The magic of Riviera (pics)

[Tim_Weiman]

Lynn,

I share your view. The bunker work on #10 looks awful.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Lynn,

More important, how did you hold Elvin Hayes to 10 points in that diamond-and-one defensive set back in 1968, during the NCAA tournament? 

Seriously. Awesome 

Pretty simple really.  About 10 minutes into the game he had made one shot(I thought the coaches were coming onto the floor to hit me).  At that point he quit.  When they lined up for free throws there were all yelling at each other.  I had never heard anything like it.  He couldn't score underneath because of Kareem.  Usually with that beautiful jumper he would go outside and the other team's big man would not follow.  This is how they beat Wes Unseld's Louisville two years in a row in the regionals.  We knew he had to be contested outside.  With a decent defensive player needed in each diamond corner, I was left over and they knew I would take the task seriously.  If it didn't work we had another good defensive player, Ken Heitz, who was up to the task.  Fortunately with their feeble zone I was scoring at the other end and got to stay in for some decent minutes until we went up by about 40.  Then it was time to start resting and prepping for the next night's championship game against the Tar Heels.
Thanks for bringing up some basketball lore.

[JR Potts]

The conditioning looks great.  Maybe some on here should send out emails hailing it.

When was the bunker work done?

[Steve Kline]

And here I thought Geoff was the famous Shackelford. Of course, I'm too young to know much about UCLA basketball. Cool stuff.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Thanks Lynn!

[Bill_McBride]

Lynn,

More important, how did you hold Elvin Hayes to 10 points in that diamond-and-one defensive set back in 1968, during the NCAA tournament? 

Seriously. Awesome 

Pretty simple really.  About 10 minutes into the game he had made one shot(I thought the coaches were coming onto the floor to hit me).  At that point he quit.  When they lined up for free throws there were all yelling at each other.  I had never heard anything like it.  He couldn't score underneath because of Kareem.  Usually with that beautiful jumper he would go outside and the other team's big man would not follow.  This is how they beat Wes Unseld's Louisville two years in a row in the regionals.  We knew he had to be contested outside.  With a decent defensive player needed in each diamond corner, I was left over and they knew I would take the task seriously.  If it didn't work we had another good defensive player, Ken Heitz, who was up to the task.  Fortunately with their feeble zone I was scoring at the other end and got to stay in for some decent minutes until we went up by about 40.  Then it was time to start resting and prepping for the next night's championship game against the Tar Heels.
Thanks for bringing up some basketball lore.

That was a great game.  I always thought UCLA's defense won all those games, starting with the full court press with the small early teams.

Jeff, how did you learn about basketball in Canada?     Aren't you guys playing hockyt and curling in the winter?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Bill,

I like hockey much better than basketball these days  But, my family has basketball history.

My dad, bro. and I were "All City" caliber players here, in Windsor, Ont. My younger bro. - who's also three times club champ. at Essex G&CC - was on the Canadian junior national team, coached by Jay Triano (Toronto Raptors head coach, now). And, my dad played in back-to-back Canadian national championship games, during the early 1970s, with the Univ. of Windsor.

Years ago, when I bought my first Geoff Shackelford book, my dad almost immediately asked: "That's not Lynn Shackelford's son, is it?" When I found out it was, my dad filled me in on Lynn's UCLA greatness. Pretty cool.

I've teased Geoff that my dad and I should head to LA to challenge the Shackelford's at basketball (2-on-2) and golf (Riviera or Rustic Canyon). My dad reminded me we're likely to lose both matches     

[Jim Eder]

Jeff, thanks.  Wow. I have held my hero worship well on this site so far since there are so many amazing people here but when it came to UCLA basketball...........................

David, great story and count me in as hoping that Riv does the right things in order to achieve even more greatness.

Lynn, thanks for the GREAT insight and story in response to Jeff's question!!! Legendary coach, games and teams!!! THANKS!!

[Bill_McBride]

Bill,

I like hockey much better than basketball these days  But, my family has basketball history.

My dad, bro. and I were "All City" caliber players here, in Windsor, Ont. My younger bro. - who's also three times club champ. at Essex G&CC - was on the Canadian junior national team, coached by Jay Triano (Toronto Raptors head coach, now). And, my dad played in back-to-back Canadian national championship games, during the early 1970s, with the Univ. of Windsor.

Years ago, when I bought my first Geoff Shackelford book, my dad almost immediately asked: "That's not Lynn Shackelford's son, is it?" When I found out it was, my dad filled me in on Lynn's UCLA greatness. Pretty cool.

I've teased Geoff that my dad and I should head to LA to challenge the Shackelford's at basketball (2-on-2) and golf (Riviera or Rustic Canyon). My dad reminded me we're likely to lose both matches     

Thanks.  I think Geoff's a strong player, he played on the golf teams at both UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine.  Lynn?  Once a jock, always a jock!

[Adam Clayman]

This bunker is out of place with not only The Riv, but with Thomas' principles. It's built up against the flow of the property.

Does anyone have an old picture? Or can you describe what was here prior to this?

[Sean Leary]

This bunker is out of place with not only The Riv, but with Thomas' principles. It's built up against the flow of the property.

Does anyone have an old picture? Or can you describe what was here prior to this?

Adam,  What do you mean by this?

[Adam Clayman]

That bunker on the left side, up ahead, look at it closely. Then look at most of the other features on the GC. This bunker is raised up against the flow of the property. It was explained to me, by an expert, that Thomas would never do such a thing. This expert builds courses with that principle in mind.

[Sean Leary]

Hi Adam,

It doesn't look that much different that the other bunkers that are built up in the flatter areas. What am I missing?

[Lynn_Shackelford]

That bunker on the left side, up ahead, look at it closely. Then look at most of the other features on the GC. This bunker is raised up against the flow of the property. It was explained to me, by an expert, that Thomas would never do such a thing. This expert builds courses with that principle in mind.

As I recall, Mike Robin and I disagree on this one.  From the beginning there was a bunker in this spot on #7.  The club claims they copied old pictures and got it right.  I think Mike Robin is in general agreement.  I contend that while it may be in the right spot, it is a poor imitation of a Billy Bell bunker.  A more interesting point though is this is one of the few Thomas bunkers put on the outside of a hole.  Most of his locations are cross bunkers or on the inside. 
I think the problem here is this; the original #7 was a punch bowl shaped fairway, today it is crowned like a football field.  Thus a pretty good drive can be kicked into the bunker.  Furthermore in the beginning without trees, the bunker served as a buffer between the 7th hole and 15th.
I believe if you reshaped the fairway, rebuilt the bunker by hand, and not with big construction company, it would then look and fit pretty well.

[Michael Robin]

Lynn -

I'm trying to remember when we had a disagreement about that bunker. My feeling is that strategically, the bunker is in a good place and I believe it is in the approximate spot as the original, even though it is larger and longer. In terms of aesthetics, its shapes are more circular and perfect than the irregular forms that were found in Thomas' and Bell's work. I think we all wish that some of the most recent bunker work was consistent with what had evolved through the years at Riviera, and didn't introduce new ideas that really stand out as something that doesn't fit on that property. That is the real rub with the restoration work, parts of it are not in sync with what we have grown familiar with throughout the years. And here's the thing, what we had lived with for many years had evolved away from Thomas' and Bell's shapes, because of nature and maintenance practices prior to the Fazio work. I would say the Fazio gang did some things that were restorative and some things that were inventive. The latter are pretty easy to spot, and that's the biggest issue.

Scott -

It was great getting to meet you on your worldwide tour. We had a really fun day and I think you got a very full Riviera experience - Good, strategic, hard golf. Great weather. Met some industry types. Safe travels on your way back home.

[Scott Warren]

Cheers Michael,

It was a highlight spending the morning with you at Riv and getting a crash course on the highlights of LA on the way there and back.

Thanks again for everything.