REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

Texans hired
for Triad Golf Project
in Northern California

VACAVILLE, Calif. (Dec. 11, 2003) -- Final permits are being secured to see if a Texas Kite might just fly in this Northern California city in Solano County.

Triad Communities has hired the Texas-based golf-course design team of Tom Kite, Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell to lay out Lagoon Valley, a community with golf that will be world-class.

Texans already have had success in California. Saddle Creek Golf Club, home course to the Northern California PGA, was ranked No. 7 in Golf Digest's Best New Upscale Public Course in America in 1998. Located in Copperopolis, Calif., Saddle Creek, a Bechtol venture with Carter Morrish, meanders through the Sierra Nevada foothills with elevated tees framed by shale outcroppings, oaks and meadows filled with wildflowers.

• No Place Like Texas Golf: Tradition, Variety Rules • Course Reviews: Pasatiempo Golf Club • Architectural Profile: Hollins, MacKenzie

Lagoon Valley will be spread out on 200 acres in an area just north of San Francisco, close to Travis Air Force Base and Fairfield, and could open in 2006.

Triad hopes this eco-friendly, championship course someday could host a PGA tournament. The land has a lake, wetlands and stream running through the property and the owners want to preserve wildlife corridors.

The decision on whether Lagoon Valley will be public, private, or semi-private has not been made. But Solano County has 10 courses and only one is private -- The Green Valley Golf Club in Fairfield. Other public venues include Fairfield's Paradise Valley and Rancho Solano, Vacaville's Green Tree Golf Club, the Rio Vista Golf Course and Vallejo's Blue Rock Springs and Mare Island.

There's also early talk of another golf project just north of here on I-80 near the old Nut Tree tourist stop.

Pasatiempo in construction zone, but still playable

Pasatiempo, the Alister MacKenzie jewel in Santa Cruz, is open but under a remodeling phase.

Tees are being rebuilt on Nos. 4 and 13, making temporary tees a must, and making the holes play about 150 yards shorter. The No. 4 tee box is actually being lowered a few feet, which will bring hillside bunkers, set to be restored, more visible. Over the years the front of this tee box had been built higher and higher, making visibility tougher from the championship tees. The new tee No. 7 will add length to the hole.

Cart paths are also being redone on most all the holes, although some of this work is already completed. There's also drainage work being done in front of the No. 9 green making this hole play about 50 yards shorter.

So the bottom line is this classic isn't as beautiful as usual, but things should be back to its classic look next spring.

Death of a golf course

There is a beautiful piece of land overlooking the Sacramento River just five minutes from downtown Sacramento that has resulted in the death of a golf course.

The Lighthouse Marina project, which has long been comatose, has been purchased by The Grupe Co., a Stockton-based developer. New owners want to build new houses and condos and plow under The Lighthouse Golf Course, which first opened as Riverbend in 1966. It entails 80 acres of the original Lighthouse project that never became successful.

The new owners' rationale? In order to make the course safe for new homes they have to eliminate 117 lots, because the houses would be too close to the fairways. Is this developer a non-golfer or what? Bye-bye to The Lighthouse Golf Course.

Moorpark Country Club unveils clubhouse

The Peter Jacobsen-Jim Hardy designed Moorpark Country Club opened to limited play last year, but now with its new clubhouse open, things have started to roll.

A third nine holes are under construction with a debut set for Summer 2004. The 27 holes will be semi-private, but the City of Moorpark secured a covenant agreement securing tee times for the public.

This beautiful layout is situated up in Ventura County's citrus, avocado and equestrian land with scenes on the Ridgeline nine of the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands.

Moorpark CC is located about 30 miles north of Los Angeles in an area that was threatened by the recent wildfires.

Summer heat, no water

If you don't think water is the life blood of golf courses just ask the folks at Robinson Ranch in Canyon Country. When a pump quit working at the Ted Robinson-designed golf course resulting in no water for five days with scorching temperatures, the fairways quickly turned brown on the Mountain and Valley Courses.

Tees and greens were watered with hoses to keep them alive, but even when the pump started working things didn't look their typical verdant perfect under the over-seeding process started. Robinson Ranch uses its own wells for water.

The course is located in the high desert at the foot of the Angeles National Forest and the greens have been ranked as some of the best in California.

This and that

Historic Cresta Verde Golf Club in Corona, an old hidden gem in Southern California, has a renovated and expanded clubhouse. Owner Jay Miller is also building a triple-decker driving range to go with a new golf academy that includes a 9,000-square foot Education Center for his Get a Grip Foundation. Here, young golfers can do home work on the grounds before and after playing golf.

David R. Holland is an award-winning writer for GolfCalifornia.com, part of the TravelGolf.com network, which has won Forbes Magazine's Best of the Web Award the past three years.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.