The Valley Club of Montecito, updated (complete)

[Mark Bourgeois]

Neil and Rich

The archetype in my mind are his bunkers on Pebble 8, but even after truing up that old photo it seems clear to me:
a) originally this effect existed on the hole;
b) today the effect has been eradicated.

Doesn't today's green look flatter and "benched" into the hillside, plus the bunkers more "fighting" the slope rather than lying on it:


Maybe it's down to the angle of the current photo, or the effect of the trees. But I don't think so!

Mark

[David Stamm]

Bump by request.

[Tyler Kearns]

Mark,

I can't remember who pointed it out, but Doak's 4th at St. Andrews Beach is certainly Dali-esque.

TK

[Mark Bourgeois]

Tyler

That's a par 3 on a hillside, too, isn't it?  Do you have any pics?

Mark

[Sean_A]

Neil and Rich

The archetype in my mind are his bunkers on Pebble 8, but even after truing up that old photo it seems clear to me:
a) originally this effect existed on the hole;
b) today the effect has been eradicated.

Doesn't today's green look flatter and "benched" into the hillside, plus the bunkers more "fighting" the slope rather than lying on it:


Maybe it's down to the angle of the current photo, or the effect of the trees. But I don't think so!

Mark

Mark

Maybe its just the angle, but in the newer photo it looks to me like the land may be slightly lifted to lessen the slope immediately below the right bunkers right where that brown straight line of grass (new drainage laid?) is.  This may also have something to do with the cart path.  Maybe that are was leveled a bit and the fill placed higher to ease the grade (for drainage reasons?) toward the path.

Ciao   

[Tom_Doak]

Sean:

The drainage lines visible in the last picture are just picking up the water from the drains in the bunkers; there wasn't any surface drainage work done below the bunkers in our work.  The grade down by the cart path may have been raised a bit years ago, I don't know.

[Anthony Butler]

A group from New South Wales is visiting the Valley Club with a view towards establishing a reciprocal arrangement. It will be the first US reciprocal for NSWGC.

After looking through David and Jon's wonderful shots and hole by hole descriptions, I'm fervently hoping no-one from NSWGC throws up on the Valley Club carpet or insults the president's wife. 

[Damon Groves]

I went to UCSB and had some family friends that lived in Montecito so drove by the course many times and always wondered about how great a course this was and how I could get on. The photos and aerials are fantastic. Who knows, one of these days I will run into the guy who can get me on.

Given the weather, location in the Santa Barbara, let alone Montecito, this is just an awesome place.

[Anthony Butler]

Thanks for the reply David.
Mackenzie certainly had that ability to select and then communicate with his partners, the end results are testimony to that.

Mackenzie apparently visited the site on which New South Wales is built, then went back to his accommodations at Royal Sydney and sketched a routing with topographical map. When it was referred to during the course building (Mackenzie having long left Australia) it did not vary from the actual terrain by more than three feet. Having what amounted to a photographic memory for land forms might also explain why so many of his courses turned out so well even though he visited the sites less than a handful of times. 

[Andy Troeger]

David,
Thank you for posting--I hadn't had much of a chance to follow this thread until this morning but appreciate the chance to learn about the photos and history of the course. I am supposed to play the course in June and needless to say am very excited!

[Sean_A]

I just went through this tour de force again.  It deserves another look.  Once again David, cheers.

Ciao

[David Stamm]

Thanks, Sean. I've since been back again and it only reinforced by feelings on the course. What a place.

[Scott Warren]

I just wanted to confirm with those who know the club, is the area I have within the red line below an accurate capture of The Valley Club?

It has always confused me trying to work out what was The Valley Club and what was the adjoining club seeing as what seems to be the western parcel of The Valley Club is marked as Birnham Wood. But going by the map David posted, I'm thinking it definitely isn't.

[Kevin Pallier]

Yes Scott - that's pretty much the boundaries of the Valley Club though I think you are one hole out near Forge Road

[David Stamm]

Bump. I thought it might be interesting to see a comparison of the appearance of the bunkers last year compared to Scott's recent visit.

[Bill_McBride]

I just wanted to confirm with those who know the club, is the area I have within the red line below an accurate capture of The Valley Club?

It has always confused me trying to work out what was The Valley Club and what was the adjoining club seeing as what seems to be the western parcel of The Valley Club is marked as Birnham Wood. But going by the map David posted, I'm thinking it definitely isn't.

Birnam Wood is an RTJ (II I think) course on a very small parcel directly adjacent north of the 2nd hole par 5, across a massive hedge that runs the entire length of the left side of #2.

[Jim Eder]

Amazingly excellent photos of a wonderful place!!!  And terrific commentary. Well done!!  Thank you.

[David Davis]

David,


I had not seen this tour. Nice work. I was lucky enough to play there yesterday for the first time. What a wonderful place! I will tell you one thing, I can't get over how green and lush the course is in your photos. I guess that's what the members were talking about. I couldn't believe how wonderfully firm and fast the course was yesterday, is now and how great the contrast is between what your photos show and what you see visually now. the fairways are yellow brown and it's just a wonderful site.


Droughts are of course terrible but Valley Club is one club that has greatly benefitted from the lack of water from the perspective of playability and aesthetics in my opinion.

[Tom_Doak]

David:


The Valley Club is at least one example of a California club being proactive about the water crisis in the state.  They've changed all their fairways from a mixture of grasses to Santa Ana bermuda, which is also used by many Melbourne clubs because it requires the least water of any warm season grass.  And they also let the fairways go dormant in winter now, instead of overseeding.

[RussBaribault]

Great Post