[Jim Nugent]

Where would Wilshire rank on the Doak Scale?

[Robert_Ball]

Where would Wilshire rank on the Doak Scale?

The Confidential Guide lists it as a 5.  Personally, I give it a 6 based on the greens especially the tough 6th hole.

Bob Huntley,
Bel Air now has a range- no more hitting into nets.  Located behind the 17th green.  I think the land is shared with the adjacent school.

[DMoriarty]

Dan,

A few notes on Wilshire's greens.  They are considered the fastest, but I would stop well short of calling them the best in Southern California (TomH, didnt you already give that award to Buena Ventura?)  If I recall correctly, at least some of the greens arent all that interesting, other than the incredible green speeds.

Also, I do not know when you are coming to Los Angeles, but I heard today that the greens have recently been punched and sanded.   If I were you I might consider other options as opposed to playing Wilshire on punched greens.

One good hole I dont think has been mentioned is the short par 4 third, which actually has some similarities to the more well-known 18th.  At least it was good a good hole. I havent played Wilshire since substantial work was done there by Davis Love's people sometime within the past 5 years or so.  

One last point.   I suspect that the technology boom has been especially unkind to Wilshire, which was on the short side before things got so crazy with the equipment.

All that being said, I'd play Wilshire rather than a number of the other Los Angeles private courses commonly considered comparable to Wilshire.  

Good Luck,

David.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Don't nobody diss Wiilshire! I love the place.

While the course has changed dramatically over the years, it still is a kick to play with some of the more quirky golf holes in Southern California. How can one not enjoy the huge mound guarding the right front of #2, or the huge, slanting fairway of the 3rd to a green that is seemingly canted in the opposite direction? The 16th and the 18th are two golf holes screaming for restoration. Both of them have been altered after the Great Flood of 1937, those creek beds were in play, filled with sand and a GREAT many golfer visited them. The 10th isn't even the original 10th hole, but what once existed there looks like something out of Langford & Moreau's chapter on Golf Course Architecture, with left-for-dead bunker shaping (In the form of a moat) looking like it belongs at Lawsonia Links or some Raynor course. (The work beongs to, as far as I know, Jack Croke. A longtime Chicago-area golf pro who was an assistant to George O'Neil.)

There is lots of GREAT Golf Architecture going on at Wilshire. Some really interesting stuff. Bob Spence of Davis Love III Design redid the 11th and while originally, I wasn't too big of a fan of the hole, I actually think the work really isn't all that bad.

What the course needs to do is get rid of some trees to open up  the course (despite how tight it really is.) and recover lots of lost but very interesting Norman MacBeth-designed golf architecture.

Bob,
As far as Bel Air, they actually filled-in the old reservoir and built the driving range on top of it. I also have never have heard they share it with anybody. Why should they?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

David,
Tom in fact did claim that Buenaventura 1924 was the new champ of greens in Southern California, and that was including both public and private if I remember correctly.

Or was it just some "Huckabole" ("hyperbole" in Huck-a-speak)

[David Kelly]

Public or private we all know who has the best greens in SoCal.

[Joe Perches]

Public or private we all know who has the best greens in SoCal.

Could you let me in on the secret please?

[Tom Huckaby]

You got me!
 

I really did enjoy the greens at Buenaventura.  I'd say yes, they may well be the best in SoCal in terms of pure fun to play into and putt on.  Most of them are just so wild, weird, wildly contoured... I had a blast playing them.  So sure it is hyperbole, but what the hell.

What I said yesterday re Wilshire referred purely to CONDITION.  I guess I ought to have clarified that.  Wilshire's greens are no marvels of contour or genius or anything, but damn they are the smoothest fastest most perfect I've seen.  If someone wants perfect fast putting surfaces, they would be wise to seek out Wilshire.

Joe - I'd have to assume David is referring to Rustic Canyon.  Good lord that course has pretty damn great greens as well.  Who knows?  They could be the champs also.

TH

[Tom Huckaby]

Reading back a bit, as usual Mr. Huntley sums things up perfectly in terms of the memberships.  In terms of what course to play as a visitor, well...

I'd call Wilshire a Doak 6 for sure, verging on a 7.  5 is way too harsh - Doak must have been in a bad mood when he saw it.

 

[Evan_Green]

As far as Bel Air, they actually filled-in the old reservoir and built the driving range on top of it. I also have never have heard they share it with anybody. Why should they?

The last time I was there, I used the driving range in the morning before playing. Once we got to the 16th or 17th hole(?) I was dumbfounded to see that there were 12 year old girls playing soccer on the driving range. I was told letting the school use the range for sports was part of the deal for having the range

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