Riviera, WOW!

[JESII]

Chip,

We got that, no sweat...don't go soft now...

It just seems like your wedge game could use a little work, as with your blind long-irons before going back to Merion...

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Chip, me thinks you are a little too opinionated about the 10th after one play.  As the good doctor used to say, great holes keep revealing and teaching through frequent play.

Play it a few times and you will learn that a 210 yard tee ball left and away from the green, leaves a 90 yd shot with the best angle and best consistent chance at getting the ball close to the hole.

This from a 5 handicapper who played there 15 years.

Pretty pictures, Fazio would be proud of the clean look, Thomas not so much.

[Bob_Huntley]

Lynn,



You wrote "Play it a few times and you will learn that a 210 yard tee ball left and away from the green, leaves a 90 yd shot with the best angle and best consistent chance at getting the ball close to the hole."

Herein endeth the first lesson. Amen


Bob

[Scott Warren]

The "wow" factor is undeniably huge at Riviera, just as it is at LACC, the Olympic Club, San Francisco Golf Club, Pebble Beach, Spyglass and Cypress, just to mention six courses.  What a state for playing golf!

As much as any of them, I was wowed by Kevin's pics of The Cal Club that were posted today. It's amazing how even mere pictures of a great golf course can make you feel a bit excited and joyful!

That sounds a bit naff, but I think most of you on here probably know that feeling in the chest that comes with looking at pics of the greats. I love it.

Is Riviera as spacious as it looks? Not necessarily the property, the corridors just look quite wide?

[Chip Gaskins]

Chip, me thinks you are a little too opinionated about the 10th after one play.  As the good doctor used to say, great holes keep revealing and teaching through frequent play.

Play it a few times and you will learn that a 210 yard tee ball left and away from the green, leaves a 90 yd shot with the best angle and best consistent chance at getting the ball close to the hole.

This from a 5 handicapper who played there 15 years.

Pretty pictures, Fazio would be proud of the clean look, Thomas not so much.

Lynn

Fair enough, I am certainly not trying to upset the Southern Cal guys at all.

I just know that I can't hit a 90 yd wedge to a 10ft x 10ft area and stop it very often, especially to a green sloping away from you with a bunker fronting and behind, so I would continue to try and get my tee ball as close the green as possible so I can chip it.  Its my own skill limitations that were driving my opinion. "I" personally don't have as many options as others talk about on that hole.

Respectfully,
Chip

[Bill_McBride]

I screwed it up in my one playing, but I watched Mike Benham lay up with his 11 wood to what looked like a perfect spot and it was impossible from there, too.

11 wood?  I thought you had to be 80 to carry an 11 wood.  That is shocking, shocking I say.   

[Carl Nichols]

Two nights ago I was at a buddy's house in Pacific Palisades, eating dinner on his porch overlooking the mountains and beach on a beautiful evening, and I was thinking about how great a location that is for golf, scenery, and weather (especially when my course here in DC isn't even fully open), and then Chip goes and posts these pics.  What a place!

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Chip, you need to go back and play it again.  If the shot is struck far enough left, not at the hole, but left and away from the hole, the shot has no bunker in front to carry.  It is straight in, as it was intended.  But for the kikuyu, you could run it in there.

Carl, for 365 days of weather, quality design, beautiful setting, I cannot think of a better golf course in the world.

[Carl Nichols]

Lynn:
I haven't played Riviera, but it certainly seems that way to me -- with perhaps a few other places on the West Coast in the conversation.  Serious question:  are there non-resident memberships? 

[Alex Miller]

Chip, me thinks you are a little too opinionated about the 10th after one play.  As the good doctor used to say, great holes keep revealing and teaching through frequent play.

Play it a few times and you will learn that a 210 yard tee ball left and away from the green, leaves a 90 yd shot with the best angle and best consistent chance at getting the ball close to the hole.

This from a 5 handicapper who played there 15 years.

Pretty pictures, Fazio would be proud of the clean look, Thomas not so much.

Lynn

Fair enough, I am certainly not trying to upset the Southern Cal guys at all.

I just know that I can't hit a 90 yd wedge to a 10ft x 10ft area and stop it very often, especially to a green sloping away from you with a bunker fronting and behind, so I would continue to try and get my tee ball as close the green as possible so I can chip it.  Its my own skill limitations that were driving my opinion. "I" personally don't have as many options as others talk about on that hole.

Respectfully,
Chip

Chip,

If you can hit a sand wedge 90 yards there is no reason you shouldn't be able to stop it within 10 ft of where it lands. Is it an exacting shot? Yes, and that means you might not be able to pull it off every time. If you have the swing speed to generate a 90 yard shot with a wedge then you should be able to hit it high enough and with enough spin to stop it. Maybe those grooves need a cleaning? 

Respectfully,

Alex

[Sean Leary]

Bill,

Exactly.

Benhams nickname is Octo for a reason.

[Brett_Morrissy]

I am impressed with the sandy river bed as a hazard, no loss of golf ball, but potential for a hlaf shot penalty, clearly an area to be avoided from a strategy point of view, is it only in play of #8, and does anyone know of this kind of hazard being used anywhere else either modern or traditional - I don't recall anything in the GB&I or Aust?
I am heading to the US for a tour of courses later in the year, and had skipped Riviera, but after Chip's thread, I htink it needs to go back on the agenda, it looks and sounds great.

[Kevin Pallier]

Is Riviera as spacious as it looks? Not necessarily the property, the corridors just look quite wide?

Scott

In general yes - most of the trees aren't in play unless of course you are somewhat wild off the tee.

Then again after the turn 11 through 13 and in particular 13 are quite tight.

[Mike Cirba]

Chip,

I haven't read all the responses...been a busy week, but I heartily agree with your general sentiment and Riviera is in my Top 10.

Even more than Augusta National, it's impossible to get a sense of the mightly scale and audacious boldness of Riviera on a flat(tening) television.

I played the course with the inestimable and much-missed Dr. Geoffrey Childs, and we were both in awe over the use of the existing landforms, as well as both the placement and scale of the man-made hazards.

I recall walking down the third fairway and both of us agreed that the hill one drives over on 18 looked like the tidal wave that engulfed Krakatoa.

It was at that point we knew we were somewhere very special.

Oh...by the way, oh contrarian Mr. Gaskins...we also felt it was the west coast version of Merion in terms of strategy, balance, and design interest.    

[Kyle Harris]

Alex-

Fair enough.  You point out ONE option....just as I did. Long and left is the way to play the hole.  Pretty easy chip shot to the widest angle of the green.

I was just thinking there were multiple "good" options.  I just didn't see all those options.  Maybe I just need a lower handicap to see those options?

Chip

It's not necessarily the presence of options, but the illusion of options that is so great.

"Options will cost you, but a lack of them will cost you even more."

[David Stamm]

10 is sublime. It deserves every bit of it's reputation. Jordan, I think it's slightly better than 9 at CPC. The risk far outweighs the reward at CPC. If one has the length, the only reason I can think of to even consider going for the green at CPC is if the pin is front right. Otherwise, there is simply no reason to give it a go.

I would prefer the bunkers be more sympathetic to the original and superior Bell style.