GOLF : Tee Times Are Tough on L.A. City Courses

Marty Tregnan, director of the Los Angeles City golf courses, likes to tell about the foreign golfer who went to play the Wilson course. When he was told it would cost him three-fifty ($3.50), he plunked down three $50-bills.

“That was 1970, and ever since then the price has gone up,” Tregnan says.

To play Wilson during the week now costs $10.50. But the increased fees certainly hasn’t muffled the golf explosion. Before World War II there were 2.5-million golfers in the country. There are now 25 million--and 10% of them live in Los Angeles.

The real problem is just reserving a starting tee time at one of the city’s seven 18-hole courses, or even at one of the six nine-hole courses. As for reserving a weekend time, the chances are slim to none.

“It’s about as difficult as it has ever been before,” Tregnan says. “The solution, obviously, is more courses.”

The city courses operate on a reservation-card system. A three-year membership costs $25 and the golfer is issued a card with an identifying number. The card allows the member to phone a central number to reserve a tee-time, or call a specific course to see if there are any openings for that day. Each call is allowed to reserve one starting time for a foursome. Without a reservation card, a golfer has to go to the course and sign up on a waiting list.

To make a weekend reservation, a member has to call on Monday for the following Saturday and on Tuesday for the following Sunday. All other days can be reserved a week in advance.

The city’s card membership is 50,000. At Rancho Park, the most popular city course, starters accommodate about 125 foursomes on the weekend and about 100 on weekdays. Multiply that by the seven courses, and it leaves most city card members looking elsewhere for places to play.

Add to the problem, Tregnan said, is that some members have learned how to beat the system.

“As soon as the (telephone) lines open up, they jam the lines with all their friends and end up getting all the good times,” Tregnan said.

The good news is that this is one of those times it may pay to be single. Tee times for an individual, who will be assigned by the course to make a foursome, are more readily available.

After Rancho Park, which is on Pico Boulevard at Beverly Glen, the most requested courses are Wilson in Griffith Park, Encino and Encino Balboa. The other courses are Harding in Griffith Park, Woodley Lakes in Van Nuys and Hansen Dam in Pacoima.

Los Angeles city courses should not be confused with the county courses, which do not operate under the same reservation system. All 18 county public courses are leased out and each operates under its own system.

Add public courses: Poppy Hills golf course in Pebble Beach tops the list of the best 25 public courses in California, as selected by California Golf magazine in a recent issue. Placing second is La Purisima in Lompoc, followed by Torrey Pines, south course, in La Jolla; Industry Hills, Eisenhower course; the Oakhurst Country Club in Clayton and Los Serranos, south course, in Chino.

Other Southern California courses ranked: Sandpiper in Goleta at No. 7, Rancho California in Murrieta No. 9, Brookside, Course 1, in Pasadena No. 10, Hesperia Golf and Country Club No. 13 and the new Moreno Valley Ranch Golf club, designed by Pete Dye, No. 17. PGA West Stadium Course at La Quinta is ranked No. 20 and San Bernardino’s Shandin Hills is No. 24.

UCLA’s women’s golf team has a good chance of winning its first national championship when the NCAA tournament is played, starting Wednesday at Ohio State.

The Bruins are ranked third in the country, behind top-ranked San Jose State and No. 2 Arizona. UCLA finished second in last year’s NCAA tournament behind winner Arizona State, which did not qualify for this year’s tournament.

The no. 3 ranking is the highest for the Bruins, who have a few things going their way this season. UCLA defeated Arizona by 22 strokes in winning the Pacific 10 championship and beat San Jose by 36 strokes for the California Collegiate tournament title, played on the Stanford campus.

Also, the Bruins have a star in freshman Lisa Kiggens, from West High School in Bakersfield. Kiggens won the individual titles in both the Pac-10 and California tournaments, and also won the Bruin Desert Classic earlier this year. Last week she was named GolfWeek magazine’s player of the month.

Her three individual titles leave here tied for the Bruin record with Kay Cockerill and Jean Zedlitz. She is also ranked fifth in the nation, the highest ranking ever for a UCLA freshman. Her stroke average is 75.1.

Kiggens won the 1990 Junior World and Jr. America Cup titles. She was a state high school finalist all four years.

In the June issue of Golf Digest, English golfer Tony Jacklin, who won the U.S. Open in 1970 and the British Open in 1969, offers his thoughts on Fred Couples and speaks candidly about why he thinks foreigners are the best players in the world and why one foreign country may be the worst place for a major golf tournament.

Here’s what he has to say about Spain, the country of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but which was turned down as a possible Ryder Cup site: “I lived in Spain for eight years and they couldn’t run a raffle there. The Spanish people are not organized enough to run that kind of event.”

--On Couples’ collapse on the last hole of his match with Christy O’Connor in the 1989 Ryder Cup: “He just doesn’t react well to pressure. He can’t handle it.”

-- And on the unwillingness of Americans to admit that foreigners are dominating the game: “They simply cannot accept that a foreign player can be the best. They never actually come out and say it, but they think that unless John Wayne comes in with a trumpet at the end, it doesn’t work.”

Add world rankings: Only three American players are ranked in the top 10 in the Sony world rankings and the top four positions are held by foreign players.

No. 1 is Ian Woosnam of Wales, followed by Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal, England’s Nick Faldo and Australia’s Greg Norman. Paul Azinger and Payne Stewart follow at fifth and sixth, and Curtis Strange is ranked 10th.

Golf Notes

Jon Williams and Ellie Meyers won the men’s and women’s championships, respectively, at Redlands Country Club. . . . The annual Lions and Lambs tournament, which teams advanced players with beginners, will be held by the Beverly Hills Women’s Golf Club June 12 at Little Rancho Golf Course. . . . Players West Golf Tour, the California-based tour for women professionals, will play the Players West Classic at Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks June 4-6.

The third annual California Stroke Play tournament will be held Aug. 7-9 at La Purisima Golf Course in Lompoc. Entry deadline is July 28. . . . The 1991 Maxfli PGA Junior tournament’s Southern California section qualifying, will be held at Jurupa Hills Country Club in Riverside and Moreno Valley Ranch golf club July 1-2. . . . The Women’s Southern California Golf Assn. will hold it’s 69th annual state tournament at La Jolla Country Club May 20-24.

Margaret O’Kelley won the annual Sepulveda Women’s Golf Club match play tournament, defeating Betty Pavey on the 20th hole. . . . The eighth annual First State Bank of the Oaks-YMCA tournament will be held May 31 at Los Robles Greens in Thousand Oaks. . . . The Long Beach Senior Amateur tournament is scheduled June 3-5 at Recreation Park in Long Beach. . . . The Orange County Amateur Championships will be held June 1-2 at at Mile Square golf course in Fountain Valley.