Red Hill Country Club-Rancho Cucamonga, CA

[Mark Leo]

I'm going to be playing Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga in a couple weeks.  It is listed as a George Thomas design, circa 1927.  
Anyone have any experience or information about the course.

[Robert_Ball]

Aside from the 2nd & 3rd holes, Red Hill plays pretty narrow.  I'm not sure how much Thomas & Billy Bell influence remains since the course was redesigned by Harry & David Rainville.    Small, mostly flat, poa greens.

[Robert_Ball]

CLUB WEB SITE with pictures and historical write-up.

[Mark Leo]

Thanks Robert

[Yancey_Beamer]

Very interesting par5 holes in that the fairway narrows progressively on the way to the green.Therefore your second shot has to be accurate.I've not seen this on any other course.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

I can't believe I missed this thread...

Red Hill is currently being overseen by Ken Killian, who relocated here to SoCal from Illinois (I think)  The descriptions so far are pretty apt, although a better, more thourough description would be to say that Red Hills starting off as nine hole Thomas with Billy Bell Sr. adding the additional nine at a later date. At that time, the Sycamore Inn, which has been there for like 100 years, was also the clubhouse for the course, so a road and houses are in the middle of what was once the 1st & 9th fairways. Supposedly there is a somewhat decent, but horribly evolved Thomas-designed Road Hole green on the course, plus a ot of other stuffthat has been torn down over the ages.

It's a shame about the clubhouse not being at the Sycamore Inn, because the food is great and the atmosphere there is like really walking into 1922.

[Mark Leo]

Thomas,
Thanks for the interesting insight.
I'll report back after I play it.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mark, When I get a chance, I'll try to dig-up some stuff on Red Hill for you.

[Mark Leo]

To Tommy N:

I wanted to complete this thread on Red Hill CC.
Got a chance to play it yesterday in beautiful SoCal weather.  What a wonderful golf course.

Unfortunately, the club is rebuilding the clubhouse which affects play ever so slightly.  Start on 2 instead of 1, and the drive on two is eliminated, and therefore plays as a par three temporarily.  The course is routed over rolling hills, with some really strong par 5 holes, and long par 3's.  There is still a lot of Thomas influence around with classic bunkering.  There are huge sycamore trees at some really strategic spots out there!  It really helps to see them at least once.  In particular this comes into play on #3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17.  My favorite holes were number 3 which is a longish par 4 with huge sycamore guarding L side of green; number 5 is an uphill par 5 with a small green and large mound to R of green; number 8 is a short dogleg R par 4, undulating green surrounded by typical Thomas bunkers; 18 is an uphill par 4 dogleg R, two tiered green.  You've got to be below the hole at Red Hill, with almost all the greens tilted back to front.  Some great green complexes throughout, particularly 8, 16, 17
I couldn't find the "road hole" replica, and would be interested to know which hole that may have been.  
This is really a hidden gem of  a course. The fairways were completely renovated last year, and with the new clubhouse on board 12/2006 it will get even better.
By the way, the Sycamore Inn was indeed the clubhouse for many years according to the manager.  It would be interesting to see just what the original routing of the course was back when.  Food at Sycamore was outstanding!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mark,
Glad to hear about the course, and it seemed like a pretty decent day for gorf!

Hopefully, I'll be finding out some more stuff on Red Hill really soon. The Sycamore Inn is indeed a pretty special place. Not a lot of places like it in LA that still exist, and it would have been neat to experience it in its day.

Check your IM.

[Joel_Stewart]

This thread is 14 years old. 


I played Red Hill yesterday. The course reopened last week after a bunker renovation and some regrassing. Over the last 5 years they've taken out almost 30 acres of sod for water conservation and a limited amount of trees.


All in all its a good golf course.  It plays about 6300 yards, still has narrow fairways and deep rough. The greens have some nice slope and are really fast. 


It still has two cement ponds on 1 and 8 that are are not necessary and could lose another 50 trees that have no purpose.  Apparently they are committed to keeping the thick rough???

[Greg Chambers]

That concrete pond on 1 is easily in my top 5 worst things I’ve ever seen on a golf course.  The rest of the course, in my opinion, is tremendously enjoyable.  And Craig does a great job of keeping it in top form with very limited resources.

[Joel_Stewart]

That concrete pond on 1 is easily in my top 5 worst things I’ve ever seen on a golf course. 

Its a 265 yard downhill par 4 and apparently nobody could think of something other than that pond. I believe Casey O'Callahan (consulting architect) has tried to make the case for removing it but so far the club has said no. The pond in front of the tee on #8 is slightly more bearable but it should be removed as well.

[Matt_Cohn]

Found #1 on Google. OK that's not great.



Other holes look nice though.

[Joel_Stewart]

Found #1 on Google. OK that's not great.



Other holes look nice though.

Thats "the pond"?  Not sure when or by who but its a reflection of the dark age 1950s architecture. I know I've seen a few others but maybe not this bad.