Behr at Montebello

[Paul Payne]

I just got back from a trip to LA and I got a few chances to play golf while I was there. Most of our rounds were just squeezing in what we could after work.

One night we played at "The Montebello Country Club" which has a great name for a local muni. I heard it has the unique distiunction of being the most played muni in LA.

As it turns out it is a Max Behr course from around 1928. Though it has the look of a typical muni in many ways you can see some real bones underneath. Some of the bunkering was very good. We jumped around holes but there is a par 5 (I believe number 11) which was a very sturdy risk/reward hole. There was also a par 3 (maybe #16) which looked like is was flown in from "Best of Lake of the Ozarks".

It seemed pretty obvious that the greens had been tamed significantly, probably to speed up play. Between the natural slope of the land, and the mounding around the green complexes the greens themselves were eerily flat. Like still ponds amongst the hills.

I am curious if anyone knows about this course or exactly what changes were made since it was built. I got the sense that this may be a course that was damaged but not beyond repair. Anyone of you know the history of this place?

Cheers

-Paul

[Jon Spaulding]

Paul, when Tommy wakes up, get ready for some rantin'......

Any photos?

[Paul Payne]

No, I wish I had been able to take some of the features that I liked. It was a pretty quick "lets run out and play before it gets dark!" kind of round.

[David Stamm]

http://www.cityofmontebello.com/departments/GOLF/Hole1.htm

[Paul Payne]

David,

Thanks, I had seen this website after we had played there. Unfortunately the descriptions are generally better than the photographs. The pictures look like they were taken by the greenskeepers unemployed cousin.

I did get a chuckle out of their description of #16 as the "signature" hole. Maybe they are right, maybe it's me.

What the photos dont show is that there still are quite a few bunkers that are not just flat splash pans filled with sand.

There is also some slope to many of the fairways like on number one, that can make it tricky keep your ball from dribbling off or into a bunker. The photos just dont capture that. In fact the entire site is situated on a hillside which you would never pick up in these pictures.

Anyway, Thanks, at leat it provides a few visuals.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Paul,
Thanks to the wonderful work of Rainville & Bye, the Montebello Country Club is a shadow of it former self.

[Paul Payne]

Tommy,

I am just curious, are there any signs of what the original course might have been? Did they significantly change the routing?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Paul,
The routing is pretty much the same, but they did flip-flop holes. I'd have to sit down and think about it to tell you exactly which hole was which because visually they have changed that much. (strategies, etc.)

Conditioning wise, the last time I was there it was far better then it had ever been, and this was during the heart of the Tiger Woods/Golf Course boom shortly after the remodel. Suddenly the course had these ridiculous squiggly bunkers and much of the movement had been changed. They added the lake on #10, you know the one with that wonderful artistic rock wall. Beautiful stuff.

I will say this, the par 3 at the entrance, the one with the two greens came out rather interesting. They added some good chunking material in the bunkers and made it look like Montebello probably once looked back in it's original Behr-heyday.

Did you happen to come across Fernando Valenzuela? He plays there like three or four times a week I'm told, and I have seen him there almost every time I have been there. He lives somewhere nearby too.

[Paul Payne]

Thanks for the feedback. No Fernando sighting, that would have been entertaining.

I must have been mistaken because we did skip around a little, twighlight golf you know. I had thought the rock wall hole was #16.

Too bad, I have to assume the strategy for the future will be to get more players out playing affordable golf. this probably won't do anything to inspire a resurrection of the original design.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Paul,

This may have been changed. The rock wall may very well be #16 depending on what they changed since the last time I was there. Something should be said for the fact that I've been there once since the remodel and I can remember more of the old course and the routing then the remodel, despite the fact I hadn't played Montebello several years in between!

Here's what I remember:

[Patrick Kiser]

Tommy,

Thanks for the insight.

Funny to see how all that "water" got added.  Brings soooooo much more to the course.  .... Not.

Those bunkers CAN'T be original.  Right?  They all look the same.  Like gooey worms or something.  Fugly.

So who's going to restore this potential bad boy?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Patrick,
 If Dave Schmidt had his way, it would be Ted Robinson Jr.!

[Patrick Kiser]

Ah!  No doubt in reference to the "The market has spoken: after 50 years and 180 projects..." thread.

I did play Temeku Hills once.  Lovely water falls at the finish.  I guess the ponds on Montebello could use a couple of fountains like that.  Also, Temeku had nice thick and shaggy bermuda.  Great for stopping any runup / bump and run game.  Fluffy landings.  Very retro '70s.

http://www.temekuhills.com/

Patrick,
 If Dave Schmidt had his way, it would be Ted Robinson Jr.!