La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara

[David Ober]

Playing there this coming Friday with my son after a visit with the UCSB golf coach. What can we look forward to?

[Tom Jefferson]

You are looking forward to beauty all around you!
And, kikuyu fairways and rough,
an old and interesting George Thomas design,
golf holes playing around a small lake, over barrancas,
through oaks trees, around tight corners.

It has been 30 years since I've been there, so the above is from memory, but the memories are good ones!

Sam Randolph Sr. was the professional there for a long time, kind and the consummate club pro....father of Sam Randolph Jr., past U.S. Amateur champion.

Tom

[Aidan Bradley]

David,

The course is always in great shape. The greens are some of the best you will ever play on and each hole is different. Enjoy the day with your son. For a great bite to eat and a healthy adult beverage after the round, check out "The Tee Off", 7 minutes from the course.

Aidan.

[Bill_McBride]

La Cumbre was home to the UCSB golf team when I played there 40+ years ago, sounds like it still is.

The kikuyu infestation is the only real problem at La Cumbre except for changes over the years which irritate the hell out of Geoff Shackleford (also a UCSB golfer before he transferred to Pepperdine), such as the filling in of the barranca in front of current #8, originally #16.

There is an ongoing problem with erosion and landslides behind #8, and a major retaining wall to be built soon.  Old #17, the NLE par 3 which followed original #16, slid down the hill many years ago.

The kikuyu is so velcro-like that it is almost impossible to play any ground game shots at La Cumbre, every shot must be pitched onto the greens, which are very fast and great green surfaces.  They are way past the point of eliminating the pest grass so get used to it.

The course has some terrific holes.  #1 is a straight away 420 from an elevated tee.  #2 goes back to clubhouse with a green almost as far above the fairway as #1 tee, and features a two tier demonic green.  Do NOT be in back if the pin is in front!

#4 is a short dog leg left with a monster tree in the corner.  The best play is away from the tree about 225, that opens up the uphill pitch.

#12 is a stout par 5 cape hole.  #13 is the famous par 3 across the water 220 yards, Redan-ish except for a bunker in the way.  Somehow the club has mucked this up by building an alternate shot par 3 on an island green off to the left.  I don't really understand how anyone could have reasonably done this, given the fame and quality of the original.

#14 is a very solid dog leg left, 425, continuing around the lake which is in play on 12, 13, and 14 counterclockwise.  Uphill midiron approach to a green that sits unbunkered on top of the hill between two large trees.

#18 is an excellent finisher, 410 yards dogleg right, downhill drive, uphill approach.  The clubhouse is quite a ways above the green, but there's a rope tow to assist the hike up.

Have a great day, I am a big fan of LaCumbre and enjoy it very much.

[Forrest Richardson]

The best holes are those along the canyon. If you find a NIKE MOJO with three orange dots in the canyon, it's mine.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Very little left of George Thomas.
Quite a bit of kikuyu.
One of the better conditioned courses in So. Cal.
If you like extremely fast greens and 3 putts, you will love it.
I am sure there are 3 bedroom homes there for less than 4 million, but I haven't seen them.

[Forrest Richardson]

Or 2-bedroom homes for less than $3 million.

[Bill_McBride]

Forrest, when you say "holes along the canyon," are you referring to #7 and #8?  #7 is a pretty simple downhill pitch.  #8 is, in spite of the barranca being filled in, still a testy par 4.  I prefer the holes around the lake.   The nines were originally reversed, so the finish must have been brutal, with #16 the barranca all across the entrance to the green, #17 the short hole over a barranca, and #18 a sturdy par 5 uphill with challenging greenside bunkers and a steeply contoured green.

I continue to like La Cumbre a lot, just wish there were a magic wand to nuke the kikuyu.

As a point of reference, there are several greenskeeping staff out at the Valley Club hand picking kikuyu every day.  I guess it comes off the spikes of golf shoes.  

[Forrest Richardson]

Yes...the finish to the front was, I felt, nice. The lake holes were interesting, too.

[James Bennett]

I continue to like La Cumbre a lot, just wish there were a magic wand to nuke the kikuyu.

As a point of reference, there are several greenskeeping staff out at the Valley Club hand picking kikuyu every day.  I guess it comes off the spikes of golf shoes.  

Bill

Glenelg GC (Adelaide) has been fighting kikuyu since the middle of last century.  Since the 1980's, it looked like they were wasting their time with the battle.  However, over the last decade they are winning.  95% gone in my opinion - some rough areas remain.  Their program has been incorporated in their redevlopment works, recently completed in conjunction with Neil Crafter as architect.  Course Supt Daryl Sellar has done a great job (he is a top golfer as well, and has won the Australian course supt championship on more than one occasion).

And, how does kikuyu get in?  Well it can be golf shoes.  It can also be from bird excretia.  If you have plantings of kikuyu nearby, then bird droppings with seed will be an issue.

A common practice in Adelaide (similar weather to LA) is for members to place small red flags where a small kikuyu outbreak is found.  My club has had perhaps 20 or 30 outbreaks in the last month or so of summer, but none bigger than a footprint.  This method manages the kikuyu before it becomes a problem. It requires constant vigilence.

James B

[Bill_McBride]

James, I think Adelaide's approach to eradication is what The Valley Club has pursued, with success.  Across town at La Cumbre, I think they got past the point of no return and just decided to accept it and practice the aerial game.  If you dug up all the kikuyu at La Cumbre, there wouldn't be much grass left.

Lynn, didn't Riviera have a kikuyu problem too?

[David Ober]

Riviera is almost 100% Kikuya if I remember correctly.

[James Bennett]

Bill

our club is a fraction of 1% kikuyu, hence the 'flag' management program.

Glenelg was perhaps 80% kikuyu, despite their efforts over many years prior to the last decade.  I wish I could give you more details of their success, but it wasn't easy (part of a major rebuild across the course over nearly 10 years) and, despite the doubters (like me), it has returned to couch (bermuda) fairways and soft grass surrounds.  Fescue roughs are also established now (was kikuyu before in may parts).

James B

[DMoriarty]

La Cumbre has kikuya, Valley Club doesnt.  Likewise, Riviera has kikuya, LACC doesnt.  

I read somewhere that kikuya was introduced to the equestrian facilities at what is now Will Roger's State Historic Park during the 1932 Olympics by the Australian Equestrian Team, or rather by their horses.  Will Roger's is very close to Riviera.

I think we should hold James Bennett personally responsible for this travesty.  

[James Bennett]

Dave Moriarty

sounds fine to me.  Most things are apparently my fault (see my tag line below - very appropriate).  I just wish I'd actually been to La Cumbre and Riviera.

And Glenelg suffered the inital kikuyu infestations from around the 1930's as well (according to their course minutes history).  Don't know how severe it was back then.  

LOL

James B

[Michael Robin]

Riviera's fairways are predominantly kikuyu and the rough is a mixture of kikuyu, rye and poa annua.