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PThomas

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Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« on: January 24, 2009, 09:53:43 PM »
a friend played there rcently and thinks it is a top 100 course...do others who have played it agree?
199 played, only Augusta National left to play!

Mike_Cirba

Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2009, 10:01:57 PM »
Paul,

That's the rumor I heard, as well.   

I wonder if we have the same friend.  ;)

Anthony Fowler

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2009, 10:20:20 PM »
Without having played enough courses to know for certain, I have a theory about the top 100 courses in the U.S.  There are probably 50-60 courses in the US that definitely deserve to be in the top 100.  Then there are another ~150 courses that could potentially fill those last 40-50 spots.  I also think that it's very difficult to discern between these 150 courses, because it is simply a matter of taste and preference.  IMO, RSFGC definitely falls into that second category.  I like the course, but I don't love it enough to say that I'm confident it's a top 100 U.S. 

I have played enough courses in San Diego to state my opinion that it is 3rd best in the county behind Torrey South and San Diego CC.

Maybe Max Schechter will chime in here . . . ?   

Bob_Huntley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2009, 11:47:26 PM »
A wonderful course with the best weather in California.

An old friend of mine, Dick Chapman, had a house on the course and we played there with Lee Trevino, before the tourney that was held at La Costa back in the late sixties and early seventies.

I am not sure about the the top 100 but it is a place I could return to, without question.

Bob

David Stamm

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2009, 11:57:19 PM »
It's a very neat place and I always enjoy my visits there, but it's not a top 100 golf course. It's ahead of Torrey South, but behind Barona Creek and possibly Pauma Valley. An attempt to re-incorporate the creek on the front side, removing the god awful exterior mounding and restoring the 13th to the way it was intended would go a long way, but I'm not sure it would vault into any top 100 lists. There are alot of courses that RSFGC would have to leapfrog in California to pull that off and I just don't see that happening. I can think of at least 20-25 courses in California right off the top of my head that are ahead of it.
"The object of golf architecture is to give an intelligent purpose to the striking of a golf ball."- Max Behr

Max Schechter

Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2009, 02:18:13 AM »
I'd be happy to give my completely biased and unobjective opinion here. I have played at RSFGC for coming up on ten years now and developed my love for every aspect of the game -- the competition, the practice, the friends, the spirit -- during my time there. I've wondered what it'd be like to wipe the slate clean and look at it from behind a Rawlsian veil of ignorance, but it's tough for me to do so.

There is a lot to like about RSFGC. It is a more subtle course (especially compared to those in the area) that allows you to play the recovery shot and challenges you with awkward lies and deceptive greens. The wonderful movement in the fairways, arguably one of the few remaining touches of Behr, has been discussed in these halls before as one of the course's strengths. It is the walking golfer's paradise and from a playability sense, it is not a very penal golf course, making for low stress rounds and generally a good pace of play.

Any discussion of RSFGC will ultimately turn to the renovations of the course completed in '02 and the new clubhouse just constructed in '08.  As Mr. Stamm mentioned, a lot of mounding was added throughout the course, pretty much all the bunkers were reshaped and the grass changed. While these changes are unwelcome to some, the conditioning has been tremendous since it reopened as a result of some tree removal, new drainage and an overall rededication on the part of the club. Some would say this is another example of "keeping up with the Joneses," but as a person who plays there often, it is great to play on a more consistent, firmer, drier golf course.

All biases aside, would I call it a top 100 course? If I'm honest, it probably is not. The routing could use a bit more variety. There are only two holes on the course that move right to left (#16, #18) with everything else either a dogleg right or dead straight. There also is not much variation in the wind direction, with the first four and last five holes typically playing downhind and the middle nine holes playing into the wind. Given how rare anything but an onshore breeze is, holes tend to play the same most days.

That being said, any day at RSFGC is an enjoyable one and I have never had a guest leave disappointed by the course or the experience. The participants in the '06 US Junior Am raved over the course and the word from the staff is that the USGA was thrilled with how the course set up for the championship.

It may not be in the top 100 but it is definitely a course that most would be happy to play for a long time to come. I know I won't be tiring of it any time soon.

Tom Huckaby

Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2009, 10:36:23 AM »
RSF is indeed one fine golf course... methinks Max summed it up perfectly, as have all others here.  Top 100?  Who knows... probably not.  But a great course well worth seeking out if one possibly can?  Absolutely.

You know what words is screaming out to be used about RSF?

Charming.

TH

Peter Ferlicca

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2009, 10:51:57 AM »
My good friend is a member there and just absolutely loves the place.  He works in New Jersey now at a golf club, and still gets excited about coming home to play RSFGC.  Max, is right ever since the changes the conditions are much better, and provide a firmer playing surface.  This is one of the best walks in SoCal, Torrey you have the ocean, but playing here walking through the giant eucalyptus trees with a cool ocean breeze is just perfect.  Hole number 4, a par 5 that is over 600 yards, goes slightly to the right over a hill is a fantastic hole.  The short game practice facility is one of the best I have seen too.  It has all kinds of bunkers shots to practice, even a replica of a pot bunker from UK courses.  I wouldn't say it is a Top 100 course either, but the ambience of the place is very high, and CHARMING.  USC product Jamie Lovemark is a member here and practices out of this club.  It is a very nice change of style compared to all the other ritzy clubs in Rancho Santa Fe.

Will E

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2009, 11:49:27 AM »
Deruntz knows this course as well as anyone and I'd think he'd agree with me that if restored to Behr's vision it would certainly be a top course.

As is, no way would it make the list, though worth playing mainly to see what could be.

Hopefully he'll post some pictures to explain what's gone on.

Max Schechter

Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it?
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2009, 01:04:10 PM »
Charming is a great way to describe RSFGC.

Wellender, you say "Behr's vision." Could you, your friend or anyone else here elaborate on what exactly this means? My sense is that maybe some of the mounding would be taken out and maybe see a bit more scruff around the bunkers. I wonder what else would he have wanted?

I'm afraid that one of my claims to fame in the world of golf will end up being that I took down Lovemark in a few junior club championships when we were 14 or 15. I'd say he has gotten a bit better since then.


Jon Spaulding

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Rancho Santa Fe GC - how good is it? New
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2009, 02:20:20 PM »
a friend played there rcently and thinks it is a top 100 course...do others who have played it agree?

With the recent changes, I would concur with top 100 in the state 8). Any other lists....no way.

The recent "improvements" to the course are an abortion. Max Behr is vomiting in his grave over the Mac-Bunkering look, the mounding.....and the 13th, which would be a shitty hole on a Ted Robinson course.

In spite of this, it's still a good golf course. Well routed over a pre-defined space in the middle of the covenant. Many of the natural contours are large in scale, were embraced in the original routing, and are still in play.

The challenge a club like this faces...is the self-realization that work just completed was a waste and needs to be undone.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2009, 05:39:21 PM by Jon Spaulding »
You'd make a fine little helper. What's your name?

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