Barona Creek Golf Club, Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino, Lakeside, Calif.
What strikes the newcomer about the 7,088-yard Barona Creek Golf Club is that it looks almost too perfect. If you were a film director and wanted to shoot a Western-golf movie, this golf course would be the perfect set. It's almost as if every rock, every stick and every scrub sage was placed meticulously in exactly the right spot. Just imagine the pristine conditions of the actual playing surfaces.
In fact, according to Director of Golf Don King, "The course was simply cut into the rock. We transplanted some oaks from other parts of the reservation, but that's it."
A few other recent additions have also been made in order to prepare for the 2007 Nationwide Tour Championship, which will be held here Oct. 29-Nov. 4 (and again in 2010). Twelve new tees have been added to beef up the length to a brutish 7,588 yards.
For most of us mere mortals, however, the 6,596 gold or 6,231 silver tees will do just fine. Just remember that you're at 1,500 feet, so the ball will fly about 10-15 yards farther than usual (so use the GPS on your cart wisely). One hundred fourteen bunkers are scattered around 90 acres of turf, so there's plenty to aim at and plenty of trouble if you miss.
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