Golf / Larry Stewart : Keep That Electric Cart Warmed Up; a Fast Getaway May Be Necessary

Playing nine holes of golf in 2 hours 20 minutes is no problem on an empty course, but doing it on a clogged municipal course might be difficult.

If City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky has his way, though, golfers on the city’s 13 public courses must complete nine holes in 2:20 or be banished from the course.

Yaroslavsky’s proposal probably will be voted on by the council in October and, if passed, could take effect by November.

“It’s a joke,” Marty Tregnan, president of the L.A. Municipal Golf Assn., said of the proposal. “Anyone who plays regularly on City courses knows Yaroslavsky’s proposal is asking too much. Maybe that time limit is OK for Denver (which now has such a policy) but it won’t work in Los Angeles. There are just too many golfers here.

“I don’t think the proposal will be passed. But if it is, there will be an uproar that’ll be hard to believe.”

Golfers don’t like to be pushed. Tregnan cited a recent case where a starter at the Harbor Park course was belted in the head with the club by a golfer he had admonished for slow play. “The starter ended up in the hospital,” Tregnan said.

Tregnan believes an education program is the answer. “I’ve advocated before that golfers playing on public courses should be licensed, like drivers on public roads are,” he said. “They’d have to know the rules of golf etiquette before they’d be allowed on a city course.”

Varying opinions: In an Aug. 31 Times golf column by Shav Glick, it was reported that private organizations such as David Price’s American Golf Corp. have had success in taking over and managing public courses.

But Tregnan, for one, doesn’t like the idea. He said the L.A. Municipal Golf Assn. has fought such takeovers. “We think it’s in the best interest of the average golfer, the little guy, that the city run the municipal courses,” Tregnan said. “When these corporations like American Golf take over it becomes tougher to get on the course.” He said additional tournament play was one reason.

Tregnan also said there is the danger of green fees eventually being raised.

Expressing a different opinion were Glenn Teuber and Nishon Karamardian of San Pedro. “Horray for American Golf,” they said in a letter to The Times.

“Your recent story about this company improving public courses was right on target. Unless you play golf on municipal courses, you cannot know how much golfers appreciate their efforts.

“The American Golf Corp. has done a fantastic job on the several courses we have played. Everybody playing the Long Beach City courses raves about their contributions to more pleasureable golf, such as vastly improved greens, fairways, new golf carts, new range balls and much more.

“If American Golf can maintain the courses for Long Beach, Pasadena and L.A. County in vastly superior condition, and deliver more profits, don’t we tax payers deserve some answers from the Los Angeles City golf administrators on why they can’t give us the same treatment?”

Golf Notes

The Frontier Bank/Boys Club of Buena Park pro-am tournament will be played Monday at Los Coyotes. . . . The PGA tournament for club professionals will be held Thursday through Sunday at PGA West in La Quinta. Four former PGA tour winners are in the field--Homero Blancas, Dick Lotz, Dwight Nevil and Gary Groh. . . . The Calabasas Chamber of Commerce’s Bill Van Gieson Memorial tournament will be played Oct. 6, at the Calabasas CC. . . . Intergolf New Zealand of San Diego will hold a pro-am tournament Oct. 10, at Carmel Mountain Ranch golf course, south of Escondido. Entry fee is $50. Top prize is a trip to New Zealand. . . . Victor George of Miami and Eric Hesslington of Laguna Niguel shot 75s to tie for first in the 14th annual Billy Barty Little People Celebrity Sports tournament at Palm Desert CC in Palm Springs. Mike Dreylinek of Pittsburgh was third at 78. . . . Deadline to enter the L.A. City Senior Men’s tournament and handicap tournament is Oct. 6 at Harding. The tournament, conducted by the L.A. Municipal Golf Assn. and the L.A. City Recreation and Parks Dept., will be held Oct. 16-17 at Hardinal and Wilson courses in Griffith Park. . . . Enrico Montana, 17, won the Rancho Park Junior Club championship with a one-over-par 72. . . . Paul Solomon, 15, of the Rancho Park Junior Club won the Jane Beardsell Memorial L.A. City Juniors Shootout at Woodley.

This call’s fore you: It was bound to happen. There is now a golfers’ telephone information line in Los Angeles. For a $2 toll, a caller gets daily golf news, golf tips, jokes and trivia questions, games, contests and more. The number: (213) or (818) 976-PUTT. . . . Actor Dan Chambers shot a 78 in winning a recent Hollywood Hackers tournament. Flight winners were Ross Elliott, 69 net; Troy Melton, 70, and a tie between Dick Harwood and Alan Koss at 71. . . . L.A. County fireman Gary Dennis won the Silver Lake club championship for the third straight year with a 54-hole total of 223. . . . The San Buenaventura pro-am will be held Thursday and Friday at the Buenaventura and Olivas Park courses in Ventura. . . . PGA senior tournament qualifying will be held in conjunction with the Southern California tournament Oct. 16, at Jurupa Hills CC. Thirty-five golfers will compete for six qualifying places. . . . Defending champion Douglas Righter of Ojai won the Southern California Left-Handed Golfers Assn. tournament at El Prado with 145. Low net honors went to Charles Grauling of Los Angeles with 128.

Dr. Hugh Owen of Jeffersonville, Ind., has been selected by Golfaholics Anonymous as the golfaholic of the year. He will be honored at ceremonies at the Carmel Valley Golf and Country Club Oct. 6. Owen was nominated by his “part-time” wife, Barbara, who says that when they dated in high school and college they always met on the golf course. Owen once played 54 holes of golf in one day on three courses 60 miles apart and he once played 18 holes in 1 1/2 hours, said his wife. During their honeymoon at Doral Country Club in Miami--on the first night yet--he fell asleep after playing golf all day. Said Barbara: “Rather than kill him, which I was tempted to do, I carefully placed his golf clubs in bed with him, putting his arm around them, at which time he sighed with pleasure.” Semifinalists included Bud Tozier of Oxnard, who, after retiring two years ago, played 91 consecutive days of golf, and Donna Lee Kogan of Northridge, who was nominated by her husband, Dennis, who said: “She plays golf Sunday through Wednesday, wearing armbands because her arms hurt so that she needs cortisone shots to deaden the pain. She works Thursday through Saturday so she can play the rest of the week.”