Lakeside Golf Club in Los Angeles (Max Behr)

[Peter Pallotta]

Gib - thanks for your post.

I've been reading this thread, but have - remarkably for me -- managed to refrain from jumping in and spouting off some theoretical  generalities despite not having even a smidgen of specific knowledge/experience (my besetting sin, as per George's mistake thread).

But all along I've been wondering about the Behr angle, and noting that the present day course seems to have so little to do with Behr's design philosophy (at least as expressed in the writings I've read).

And with each passing post, I found myself thinking more and more that perhaps our love/respect for original architectural intent and design pedigree is in direct proportion to what club members actually want/works/is in their best interests today -- and that any genuine embracing of the past or true restoration is actually a rare occurance, and even then is one driven by economics and not  architecture and made manifest by a very deft sleight of hand on the architect's part.  

What seems to work for/is in the best of Lakeside members today is to position the course as a US Open calibre test, though one with a charming and unique past. Nothing wrong with that, and it's none of my business of course -- but it is striking that so few seem to think a celebration of Behrian design/philosophy worth pursuing.

[Peter Ferlicca]

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but if anyone has played both Lakeside and Tacoma Golf and Country Club it is scary how similar they are.  The routings are almost identical, small greens, tree lined, the way the homes look and sit to the right of the 10th and 11th holes.  The whole time I was playing Lakeside I kept having deja vu moments thinking I was at Tacoma. 

Lakeside is awesome by the way, the super has that course dialed in perfectly.  It was amazingly firm but everything was green, it was magnificent. 

[David Kelly]

Here's a glimpse of Lakeside next to the Universal backlot in the 1940s when the trees were much less of a factor than they are now. 

[Michael Felton]

Incredible undulation in what looks like a pretty flat site. Thanks for the pictures. Looks like an interesting course, but boy oh boy, if you walk off there having hit 18 greens, I'd say you had your long game pretty solid right now. Some of those greens are ridiculously small!

[James Bennett]

Greens are often in the 2000 to 3000 square feet range.

Fascinating course, but ridiculously small greens.

Anybody interested in an architectural discussion on 13? Think about how that narrow, long sliver plays depending on where your tee shot is. Think about golf in LA at that time when just over at riviera the 10Th was built and lakeside had the 13th (well, 4th actually as the nines were reversed).

There are some fascinating holes at lakeside.

[Michael Felton]

Greens are often in the 2000 to 3000 square feet range.

Fascinating course, but ridiculously small greens.

Anybody interested in an architectural discussion on 13? Think about how that narrow, long sliver plays depending on where your tee shot is. Think about golf in LA at that time when just over at riviera the 10Th was built and lakeside had the 13th (well, 4th actually as the nines were reversed).

There are some fascinating holes at lakeside.

hi James,

I think that green would be really interesting if that hump to the right of the flag as the hole plays (to the left in the picture) and the area behind it were all turned into green. The green would then be relatively large, but if you hit it into the wrong area of the green, you'd have a devilishly difficult putt. Quite possibly harder than the chip/pitch might be.

[Frank Pont]

What is it with bunkers with rough fringes in the US?

It looks stupid, and doesn't play like a classic course either.....

[BCrosby]

When Lakeside opened, newspaper accounts noted its lack of rough and wide fw's. Which sounds like a course Behr would design. Until the rerouting of several holes after floods in the mid-30's, it was considered one of the best courses in California. MacK said very nice things about Lakeside in S of SA. 

Jones filmed a number of his instruction shorts at Lakeside in '30 and '31. I've often wondered if Lakeside didn't influence what he wanted to do at ANGC, then in the planning stage.

Bob