The Magic Hour

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Yes, Cypress and Royal Melbourne are probably his best, but my my all-time favorite MacKenzie is now, replacing Pasatiempo in the LOVE department is without doubt The Valley Club Of Montecito.

As Lloyd Cole would say, "Its a lovely course!" Thats about as apt a title for here. Kudo's to Tom Doak, Jim Urbina, Kyle Goalby, Sean McCormick and especially Robert Robarge who has the course in the best shape imaginable.

[THuckaby2]

Many thanks for posting this incredible pic,
Tommy, which does give a hint at just
how idyllic, peaceful, neat, and dare I say
cool a place that is.  Me and a few regulars here
were fortunate enough to experience this
back in March, and we most definitely got
the same sort of magic hour at the end.

I said that day, "I could die here."  I still
believe it.  If there was one place I'd
move in a heartbeat if the fortunes granted
me zillions, it would be near Santa Barbara,
assuming I could wrangle a membership at
THE Valley Club.

Pasatiempo? Oh it's nice, and it's great, but
it ain't the Valley Club.  And come on, you knew
this all along....

TH

[NAF]

I've been to Hollywood, I've been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold

Neil Young-


I've been to St. Enodoc, Royal Melbourne, NGLA, Sand Hills, Cypress Point, Dornoch etc.. For the magic hour-- the VCM compares right up there with them all..  It even surpasses a few.


I think Santa Barbara is the finest city in the US and the best place to call home.. and to think my future wife spent 4 years there.. Huck, I'd move even if you called La Purisma or Sandpiper home (according to what I heard) just for the area alone.

[JakaB]

I'm not a big fan of Pasa because of the bunkering....so I just got to ask....Why in the hell can't somebody restore a MacKenzie bunker to look like a MacKenzie bunker....come on Tommy...you should be the gaurdian of such things..those bunkers look like the byproduct of a Rees Jones/Fazio same sex marriage..

[Marc Haring]

What a great picture Tommy.

Noel.

Why does it surpass so many? I mean if I am being entirely frank here, the pic shows what appears to be your bog standard parkland set up.

I would hypothesise, as let’s face it I’ve never or am never likely to play VCM, but is it a simple case of the Santa Barbara weather, that perfect Mediterranean type late evening sun that we all yearn for.
In the UK we get that for two days a year and when it happens the courses are heaving to breaking point.

That picture represents that perfect moment of utter serenity, provided that is, you’ve striped it all day long.

Would it be quite so thrilling in a bit of horizontal hail?  

[Tommy_Naccarato]

John,
I'll have you know that the bunkers at the Valley Club are as exact as they can be. They were never the frilly edged-type bunkers, but more puzzle pieces that fit and tie-in together to create all sorts of deception, and just to let you know, probably inspired Fazio to some degree. But then again, he doesn't believe in Classic Courses now does he?!?!?!

I'll also have you know that when Sean McCormick did these in house, had had vast amounts of images and aerials from which to study and rebuild from, and you can also take my word on it, because I was there to witness some of it in person--that attention to detail--which last I checked Fazio has never been there to do the same at Riviera, Merion, Winged Foot, Oakmont and many others. But then again, you knew that all along didn't you!

Marc,
The conditions at the Valley Club were PERFECT. The fairways although really green, were like velvet and ran fast and firm and the greens themselves were the same. I would gladly play there in a hail storm anyday.

[NAF]

Mark-

All of the great places I mentioned
have some sort of natural aura to them
that lend to the sense of ethos and place
which make them terrific experiences.
Sand Hills is like being on the moon
in a huge dunescape, Cypress Point
has the marriage of the Pacific Ocean
with a unique landform, St. Enodoc
displays a myriad of natural wonder
(the Camel Estuary, Bray Hill, Chrurch etc).

What you cannot see from this picture
(and Tommy has others) is the wonderful
clubhouse (up there with Shinnecock
and Cypress for splendor) nor the coastal
mountain range which acts as a backdrop
for many of the holes.  Nature and fauna
life is abundant (coyotes, birds etc
cross your path).  The Pacific is actually
only in view from the opening hole, the
green on #15 and the green on the closing hole.  Furthermore, when playing the course,
there is just a natural rhythm and flow
to it which gives you the feeling of a
grand tour (Tommy's words).  You see,
the VCM's routing finds "flow".
What do I mean?  It optimizes your
experience in showing off the property
and the natural elements of it in harmony.
And I hesitate to say it--but it leaves
you feeling buzzed.  The course is not
spectacular, it isnt Pine Valley although
it has a ton of merits and cunning
subtlies.  It's main greatness lies in
what I alluded to on the Matt Ward
thread about Goethe saying Architecture
is frozen music.  I believe Dr. Mac and
Hunter laid out a course that gives
you the experience of the suspension
of time and place, you are completely
absorbed in the experience.  It is an
extremely desirable state.  Now if it
was piss down raining would that
change things--I guess it might but it
could also amplify it ( I love to play
Heathland courses on moody
overcast days for example).

When I finished playing at the Valley Club
I had more energy than when I started
(and this was after 36 holes of golf).  
The same can be said for the courses
I mentioned earlier.  I've noticed
only special places do that for me.

I don't think the VCM is some
bog/parkland design.  I'd say the
course is carved out of a forest
but it bears little resemblance to
a real parkland place like Winged Foot
or Baltusrol for example.  It is
its own unique place.

[JakaB]

Tommy,

Show me an original pic of any MacKenzie bunker that looks so clean and I will eat a small portion of my hat....it has been chewed on a bit lately.

[Marc Haring]

Wow Noel. Great piece of prose. That’s it, you’ve sold it to me.
I’ve got our Wednesdays lotto ticket right here and I’m getting good vibrations if you’ll pardon the CA pun. So, $10M I need to hold onto 3 of them, what sort of a Santa Barbara pad can that get me?

[THuckaby2]

I love The Valley Club.
I loved it hearing about it many years ago.
I loved it plahying it as kid, slightly
fewer years ago.
I really loved it playing it this year.

But I've NEVER been able to put to words
really WHY this love occurs.

I think Noel did it for me, and Tommy.

But dammit, if you guys don't learn to use
hard returns, like I am here, so that the reader
can avoid scrolling back and forth to
read your wonderful prose, I might have to fly
south and east and west and north
 to beat the living shit out of each of you,
just out of principle.

 

[RJ_Daley]

What you cannot see from this picture (and Tommy has others) is the wonderful clubhouse (up there with Shinnecock and Cypress for splendor) nor the coastal mountain range which acts as a backdrop for many of the holes.

Noel, may I try and aid in the visuals...






Sorry to make this too much about me... but it was one of my most magic hours too!





and isn't this a corker!

[Marc Haring]

S
O
R
R
Y

T
O
M
.
.
.

[NAF]

Dick-

Many thanks..

[THuckaby2]

Marc - that's the spirit - good man.

 

Seeing this reminds me though... a friend to
many of us, a man who's likely been to more
places then even the incredibly well-traveled
Noel, told us once that if he had the gazillions
to waste, there was one club and one club
only that he would buy and/or retire to, and
that is The Valley Club.  The man was Mr. Huntley.
Those who know him know what incredible
testimony this is....

TH

[RJ_Daley]

Huck, how could that be a waste of a gazillion?
What else would that kind of ping be for?

If you can't buy indulgences in the afterlife, then you might as
well buy a bit of heaven here.

[Mike Benham]

A slight detour from the magic hour la-la land that you are all
commenting on (not that I don't agree with you it is just that I haven't enjoyed the experience at Valley Club ...) ...

Looking at the pictures, I am impressed with the trimmed eucalyptus trees at the Valley Club.  Euc's are notoriously
 dirty trees and have no business on a golf course for this
reason alone but they are also not native to California.  

Back to la-la land ...

[THuckaby2]

Dick - excellent catch and horrid choice
of words on my part.  Darn right, there could
be no better use for one's gazillion than
The Valley Club.

 

[THuckaby2]

Now Mike, you are a bud and you are
an SCU hero, but darn it, heed my words
about hard returns lest ye not be immune
from shit-beating.

And I know where you live.