[Garland Bayley]

Hole 1

389 375 355

Opening hole has water hazard on the lefty’s slice side. Not a good omen! More experience would show whether shots can run on over the green when landed to the right of the green. The ponds are apparently water from a waste treatment plant given the warnings posted besides them. That of course opens the question of why isn’t the course greener since it has nitrogen rich water on site.

Tee shot



Approach shot



Green



Hole 2

427 398 367

The second hole has a hazard on the righty’s slice side, so all is forgiven, and we can proceed to enjoy the course.

Tee shot



Approach shot



Green view



Hole 3

204 173 160

A redan like par 3 across a ravine. Although the green sits with the proper orientation and fronting bunkers, there is not so much trouble missing long as there is in some of the more famous copies.

Tee shot



Green



Hole 4

370 347 311

This hole is a very nice dog leg along the upper level on the hill. The carts in the picture give a nice indication of how steep the drop off on the left of the fairway is. Bite off as much as you want and risk a blind shot steeply up hill to the green as this lefty slicer failed to negotiate.

Notice the rocky topped hill in the back ground that looks like a turkey's tail feathers extended.

Tee shot



Approach shot



Green



Hole 5

466 446 372

From the tee the hole is clearly laid out in front of you. All you have to do is negotiate the undulating fairway and ensure your accuracy as you get closer to the green where things narrow down.

Tee shot



Second shot



Green



Hole 6

398 352 322

As can been see from the tee, this hole has a bunker guarding the front center of the green. Therefore, a decision must be made whether to go up the center line of instinct or to find a different line of charm.

Tee shot



Approach shot



Green



Hole 7

518 500 474

The seventh brings us back to the region of the course where the ponds are. It is laid out so that trying to reach the green in two would require challenging the pond where in interjects itself into the golf hole. The hole can be played as a three shotter without too many worries about the pond unless you are prone to topping the ball.

Tee shot



2nd shot (remember the mountain in the background of hole 4?)



Green



Hole 8

135 115 97

All carry over a pond. Since it is a relatively short hole and you are hitting from a perfect lie, I find such a carry acceptable, but not ideal. One further note, remember that a well struck wedge can spin back. Oops, didn’t think of that in time. Interest is added by the bunker behind the green which can snare the person taking extra club to safely carry the green.



Hole 9

418 393 370

Once again a carry from a perfect lie.

Tee shot



Green

[Garland Bayley]

Hole 10

500 472 439

A short par 5 with hazards and terrain to test the bomber’s accuracy.

Tee shot



2nd shot



3rd shot



Green



Hole 11

438 417 393

Given a fairway running down to the right towards what must be Dairy Creek, the player must choose his approach wisely. As a lefty with a fade/slice curving away from the creek, I bombed driver and got home with a 9 iron. My right-handed buddy hit 5 iron from the tee, punched a short 7 iron to run down to just in front of the creek crossing in front of the green, and wedged up.

From the tee



Approach shot



Green



Hole 12

372 348 324

A blind drive from the tee that strongly suggests aiming up the left side, because of the slope of the hill heading to the right. After crossing the hill and finding the drives in the right edge of the fairway, we find a green benched against a steep slope right.

Tee shot



Approach shot



Green



Hole lucky 13

164 144 121

A bunkerless par 3 that has a record of many holes-in-one on the hole sign post by the tee.

Tee shot



Green



Hole 14

549 516 481

This is a par 5 with a creek bisecting the hole and running along the right side of the fairway in the drive zone. A very demanding drive if one is attempting to get as close as possible to the creek in order to hit a second shot at the green.

Tee shot



View towards green from stream bridge.



Green



Hole 15

A par 3 across a ravine again with redan like characteristics.

206 180 134

Tee shot


Green



Hole 16

310 281 245

This is a drivable par 4 with the opening to the green blind behind the hill on the right and a visible bunker guarding the left front of the green. As a skyline green misses will be more difficult to recover from than a green in a bowl as his drivable 18th at Olympic is.

Tee shot



Approach view



Green



Hole 17

500 477 452

This is a par 5 dog legging around the beginnings of a ravine. The fairway has several quick down steps that can serve to turbo boost the drive. A well placed drive leaves a shot at a green with little depth guarded on the front by bunkers left and right.

Tee shot



2nd shot



Green



Hole 18

184 169 144

A par three finish that is a bit anticlimactic after a strong sequence of holes 11 through 17.

[Phil McDade]

A previous GCA thread that discussed this course with some folks who'd played it:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,32641.0.html

[RJ_Daley]

Is this near where those "happy cows" of California live?   

[Jeff Doerr]

Thanks Garland. It looks like it would be fun to play, but not the prettiest thing to look at.

[Garland Bayley]

I played the course with a buddy from HS in Montana. After finishing the front nine we agreed that it was a lay-of-the-land type of course that we had played around Montana in our youth. And we agreed it was just plain good fun. Then we played the back nine which stepped it up with memorable hole after memorable hole.

The conditioning may look inadequate from the pictures, but I don't recall any places where there was bare ground in the fairway, tees, or greens. In the rough you might get some bad patches, but that is just the rub-of-the-green.

I think the "average Joe" in San Luis Obispo has it pretty good with this course available to play. In fact he can laugh it up at the above average Hamilton B wasting his money on Hunter Ranch up the road Paso Robles.

[Mike Benham]

Not to be one to judge a course by the photos, the course looks ordinary ... although how it plays might take it up a notch ...

I wonder what the budget was and the expectations of the owners and whether or not Mr. Harbottle design and delivered to that requirement.

[Garland Bayley]

Not to be one to judge a course by the photos, the course looks ordinary ... although how it plays might take it up a notch ...

I wonder what the budget was and the expectations of the owners and whether or not Mr. Harbottle design and delivered to that requirement.

What does ordinary mean? I play a lot of ordinary, which to me means lack of interesting terrain, or in the presence of interesting terrain, failure to use it in any meaningful way.

Pictures tend to flatten things out. For example, the picture of the 4th hole. Without the two carts in the picture it would be impossible to determine how steep and deep the descent to the rough on the left is.

There are lots of greens benched into the hillside where you might wish there was a bunker there to save you. I find that interesting.

[Rob Rigg]

Garland,

This looks like an interesting course - something that you would find in europe (based on the coloring). It is not Augusta, more like a "quilt" look but that is not a bad thing.

From the pictures it would appear that there are ground options into the greens on quite a few holes which is great. Although there are carries, the greens are not heavily bunkered in most circumstances which gives the course a very natural look.

Aside from the cart paths and bridges, it looks like someone just routed a course and opened it for play - which is a good thing.

Is that how it feels when you are playing? Or did Harbottle clearly move some dirt on various holes to make them better?

Strategically - it appears fairly open - is that deceiving or are there truly multiple options on many holes?

[Peter Galea]

 That of course opens the question of why isn’t the course greener since it has nitrogen rich water on site.

From the pictures It looks like kikuya which hasn't come out of dormancy yet.  When were the photos taken?
Nitrogen rich?  Do you know how much N is in the treated wastewater?  What are the greenfees?  How much is in the budget for fairway fertility?  Playability over color any day.

[Garland Bayley]

 That of course opens the question of why isn’t the course greener since it has nitrogen rich water on site.

From the pictures It looks like kikuya which hasn't come out of dormancy yet.  When were the photos taken?
Nitrogen rich?  Do you know how much N is in the treated wastewater?  What are the greenfees?  How much is in the budget for fairway fertility?  Playability over color any day.

The photos were taken April 17, 2009, the day before Richard Choi and I vanquished Bill McBride and Joe Perches at Soule Park at KP.

It is my understanding that sewage treatment water has high nitrogen content. Therefore it has become all the rage to use it on golf courses and public gardens to consume the nitrogen before it re-enters the environment.

As I recall, the green fees were $38.

[Garland Bayley]

Garland,
...
Aside from the cart paths and bridges, it looks like someone just routed a course and opened it for play - which is a good thing.

Is that how it feels when you are playing? Or did Harbottle clearly move some dirt on various holes to make them better?

Strategically - it appears fairly open - is that deceiving or are there truly multiple options on many holes?

The only noticable dirt movement was the benching of greens into hillsides.

Many of the strategic choices were how far to hit the shot. The obvious directional choices are on #6 to account for the green side bunker and #17 to shorted the hole with respect to the dog leg. I would have to play there more to test out the options such as how the redan like greens play, etc.

[Emil Weber]

Does the 1st green slope away or towards the water?

[Garland Bayley]

Does the 1st green slope away or towards the water?

My recollection is that it slopes slightly towards the water.

[Michael Dugger]

I love the look of this course.

Even a tree hugger could probably get down with it.

[Garland Bayley]

This thread was put up on the weekend, just before the shutdown. Therefore, I am bumping it for those that might not have seen it because of the shutdown, and those who look at the site on weekdays.

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