[Peter Ferlicca]

San Gabriel is a great little country club in East LA.  I am not positive on all the designers who have worked here, but Norman MacBeth did a full 18 hole course in 1912, from the original 9 hole course with sand greens.  Then Willie Watson came in and did grass greens in 1920.  Then improvements were made to the course by Billy Bell in 1930, Robert Trent Jones in 1967, and then Robert Trent Jones Jr. in 1997.  It is a very tight knit course on small acreage; I would take a gander that this course is on a smaller property then Kingston Heath.  The routing is great, and about the easiest course to walk you could imagine.  This would be a fantastic club to be a member at if you like walking.  Unfortunately I played on a Monday (Maintenance Day) so they put a real thick layer of topdressing on the greens, so the pictures will look a little weird.  This is one course where I would say that chopping down trees would make it dangerous.  It has an extremely claustrophobic look on the tee, but if you miss at all you are in the other fairway.  Balls would be going all over the place if you chopped down the trees.


Hole 1 Par 4 (289 yds) A fun little opening hole





Hole 2 Par 5 (525 yards)  An attractive tee shot that bends to the left





Hole 3 Par 4 (381 yards)



Hole 4 Par 5 (524 yrds)  A super tight tee shot




Hole 5 Par 3 (195 yards)



Hole 6 Par 4 (356 yards)




Hole 7 Par 4 (443 Yards)  A tough dogleg right, you have to hit a slice off the tee






Hole 8 Par 4 (403 yards) the driving zone is even smaller with the bunker on the left pinching in



Hole 9 Par 3 (183 yards)


Hole 10 Par 4 (439 yards)





Hole 11 Par 3 (169 yards)



Hole 12 Par 4 (355 yards)



Hole 13 Par 5 (488 yards)





Hole 14 Par 3 (195 yards)



Hole 15 Par 4 (329 yards)



Hole 16 Par 4 (426 yards)  A big dogleg left



Hole 17 Par 4 (452 yards) It doesn't even look like you have anywhere to hit your tee shot



Hole 18 Par 4 (395 yards)  The famous tee shot that hits over the road, you better get the tee shot up or you go right into the fence.

[Phil McDade]

Great thread! Love the bunkering look. #s 10 and 15 look especially interesting, with the direction and the flow of the fairways relative to the green position and bunker placement.

[jonathan_becker]

Nice photos, Peter.

What the deal with the dividing lines between the tee boxes and the rough?

That's something I've never seen.

[Jason Topp]

On that last hole it looks like the forward tees are more difficult than the back tees. 

[Jeff_Mingay]

Wow. Very interesting.

The tee shot at the 18th reminds me of Scarboro, near Toronto, where you also hit over a busy road from the tee at the last. The 18th tee at Scarboro is much more elevated though; so, you actually hit "over" the road rather than "into" vehicles (or so it appears, at San Gabriel!).

Which road is this running through San Gabriel CC?

[Ryan DeMay]

Nice photos, Peter.

What the deal with the dividing lines between the tee boxes and the rough?

That's something I've never seen.

Jonathan,

More than likely it keeps the variety of grass on the tee surface from encroaching into the rough and vice versa.  They will probably use a machine of some type to edge those paver thresholds around the tee box. 

Here is a good look at a similar situation that faces one of our own GCA members, Tony Nysse at Pine Tree Golf Club.  Tony wrote a great blog post to further explain the situation they face.

http://pinetreegm.blogspot.com/2009/12/pine-tree-is-very-unique-in-fact-that.html

[jonathan_becker]

Ryan,

Thanks for the info.

A guy in my office just said the same thing in your answer.  It makes sense.

[David Stamm]

San Gabreil sits on a T-shaped property that's indeed tight. It's actually a neat little spot. I believe Harbottle has done the latest work there.

[Nick Asbrock]

This course reminds me of Lakeside cc in Burbank. How close are the two properties to each other in location and design?

[Jon Spaulding]

Nice photos Peter; looks like a weak version of Red Hill, or a strong version of San Jose CC. The bunkering looks to be on the extremities of the playing corridors, the greens very small. The greenside bunkering looks alright, but seems to have "moved" away from the greens, which is very common with Bell courses.

You might revise your opening comment regarding "East LA". The residents of San Marino are likely working on legal proceedings against you as we speak......this would be comparable to saying that the Wonderdog's beloved club is located in the Castro. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

Nick, contact the Emporer should you be interested Lakeside or San Gabriel's design heritage. They both deserve far more attention than they'll get on this site, especially the former.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Played it once, and it works on a small peculiar piece of property.  Love the square tee boxes and the fact that only a few seem built up.

East Los Angeles?

[Peter Ferlicca]

Played it once, and it works on a small peculiar piece of property.  Love the square tee boxes and the fact that only a few seem built up.

East Los Angeles?

I live in Palm Desert, so I am not too familiar with the lingo in LA, but San Gabriel is 20 minutes east of Los Angeles.  So wouldn't it be considered East LA.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

San Gabriel is considered to be in the San Gabriel Valley, near "the foothills."  It could be said that it is east of Los Angeles, but never East Los Angeles.  East Los Angeles is Boyle Heights, not exactly a place suitable for golf, more like target range practice.

[Wayne Freeman]

Somebody help me here, but does the first hole at San Gabriel look exactly like the first at Fenway? Distance is just about exact I think.

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