Finally made it out there yesterday....one of the hottest and most humid days I've ever experienced in SCA. Always been told this was a good course, by locals that have played in tournaments or qualifiers there. They were wrong, this is a great course!
Deep throat says that the original 9 at Victoria was designed by Charles Maud in 1903 and later remodeled by Max Behr. Originally known as Pedley Farms at Arlington, then Riverside Golf and Polo and then Victoria. Bell is rumored to have done some work on the course.
Today's version - par 72, 5 par 5's, 5 par 3's. Most interesting is that we see no par 4's after #12, and finish 5-5-3-5-5. Let the firing squad start assembling.
My Behr experience is very limited, but I did play Montecito in July and was told that there are a couple of original MB holes still in play; the ones playing up & down the hill. Noticed a few similarities between the 2 layouts but that is another topic altogether.
Of interest at Victoria were the decisions to be made on the 3-shotters, some unique bunkering, and a couple of directional features in play off the tee. Most interesting was the presence of an "Alps" feature on #15, which is a shortish par 5 in today's layout. Wow
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Let's get started with the pictoral:
Tee shot on #2 - fairway on LH side. We tee of from a shared tee with #9, whose fairway is to the right (perhaps a hazard was once situated where the trees are today)
Approach to #2 - very unique bunkering
Close up of #2 fronting bunker
Spine on #2 green
#3 - tee shot with cross bunker
#3 - close up of grassed in cross bunker
#3 - movement around green
#4 - 2nd shot to par 5 easy lay up left or do we play for the angle to the right and skirt the creek?
#4 from behind green
#14 - 2nd shot to par 5; note bunkering
#15 tee shot......which leads us to
a second shot over the trees and bunkers or......
a layup to the alternate fairway across the hazard
still can't see much
until we get to about 50 yards from the pin
Comments???