Valley Club - A Photo Tour - Another Magical Spot

[Chip Gaskins]

Valley Club

The Valley Club in Montecito, CA is another one of those magical locations that Mackenzie somehow ended up with….Meadow Club, Cypress Point, Sharp Park and Valley Club all in the U.S.  With that said, Mackenzie had a few clunker sites too that he did pretty well with ☺

Valley Club is another Hunter and Mackenzie partnership.  They used the creeks here very well as a player has to play both over then and parallel with them several times.

The par 3s at Valley Club are simply fantastic.  The bunkers here are as good as you get anywhere in the world

One can only hope to live a life of playing golf at Valley Club for many many years....


Hole #2
Short 5 with eye candy bunkers over the green reminding the player of Cypress Point #13


Hole #3


Hole #3
Green site


Hole #4
Short par 3 in a beautiful grove of trees and bunkers.


Hole #8
Fantastic par 3 up the hill.  This hole is played from one high point over a valley to another high point. The green is crazy fast!


Hole #9


Hole #9
Green


Hole #10
A landslide from a long time ago still sits in the middle of the #10 fairway.  A quirky cool feature to me.


Hole #14
Par 3
A beautiful view now as you head back to the club house.  More eye candy bunkers on the back side of this green.


Hole #15
Not many views better than that in the world.  Looks similar to Cal Club.

Hole #16
Fantastic cross bunkering off the tee here.  I think it looks like a cobination of holes at Rock Creek Cattle (at least from the arieal)


Hole #18
Approach into #18

[Mark McKeever]

The bunkering looks fantastic!  Thanks for sharing the pictures!

Mark

[Adam Clayman]

Eye candy bunkers?

Is that a technical term?

[Zack Molnar]

That shot up 15 is one of my favorite photos in golf. I just hope I get to experience in person some day

[Chip Gaskins]

Adam you know I was being a smart ass. 

No, "eye candy" bunkers was a term I actually learned on this site when many talk about some of the elaborate bunkering by Mackenzie at Cypress Point and Pasa.

As we all know, Mackenzie toned it down once the depression hit and simply count the bunkers in the original routing at Augusta as proof. 

So, no, its not a technical term, just a "tongue in cheek" term, just as you knew :-)

[Bill_McBride]

Mike Miller really captures the feeling of the Valley Club and its surroundings in this painting of #18!

[Phil McDade]

As we all know, Mackenzie toned it down once the depression hit and simply count the bunkers in the original routing at Augusta as proof. 

Not to sidetrack this photo thread, but is this really the case? I was under the impression Mackenzie and Jones were very deliberate about the use and number of bunkers at Augusta.

[Tim Book]

Wow, thanks Chip for your tour.  Each time a Valley Club photo tour is posted I am reminded to add it to my bucket list.  As stated earlier the bunkering is fantastic. 

[Bill_McBride]

Mike Miller really captures the feeling of the Valley Club and its surroundings in this painting of #18!

Your last photo above, with the clubhouse behind #18 at a little different angle, is as good as Miller's painting!  The two small houses to the left are bungalows behind the driving range.  Tiger Woods spent several days in one of them in 2000, getting ready for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

[Chip Gaskins]

Bill

This one is the closest I have.  Pretty close, eh?

[Bill_McBride]

Chip, what did you think of all the short grass around 15 green, 16 tee and 18 green?  Also #1 green, 2 tee and 14 green?

It adds a whole new dimension to golf!

[Adam Clayman]

Chip, Just trying to keep you on your toes.

I know i'm not alone in being impressed with your photo tours.

[Morgan Clawson]

Chip,

Great photos and a beautiful looking golf course.

I just returned from Kingsley, and saw 1st hand how great the views were from the tee boxes because they had strategically removed a lot of trees. It looks to me like #3,4 and 14 tee boxes could be enhanced by a little pruning. What say you?

[Mike Hendren]

Most comments about this course focus on its beauty and pedigree, both of which are undeniable.  From an architectural perspective, however what makes it "better" than, say realtive unknowns like Columbia CC or Moraine CC, both featured in recent photo tours?

Mike

[Tom_Doak]

Mike:

I doubt you will find many takers for that question, as I can't imagine many correspondents have been to The Valley Club, Columbia, and Moraine. 

I've never been to the last, and was only at Columbia once, perhaps 25 years ago, so I shouldn't really try to answer.  But if either of those courses have as good a set of greens and bunkers as The Valley Club, and fit into their sites as well, then they must be far better than they are currently ranked.

However, I am certain that you are also correct, that the difference between Santa Barbara and D.C. or Dayton is an extra factor for many raters.

[Mike Hendren]

Tom, I've little doubt that Valley Club is fabulous - I'd just like to hear more architectural analysis along the lines of your third sentence.

Mike

[Tom_Doak]

Mike:

I just looked back at the photo thread on Columbia.  It's in 500% better shape now than back when I saw it, that much is for sure.

However, I don't think many courses' routings can be compared favorably with The Valley Club's.  It's like one of those nesting Russian dolls, or a little musical jewel box, in the way it folds back in on itself, particularly from holes 3 thru 12 on the other side of the road from the clubhouse.  The same little tree-covered hill in the center serves as the backdrop for #3 and #10 greens, and to give a bit of elevation to the tees at #4, #8 and #11 (all par threes).

Columbia did have a few very cool greens, which I would attribute to Walter Travis just as an educated guess, but if it was really as good a set of 18 greens, I am surprised I don't remember more about them.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Bogey I'm unlikely to ever get to the other two but I would just say.....      its all about the greens  ++++++!

Yes I ended up in few bunkers but mostly they just served to distract me.  I play off 13, and 5 days previous I'd shot 34 stableford points on a top ten UK course. I was in form but I believe I had one par all day and afterwards one of my hosts informed me I'd shot 97, despite driving it well.  I consistently underclubbed (did the turf have anything to do with it?) and failed to pick up when the pins were deep on the green. 3 putt followed 3 putt (if I'd been playing poorly it would have been 4 putt after 4 putt).  Maybe it was fatigue but having played about 45 of the top 100 courses over here I totally failed to adjust and it reinforced what a dumb golfer I am.  4 days after that I played another (much lesser) course in the US to my handicap.  But hell, I loved every minute of it.

 A fun course.

Great place, wonderful hosts and an amazing introduction to US Clubs.

[Bill_McBride]

Mike:

I just looked back at the photo thread on Columbia.  It's in 500% better shape now than back when I saw it, that much is for sure.

However, I don't think many courses' routings can be compared favorably with The Valley Club's.  It's like one of those nesting Russian dolls, or a little musical jewel box, in the way it folds back in on itself, particularly from holes 3 thru 12 on the other side of the road from the clubhouse.  The same little tree-covered hill in the center serves as the backdrop for #3 and #10 greens, and to give a bit of elevation to the tees at #4, #8 and #11 (all par threes).

Columbia did have a few very cool greens, which I would attribute to Walter Travis just as an educated guess, but if it was really as good a set of 18 greens, I am surprised I don't remember more about them.

Like Tom, I have played the Valley Club (many rounds) and Columbia (10 rounds or so) but never Moraine.

The golf course at Columbia is terrific.  There is good variety, some excellent short and some excellent long par 4's, a very good set of par 3's, and non-memorable par 5's except #5 which is very good.  There's good topography, hilly but an easy walk.  Like most of the DC area this topography is choppy, you play over abrupt ridges several times.  It's definitely better than average.  If I were allowed to suggest Doak scores, I'd say a 6.

The Valley Club is miles ahead, a strong 8 or maybe 9 after a lot of recent work.

The greens have a lot more contours and are flat terrifying in some places.   The bunkering is large and plentiful.

The routing, as Tom says, is amazing.  It's out and back, with a series of isolated holes from 3-12, across Sheffield Road, after the open feeling that sets the stage with two par 5 starters and the great close that is 13-18.  The intimacy combined with clever use of the creeks, much like Pasatiempo, has you singing to yourself all day.

No secret it's my favorite golf course, all the way back to college golf days at UCSB when we were allowed to play on that private paradise a couple of times a year.

Columbia is a very good course but it is outclassed in this contest.

[Kevin Pallier]

No secret it's my favorite golf course.....

Really Bill - who would have thought that ?

I loved the out and back routing - I didn't see many like that in my time in the US. It was interesting the mix of tightness and spaciousness one gets throughout the round. The use of the natural changes in landscape along with the creek was a highlight for mine as well.

Thanks for the photos Chip - which did you prefer The Valley or The Meadow ?

[Bill_McBride]

No secret it's my favorite golf course.....

Really Bill - who would have thought that ?

I loved the out and back routing - I didn't see many like that in my time in the US. It was interesting the mix of tightness and spaciousness one gets throughout the round. The use of the natural changes in landscape along with the creek was a highlight for mine as well.

Thanks for the photos Chip - which did you prefer The Valley or The Meadow ?

It's interesting that some of the top American courses are out and back routings.

Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Valley Club, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, National Golf Links.  Plus one of my personal favorites, the Crenshaw course at Barton Creek.

[Chip Gaskins]

Bill

I agree, there is no comparison between Columbia and Valley Club.

Also, I loved the short grass everywhere around 15 & 18th.  Provides for many many playing options.

[Chip Gaskins]

Chip, Just trying to keep you on your toes.

I know i'm not alone in being impressed with your photo tours.

Adam

Thanks for keeping me on my toes, however I do sense a bit of sarcasm your final comment.  I am not trying to impress anyone.  I just learn a lot (look at what I learned from Tom Paul about Columbia and Tom Doak about Valley Club just in these two threads) when folks to photo tours.