Unless you belong to a country club, golfing in LA is expensive and frustrating. Fortunately, there's a nice course for the rest of us—and it's cheap. All you have to do it snake up the back roads of the Veterans Administration complex.

Rounds of golf in LA tend to be long and slow—and when they're not, they're expensive, if not exclusive. But tucked away in the back of the VA in Brentwood is a course that's more than half a century old and not on any map. And newbies can walk up without any equipment and play its nine challenging, neatly kept holes without having to add a suffix onto their last time or take a second mortgage out on their home. Originally built to help rehab WWII vets, the VA course was opened to the public in 1995 and is maintained by volunteer veterans, many of whom set the laid-back tone for each round from what is probably America's only Quonset hut pro shop. Once inside the VA facility turn left on Dewey, left on Pershing and then make a right on MacArthur. Follow MacArtchur up the hill and there will be a sign for the golf course. Then, yell out "Fore!"