasonal Weather Pattern

Long Beach's coastal microclimate runs mild and narrow year-round. May and June bring the "June Gloom" marine layer — overcast mornings around 60°F that often don't clear until late morning, which keeps the greens receptive. October, when I most like to play short coastal tracks, gives 58–62°F starts under clear skies with the sea breeze holding off until early afternoon. Summer afternoons rarely top the low 80s here, but the onshore wind is most reliable July–September. I haven't played it in a Santa Ana off-event, when the wind reverses offshore and the par-3s would play downwind — that pattern is rare on this stretch of coast.

Local Play Tips

The course markets itself as a place to learn and to walk, and the smartest local move is treating the two loops differently: play the front nine soft in the morning marine layer, then re-loop knowing exactly how much extra the afternoon breeze is eating on 7 and 8. Walking is easy here — flat ground between the river and the marina — so this is a genuine pre-work or twilight round, not a four-hour commitment.

Pre-Round Weather Workflow

Before you book, pull the 7-day G-Score for Long Beach and read it against this layout. Two numbers matter most:

1. Wind timing — if the onshore SW breeze is forecast to fill in before 11 a.m., move your tee time earlier; the windExposure rating on Holes 7 and 8 jumps once it does.
2. Marine layer / cloud cover — overcast mornings mean softer greens and shorter carries you can hold; clear, dry afternoons firm them up.

Check the G-Score the morning of, tee off before 9 a.m. when you can, and you will catch this course at its most forgiving — soft greens, calm air, and the full par-3 variety before the Pacific wakes up.