Hiya, everybody -- I couldn't resist saying something about Santa Anita for my first GCA post.
I'm here, by the way, because I ran into Pete Lavalle one day at Rustic Canyon, which is my home course, and he got me to admit that I was one of those dreaded lurkers. It is his contention that you guys are not all that scary. Anyway, thanks to Ran for giving me my posting papers, so to speak. And to Pete, also. We had a very nice time at Rustic. I hit a bunch of good shots (for the first nine, at least), so he is under the impression that I can sort of play.
Anyway -- Santa Anita. That's where I always used to go before Rustic got built. Just a delightful golf course, and one that I could never understand why more people didn't know about. The fun factor is definitely high. The thing that's so great about the place is that unlike the usual low key muni, you are always aware that something is going on -- approaches like to come from certain places better than others; where you are on the fairway is relevant, stuff like that. And often what can happen is that a well placed shot gets you a good view of where you're going, while a bad one will result in blindness or semi-blindness (or just a goofy stance), which is cool.
That comment by Damon is interesting about 17, because I always wondered what that name was about. Actually the finish of the course is one of the great things about it. 16 is a long, tough, generally straightaway par four with a right to left fall away green. Then you get a breather/birdie opportunity on 17, which is about 295 or 300 from the blue tee. But don't go left or you wind up with an uphill pitch over a deep bunker to a very narrow target with a steep bank over the back. But if you play to the right, you get a nice open little shot directly into the green. It's a cool little hole. Finally, 18, which is truly a wonder. It's one of those holes that tends to cause a "what the hell is this thing" type reaction from the tee, because of the crazy fairway contours. The tee shot has some cape-like, bite-off-as-much-as-you-can-chew, characteristics, but as I mentioned before, the penalty for being too aggressive is winding up with a crazy lie at the bottom of a little valley that you can't really see out of. Lots of jumping as high as you can to try to pick out some telephone pole to aim at stuff from down there.
It's a great place. And at whatever the weekday rate is these days, it almost gives the 37 bucks they charge at Rustic during the week a run for best value around. But not quite.
OK, so I'm a homer. Santa Anita's great, though -- I really should go back out there.