GOLF / MARYANN HUDSON : Sleep Can Be Replaced, but Not Tee Times

There are golfers who are crazy about the game, and then there are those the game has made a little crazy, causing them to do such things as spend the night in their car to reserve a tee time a week ahead of time.

That’s what happens at Los Verdes County Golf Course, a popular 18-hole, 6,700-yard course in Rancho Palos Verdes. There’s an ocean view from every hole, and even a view from the third level of the parking lot, which may help to placate the boredom that sets in when you spend the night in your car.

“They are not supposed to do this, but some of the golfers get here as early as 7 or 8 o’clock (the night before). It’s psychotic,” said Dan Ryan, manager of Los Verdes. “They sleep in their car, get a reservation in the morning and then come back the next week and play.”

All this to get a coveted early tee time--before noon--so that 18 holes can be finished before dusk.

Under Los Angeles County golf regulations, each course takes reservations exactly one week ahead by booking one phone reservation for every two in person at the starter’s window. On weekends, the starter’s window and phone lines open at 5 a.m.

But at Los Verdes, reservations made in person work under an honor system developed by the golfers who spend the night there.

The first golfers to arrive start a sign-in list and then police the parking lot to make sure everyone who signs the list stays on the grounds. If not, the name is deleted from the list.

There are usually about 30 people waiting when the starter’s window opens, and names are called in order from the list, alternating with the phone lines on a two-to-one basis.

But there are only about 21 early tee times available. In the winter, it isn’t light enough to play until 7 a.m., and the course usually books a tournament each weekend from 10 a.m. to noon.

“We have invited some people who call for reservations, and can’t understand how the tee times can go so fast, to come in, stand next to the starter and see how fast it goes,” Ryan said. “Usually, it is all over and done with in 12 minutes.”

The system has drawn complaints.

Larry Lee, the county’s director of golf, said there have been no problems with injuries or fights among people spending the night in parking lots. However the county is looking into a new reservations system.

“We have so many golfers competing for starting times, especially (during) standard time, that this is the way it is done,” Lee said. “At Los Verdes, there are about 130,000 rounds played annually, and that isn’t even our busiest course. At La Mirada, there are about 137,000 rounds played. We just need more golf courses.”

Lee said the county is researching a computerized phone reservation system. Unlike the City’s system, in which golfers buy a reservation card and call a centralized phone number answered by people, this system would be handled by computer.

The fast-growing Singles Golf Connection, for ages 30-55, has a full tournament schedule planned next year. The group, founded in Encino last spring by 43-year old Marcey Mahler, has grown to 120 members and holds two or three tournaments a month on courses throughout Southern California.

The next meeting will be on Jan. 15 at the Acapulco Restaurant in Encino. Details: (818) 789-6784.

In “Mr. Dutch, the Arkansas Traveler,” a new book about Dutch Harrison by Beach Leighton (Sagamore Publishing), Bob Hope writes that there was a time he would rather play a round of golf with Arnold Palmer or Harrison than with anybody else.

In the book’s foreword, Hope has these memories of the Hall of Fame golfer:

“He may have ambled out of an Arkansas cotton patch with a cornpone accent, but he could outsmart anybody on a golf course. What a smooth sugarcoater he was. I remember when he told me how good I was while he was giving me a lesson. It cost me $800.

“When I made a bad shot during a round, Dutch remarked: ‘Everything is all right, Mr. Bob. You’re just limbering up.’ That’s what he told me on the 18th green once. And when I’d ask for help on a putt, he’d say, ‘Just keep it low, Mr. Bob.’ ”

Harrison played from 1920 into the 1970s. He won 30 tournaments and played on the U.S. Ryder Cup team four times. He was elected to the PGA Hall of Fame in 1962.

Golf Notes

The Mike Scioscia/Chino Valley Bank Celebrity golf tournament will be held today at Industry Hills. The event benefits Casa Colina Wheelchair Sports’ recreation and outdoors program, which offers year-round recreational and competitive sports and outdoor adventures for disabled children and adults in Southern California. . . . The LPGA will play for record prize money in 1992, with 40 events offering a total purse of $20.8 million, an increase of $2.6 million over this year. . . . Scott Manners was co-host of the Stone-Manners Celebrity tournament at Moreno Valley Country Club, and his father, comedian Mickey Manners, shot a 78 to win it. . . . The Retired Military Golfers Assn., Inc. will launch its 17th year of competition with a scramble tournament at Gen. Olds Golf Club on March Air Force Base on Jan. 10. Membership is restricted to retired military personnel and their dependents, civil service retirees and honorary members with 20 years or more of active duty. Details: (800) 726-3703. . . . The Pacific Amateur Tour will conduct more than 60 tournaments in 1992 for golfers of all levels of ability. Details: (800) 696-2930.