Joel, As I said before, I have no doubts what-so-ever that Kyle and Mark are going to do there very best here. Wilshire CC is a special place and I'm still grateful for each and every time I've been fortunate to play it. In fact, I might be playing there on Thursday.
If Phillips & Co are allowed to recover that creek bed, which I believe is their full intention, its going to take a lot of work, time and patience. The creek bed, I believe was a victim of the great storms of 1937 which got many great courses here in the Southland, virtually turning most of them into riverbeds. Wilshire was no exception, as was lakeside, Riviera, LACC, Oakmont(Glendale) Valley Club of Montecito, San Gabriel, etc. The list is huge of those courses that were damaged because of it.
My favorite holes at Wishire
#2 (at the green)
#3 (from tee to green. The original creek bed was rough and wild and trouble!)
#4 (Probably a Chasm-type hole originally.)
#6 (Another great one-shotter over the creek bed. Today it isn't even close to its former self)
#9 (bunker carcases along the left side off of the tee. I figure at one time it required a rather interesting carry off of the tee trying to keep it right, but you had a perfect thing to aim for--The El Rey!)
#10 (two things of note here: 1. the current par 3, 10th is a product of Jack Croke's. It features some Seth Raynor-like shaping and bunering around a rather long and narrow green which is set at an angle from the tee) 2. the original 10th played from pretty much the same teeing ground, but actually made a right turn around the fence to a green that was tucked in that corner. Today it is all parking lot, but the idea back then was you could have an interesting play to that green if you chose to go over the original parking lot.
#15 (Pretty uninteresting tee shot until you realize it was important in regards to getting a clear shot on to the green. The hole just gets better and better from that point. The green is a boomerang, wrapped around a bunker with a small Lion's Mouth depression sitting some 15-20 yards in front of the green.)
#16 (Another hole which gets better as you get further into it--just like a good Cabernet.) The green complex, if they can restore that--WOW!
Lots has to be done to that though, as the green has been built up quite substantially since the floods., but they
ll have a lot to work with in regards to building the creek up again. They are going to need a GREAT shaper.
#18 (Probably a tie with #3 for the best hole(s) on the course. As Tom Doak would say in the Confidential Guide,
!!!Michael, that's the 16th, and here is the 18th right next to it:
Do notice the island bunker on #17 below
