GOLF : Courses Designed by Nicklaus Have Inside Track to Prestige Ranking

The modern-day shortcut to getting a golf course named one of the “100 best in America” would seem to be having Jack Nicklaus as its architect.

Nicklaus, who has been at his second career only 15 years, designed seven courses among the top 100 in the latest rating by Golf Digest’s panel of experts. Only four legendary designers--Robert Trent Jones, Donald Ross, Pete Dye and A.W. Tillinghast--have as many or more.

Nicklaus’ first signature course, Muirfield Village, which he created with Desmond Muirhead in Dublin, Ohio, heads the list, which also includes Shoal Creek, Ala.; Castle Pines, Colo.; Desert Highlands, Ariz.; Annandale, Miss.; Loxahatchee, Fla., and Grand Cypress, Fla.

It may be only a matter of time before two of his jewels in Southern California break into the top 100.

Sherwood Country Club, which opened with great fanfare in the hills south of Thousand Oaks a year ago, and Dove Canyon Country Club, the newest addition to Orange County’s golf explosion, are excellent future-book candidates.

All they need is time, and with Nicklaus courses that sometimes doesn’t take long. Loxahatchee, a watery layout in Jupiter, Fla., made the list only four years after it opened.

Difficulty--at least from the championship, or tournament, tees--is always a consideration, and both Sherwood and Dove Canyon can be stretched out to torture tests. Sherwood, from the gold tees, was recently assigned a 75.7 rating with a slope of 146, the fourth-highest in the Southern California Golf Assn. Dove Canyon has been tentatively set at 74.3 with a 136 slope, but it is expected to be 75 or higher when the official rating is assigned by the SCGA later this year.

Both are centerpieces of exclusive master-planned, gate-guarded communities. Surrounding the Sherwood course is David Murdock’s 1,900-acre development in the Sherwood Valley. Dove Canyon is an 874-acre development east of Mission Viejo, where Garth Chambers has carved out 1,312 homesites and a golf course between Rancho Santa Margarita and Coto de Caza, another golf course-oriented community where a Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed layout is the centerpiece. Dove Canyon is unique in that no smoking is allowed-- on the golf course --because of its proximity to the Cleveland National Forest and its use of a straw-like fescue grass in the rough, which has given it a high fire-risk classification.

Sherwood was opened last November when Greg Norman played host to the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities tournament won by Curtis Strange. This year’s event will be Nov. 13-18.

The Dove Canyon course opened on Aug. 8, but the formal opening with Nicklaus on hand to hit the first ball will not be held until early next year, after the 47,000-square foot clubhouse is completed.

Pete Pino, who was instrumental in forming the Los Coyotes and Friendly Hills country clubs and was later at the Los Angeles Country Club and Industry Hills, recently joined Dove Canyon as general manager. Kevin Paluch, formerly with Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, is director of golf.

“Nicklaus’ attention to detail is amazing,” Pino said. “When he came out for what was sort of a final inspection, he didn’t like the way one fairway looked to him, so he had us move it 15 feet. The sprinkling system was already in, and we had to move the whole thing.”

The incident is similar to Nicklaus’ work at Sherwood, where he didn’t like the positioning of a 100-year-old oak tree on a hole; he simply had it dug up and moved to where he wanted it.

Beth Daniel and Betsy King will continue their duel for player-of-the-year honors on the LPGA Tour into the $325,000 MBS tournament next month at Los Coyotes Country Club.

Daniel, the earnings leader with $557,532 to date, and King, the U.S. Women’s Open champion and winner of $421,431, have both filed entries for the 54-hole tournament Sept. 21-23, along with Nancy Lopez, the defending champion.

Patty Sheehan, the second-leading money winner with $537,791, is also expected to enter.

Golf Notes

Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino have committed to play in the inaugural Security Pacific Senior tournament Oct. 29-Nov. 4 at Rancho Park. Palmer won three Los Angeles Opens at Rancho in 1963, ’66 and ‘67, but he is probably remembered more for the seven-over-par 12 he took on the ninth hole in 1961, when he hit four consecutive shots out of bounds--two to the right and two to the left. The 54-hole $500,000 tournament will benefit the Centinela Hospital’s Children’s Charity Fund. . . . The 16th annual Billy Casper Invitational will be held Sept. 11 at Anaheim Hills.

The West Coast Golf Show, second largest golf trade show in the world, will wrap up today and Monday at the Long Beach Convention Center and Arena with 905 exhibit booths showcasing the newest in equipment, accessories and fashions. . . . Former touring pro Bill Thornton has joined head professional Robert La Point as teaching pro at the Ridgeline CC, a nine-hole executive course in Orange. . . . Rancho Park juniors, headed by Andy Huang, won the L.A. City junior club championship on their home course. Griffith Park was second, followed by Hansen Dam and Sepulveda. . . . Dennis Kaprielian of San Marino won the SoCal Left-handed Golfers Assn. championship with a 74-68--142 at El Prado. Low net was Ron Turner of Los Angeles with 133.

Jerry Barber, in his sixth decade as a professional golfer, is the oldest regular on the Senior PGA Tour at 74. The longtime Griffith Park pro from La Canada comments on the problems of keeping up with the 60-year-olds in the Vantage Super Seniors division: “The toughest thing I find is the way I’ve lost distance on my driving. The golf courses are getting a little too long for me, and they’re calling for finer shots than I can make now. We could make those shots in days gone by, but not now. A lot of guys are coming in there with a seven- or an eight-iron, and I’m back there with a wood or long iron. It doesn’t make for any kind of scoring.”

Dates for the 20th annual L.A. City Senior Women’s Championship have been changed to Sept. 5-6 at the Rancho Park course. . . . Bill Campbell, 1964 U.S. Amateur champion and former president of the U.S. Golf Assn., has been named to receive the Old Tom Morris award from the Golf Course Superintendents Assn. of America. Campbell is only the third American, joining Francis Ouimet and Joe Dey, named captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland.