The Best 18 Holes in
Orange County
A few years ago, OC Metro published its favorite 18
Orange County public holes, as experienced by writer
Patrick Mott.
Since that time, new courses have sprouted, built with
imagination. Here is the challenge to the new playing
courses: Can you match this?
The answer may be yes, after a few thousand more rounds
create a buzz about what constitutes a great hole. (Mott's
definition for the following
"I chose these holes because they make me happy.")
True, many great holes have been left out, and should we
get enough calls about what we missed, we might revisit this
list at some point, and certainly that will happen when the
new courses mature into tales of which holes are can't miss
challenges.
Note that the yardages are from white, or regular, tees.
No. 1
Green River Golf Club
(Riverside Course)
1st hole, par-4, 362 yards
The elevated tee, which is way, way up in the air, overlooks
a fine expanse of tree-lined fairway marked on the left by a
very tall tree about 250 yards out. Stay to the right of this
tree and you'll have a clear shot straight onto the green.
With luck, that shot can be a short one. The prevailing
winds, which often howl through the canyon, are at your
back. Really slug it out and you can be John Daly for a day.
No. 2
Cypress Golf Club
18th hole, par-4, 403 yards
This is called "the thinking man's golf course," and this hole
ought to get you thinking about that decent score you're
about to ruin.
A startlingly beautiful hole, this requires the golfer to drive
over one lake on his first shot and around the edge of
another on his second. Short shots in either case will end up
in Davy Jones' locker.
Cypress was designed by Perry Dye, son of Pete, who built
his reputation by designing courses that make pros wake up
screaming in the night.
No. 3
Tijeras Creek Golf Club
14th hole, par-3, 142 yards
A real Southern California hole. You hit from a raised tee
through a heavily wooded gap down into a hollow where
the green is beautifully framed in low trees and brush. There
are bunkers to the left, right and back of the green. Hit the
green and feel all warm and cozy in the wooded embrace of
the trees. Miss and your ball will go where no ball has gone
before.
No. 4
Tustin Ranch Golf Club
9th hole, par-5, 487 yards
Nothing fancy, just a pretty walk to the clubhouse and a
chance to drown in yet another lake.
This hole is fairly accommodating through the gently
undulating fairway and not much trouble appears until the
lake in front of the palm-framed green. If you're a big hitter,
you can be tempted to get home in two.
Resist the urge.
No. 5
Willowick Golf Course
16th hole, par-4, 286 yards
What is doughty little Willowick doing on this list?
It's my home track, it's mature and well-tended for a
municipal course, I enjoy playing it, and No. 16 ought to be
subtitled, "Hope of the Hopeless."
Try this:
Pull a lofted wood -- maybe a 4 -- and try to bend the ball
around the trees. It effectively reduces the yardage to about
230. Do it right and the ball will roll between the two traps
guarding the green and you'll be putting for eagle.
No. 6
Green River Golf Club
(Riverside Course)
14th hole, par-4, 350 yards
This spiffy little hole has the actual heavily wooded Green
River running along its right side for the length of the
fairway, and a stand of fairly tangled trees guarding the left
side. The approach shot to the tiny green over the river is
tricky, particularly when the Santa Anas are up.
No. 7
San Clemente Golf Course
15th hole, par-3, 172 yards
This muni course has a handful of forbidding holes, and this
is one of the most dramatic. Set on a high plateau with a
commanding view of the ocean and the surrounding hills, the
tee shot is all carry over a yawning gully. Anything short of
near-perfection rolls several miles down to where old
Titleists are tortured for all eternity.
No. 8
Monarch Beach Golf Links
16th hole, par-5, 517 yards
They call this one the double cross, although you might refer
to it as "the mugger" after trying to attack it. It involves
hitting your tee shot across a very pretty, heavily wooded
creek and then hitting across the creek a second time on
your appraoch.
Is the fairway tight? In a swing, yes.
No. 9
Cypress Golf Club
13th hole, par-4, 322 yards
Faily short, but fairly deadly. Not one, but two hazards lie
directly in front of your tee shot -- a long skinny bunker and
a really long and skinny lake that runs the length of the
fairway and even the length of the green down the left side.
No. 10
Tijeras Creek Golf Club
17th hole, par-4, 376 yards
Hit your tee shot from a little hill with scrub on the right and
left, past a gathering bunker on the left of the fairway,
around the dogleg left and into the clear, if you can.
This will set up an approach that must clear a walled creek
that runs in front of the elevated green.
No. 11
Monarch Beach Golf Links
12th hole, par-4, 293 yards
One of the most beautiful golf holes in the county is also at
the edge of the ocean. You'll be tempted to cut the dogleg,
avoiding the part of the fairway that runs from an elevated
tee down to the edge of the sand. But be warned that there
are four bunkers on the left, two of which you can't see
from the tee. They would be happy to eat up your shot.
No. 12
Pelican Hill Golf Club
(Ocean Course)
12th hole, par-3, 174 yards
This is the Ocean Course's signature hole, called Pelican's
Nest, and it's part Walt Disney, part Stephen King.
You'll be hitting over a thick stand of coastal brush,
followed closely by an immense bunker that runs the length
of the fairway on the left. A second bunker on the right
squats to gather in slices.
Situated right on the beach, this hole also is surrounded by
picturesque-looking sandstone rock outcroppings that
frame the green gorgeously and make you believe that this
must have been the perfect place to build such a hole. And
it is. But hit it straight, beat the wind, die happy.
No. 13
Anaheim Hills Country Club
12th hole, par-5, 497 yards
Pure, exquisite torture. Remember the anthill hole at the
miniature golf course? This is worse. You'll love it.
Your first shot is slightly uphill toward a directional flag
placed in the center of the fairway. If the shot rolls too long,
however, it can skid past the flag, down a slope and into a
lake.
The second and third shots are up a steep hill to a postage
stamp green only 18 yards wide that is invisible from the
bottom of the hill. The elevation from tee to green is 250
feet.
No. 14
Fullerton Golf Course
17th hole, par-4, 294 yards
OK, you've suffered enough. Time for a bit of comic relief.
Fullerton is a scruffy but amiable little track, and this hole
is
the most amiable of all, though you might curse it before you
see it all. It's downhill, and notice the little round pond
plunked down artfully right in front of the green.
No. 15
Tustin Ranch Golf Club
11th hole, par-3, 133 yards
Tustin Ranch's signature hole, a Robert Trent Jones Jr.
creation, is all carry over a lovely lake with a fountain in
the
center to a green that is diabolically tricked up by a pair of
waterfalls bracketing it. The green also is two-tiered,
making precise shot-making imperative depending on the
pin placement.
No. 16
Tustin Ranch Golf Club
14th hole, par-4, 339 yards
Looks short on the card, plays longer in real life. Like many
holes on this course, this fairway undulates like crazy, and
it's difficult to find a flat lie, even after a good tee shot.
The
fairway is on the thin side, bunkers are strategically placed,
and the green is two-tiered.
No. 17
Pelican Hill Golf Club
(Links Course)
17th hole, par-5, 506 yards
Designer Tom Fazio decided to call this one Gut Check.
Yep. You can get home in 2 -- I saw a pro do it once --
but why rush this ex-perience? This is one of the most
breathtaking golf holes anywhere, with its masterful view of
the ocean and the gentle rolling of the fairways and the
wonderful single tree guarding the left side of the green.
The bad part:
To get to that marvelous green, you have to skirt your way
around gathering bunkers and a lake on the right and, for
the big hitters off the tee, a canyon on the right. Bunkers
and a steep slope on the right of the green make your
ap-proach shot an Alka-Seltzer moment, but the reward is
to stand on the green and marvel at the view, all the way
back to Huntington Beach.
This hole is why people play golf.
No. 18
Pelican Hill Golf Club
(Ocean Course)
18th hole, par-4, 395 yards
One of the best finishing holes I've ever played. First
reaction: "The card's wrong. This is a par-5 and it's about
1,000 yards long."
Well, no. But it does look that way from the tee. Your tee
shot must cross a wide canyon to make it to the sloping
fairway opposite, which is bunkered. And your second shot
to the green must cross the same canyon a second time. If
you're long off the tee, you may think you can shave some
distance by cutting the dogleg. Don't even think about it.
Take your par and go quietly. Or maybe a bogey.
Score well here and all's well that ends well. |
