Resort Golf Challenges in Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

What's The Status Quo?

There is a new trend in golf today and it is found at the resort-style golf course. Such courses are popping up around established private, semi-private and public golf links already notably apparent for years. In comparison to country club golf for the wealthier, semi-private golf for the privileged and public courses which cater more to the beginner or less serious advocates of the sport, the resort-style golf courses have addressed a new market of golf to take the game to the next level.

Some of this has been accomplished through strategic locations in pristine settings, rolling terrains which follow canyon ridge lines, deceptive panoramic views, meandering fairways, shots that required carry over arroyos, barrancas and ravines to avoid disaster, and picturesque layouts on the edge of rivers, lakes and oceans. Along with adding the name of a famous golf course architect like Pete Dye, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nichalaus, Tom Fazio, Billy Casper, to name a few, building-in difficultly factors such as length, fast and angulating putting surfaces, pot bunker fairways, and a variety of elevated tees and elevation changes, the golfer is faced with more challenges, thrills, gratification and disappointment while being given the incentive to perform at their peak.

After playing a variety of the resort-style golf courses the past year, this reporter identifies this new breed of courses by a few other features not usually found in the status quo. For instance, first and foremost, the new competition created by the progression in this facet of the sport has given birth to assertive marketing efforts. Sales, marketing and public relation executives are now prevalent in most resort-style golf operations. Many resort-style courses are now associated or owned by a hotel enterprise.

Numerous celebrity and charity tournaments, as well as professional tour exhibitions are held at such facilities, taking advantage of the appeal and fascination of the courses themselves. Resort-style golf facilities are usually built with several course layouts. Typically two 18-hole courses are the norms, but it is quite common to play at a 27-hole facility, utilizing only two-thirds of its holes for a round.

Four to five levels of tee boxes are provided in comparison to the three levels found at older and more traditional courses, thus ensuring the right comfort level for every player. Resort-style courses thrive on maximizing guest satisfaction, and the most common way known to man is through warm hospitality.

This reporter actually received a Christmas card from Lost Canyons, one of the subjects later to be mentioned in this article. Other features to optimize the overall guest experience are forecaddie programs which provide club selection, yardage, green readings, strategies and tips during the round, in addition to golf instruction for juniors, groups and individuals taught by PGA-certified professionals. An avid golfer with a certain amount of golf etiquette appreciates these new trends. This is especially true since private country clubs offer some of these luxuries and semi-private courses may offer other similar benefits, but none will match-up with all these amenities in one package without the heavy price and commitment found with membership organizations.

Lost Canyons is a one of the newest and most exciting resort-style golf courses to be built. Nestled in the hills of Simi Valley, California, it has opened the 18-hole Sky Course in Fall 2000 with the Shadow Course scheduled to open in Winter 2001. The 7250 yards, rating of 76.1, Slope of 149, Pete Dye Design with special consulting by Fred Couples has already hosted the Playboy Scramble Charity televised on Fox Sports and integrates nostalgia from the long running television show "Little House on the Prairie" which used this same plot of scenic land to film the popular series.

Golfers are reminded of the famous TV show and years past as they play the course with the sights of old, rusty horse and manual-operated farm equipment, as well as dilapidated structures of farms houses and barns held up by weathered wood. Along with memorabilia from the old televisions sets, small creeks with rustic wooden bridges built over narrow secluded bellows are found, in addition to oak trees and natural shrubbery. Simi Valley, which translates into "smoke valley" by the origin settlers, the Chumash Indians, is part of the Santa Susana Mountains. Its natural terrain within the mountain range contains tranquil valleys and dramatic canyons with breathtaking views. Ascending up hills, using everything you own in your bag to reach the green, this course places a premium on accuracy and positioning.

Together these are some of the memories the golfer is "hungover" with for days to come. Lost Canyons has a ranch style clubhouse with a large informal area which is designed to accommodate corporate outings and tournaments. There are plans to build a hotel within a chip shot of the golf course!

The El Cabellero Country Club, Tarzana, California is a 6830-yard private facility closed to public play. It lays hidden in the City of Los Angeles in between the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountain Range.

This reporter had the enviable task of playing a round from the third and farthest back (blue tees) with a rating of 73.2, Slope of 132 to fairly make the before mentioned comparison to Lost Canyons and this story. "El Cab" as members call it was the first non-sectarian membership golf club in the San Fernando Valley to rival other courses in the city such as Hillcrest and Brentwood. It hosts outside charity tournaments sponsored by club members, including weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Built in 1927 with an early 20th Century look and feel to the clubhouse architecture, it was home of the 1927 Los Angeles Open with a grand prize $10,000 prize. Mentioned in the same class as Riviera Country Club which now hosts the annual Los Angeles Open, it was once coined with the phrase, "the best kept secret in Southern California," by the victorious Captain of the U.S. Ryder Team and PGA Pro - Ben Crenshaw. Known for regularly hosting qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open, it has frightened professional and amateur golfers with its slick and angulating greens, momentous changes in elevation, green protecting bunkers and sometimes surprisingly long lengths.

Johnny Miller Jr. (son of the famous Pro golfer and television announcer, Johnny Miller) once five-putted green number 17 to lose his bid to play in the American Classic. El Cabellero was closed in 1951 and the original front nine was removed forever to make room for a new residential home tract in this now-affluent section of the city. The club was reopened in 1957 as an 18-hole facility with about 50 members fronting $1,000 a piece to commence operations. Like many resort-style courses, it provides many panoramic vistas of the San Fernando Valley with silhouette backgrounds above the haze of humanity. Also, it provides the golfer with well-manicured sand in each and every bunker.

Like many of the courses built in rugged canyons and mountainsides, it requires players to maintain a constant awareness of the valley floor below and mountains above to judge distance and control in every stroke. It is a good idea to hire a forecaddie for a round of golf here!

Semi-private courses, like public courses, which usually cater to more rounds of play per year are less pricey and committal than resort-style and private country clubs, but provide many of the rave reviews of its more expensive peers.

For instance, the semi-private golf facility of Highland Falls Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada was built in 1992. This newer-style 6512-yard championship layout has four levels of tees and is moderately priced. It runs occasional shotgun starts twice a day to ensure faster play. It controls the volume of golfers by its policy to allow 20% outside play for the public who do not reside in the Del Webb Residential Senior Community (also known as Sun City) where the course is built. Similar to resort-style golf courses, it has numerous elevation gradients with some of the highest views of the City of Las Vegas, boasting to be as tall as the Stratosphere Tower at its highest point, hole #14.

It too is characterized by angulating and quick greens, rolling fairways, many bunkers and elevated tee boxes throughout the round. Don't be surprised if you are joined with players possessing their own electric and gas golf carts. Golf carts are driven throughout the community to and from all three golf courses of the development (Highland Falls, Palm Valley and Eagle Crest are all managed by the Sun City Summerlin Community Association). Annual membership fees for seniors are approximately $1,000.

The Las Vegas Golf Club of Las Vegas, Nevada, a 6631-yard, rating of 71.8, Slope of 117 is a public golf tract known as the "muni" (for municipal) to many locals. It is a flat stretch of golf bliss, but heavily played throughout the entire year and especially on weekends. Like most older-designed public courses, it has three tee box areas.

Also, this course will be the most economical way to play a round of golf. Although it is not bestowed with the notoriety of many of its newer or more prestigious cousins, it requires accuracy in every shot to avoid penalty while providing the golfer with a very competitive round every time out. Plan extra playtime at this course and nearly all public courses too.

— By Mel Barosay, Jetsetters Magazine Golf Correspondent.