ORANGE COUNTY GOLF NOTEBOOK / STEVE KRESAL : Here’s a Way to Experience Pebble Beach Without Being There

There are few sensations in golf as memorable as standing on the 18th tee at Pebble Beach. Sea otters and other marine life are playing in Carmel Bay, one of the most spectacular backdrops in golf.

There also is the par-five finishing hole with the ocean along the entire left side; even the best players quake a bit on the tee.

Not everybody has the time to travel north to play Pebble Beach, or spend the $200 for a round. But take heart. There is the chance to experience the round in Orange County.

SwingWorks in Irvine has a Par T golf simulator, which offers a chance to play Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, two of the famed courses on the Monterey Peninsula. Both courses are part of the AT&T; National Pro Am tournament; Pebble Beach also was the site of the U.S. Open in June.

Players also can select North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2, site of the PGA Tour’s season-ending championship tournament.

To use the simulator, players hit from a teeing area into a tunnel that has the view from the tee of each hole on the back wall.

Once the ball hits the wall, the distance and accuracy of the shot appear in red letters at the bottom of the screen.

The view switches to the corresponding shot with each player’s turn. The game simulates sand shots by having the player place a ball in a trough on the hitting area.

Once the players reach the green, the computer assigns a letter corresponding to an area on the artificial green. The putting area is not as simple as one might think. There are downhill putts, and the green has plenty of subtle breaks, just as any championship green would.

“After a few rounds, players figure (the machine) out,” said Jim Howe, who runs SwingWorks. “It’s easier than the real course in some ways but offers many of the challenges.”

It costs $25 an hour for two players to use the machine, $30 for three players or more. A group of three or more with reasonable talent can play 18 holes in about three hours.

The game also can be changed into a driving-range format where a person or group can pick one hole, such as No. 7 (107-yard par 3) at Pebble Beach, and hit tee shots for $6 a half hour.

Swing Harder! SwingWorks also offers lessons and an indoor practice area, but the simulator is the thing most people want to use.

The facility is celebrating its second anniversary with an open house Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. One of the biggest attractions will be a long-drive contest using the simulator.

It will take a mighty wallop to best Chris Floth, one of the teachers at SwingWorks. Floth, a former standout baseball player at Tustin High School and Rancho Santiago College, recently hit a drive of 316 yards in a competition in Riverside.

Ratings: Five Orange County courses were selected when California Golf magazine picked the best 25 public and private courses in the state.

Among public courses, Pelican Hill was picked fourth and Tijeras Creek was 17th. Pebble Beach, of course, was No. 1.

On the list of private courses, Dove Canyon was No. 12, Coto de Caza No. 15 and Big Canyon No. 18. Cypress Point, also on the Monterey Peninsula, was selected No. 1.

Hole of the Week: Ever wonder what it must be like to play in front of the crowds that line the fairways at professional tournaments? Well, with a little creativity, you can simulate it on the first hole of the Orange Course at the Green River Golf Club.

The 507-yard par five plays into a strong afternoon wind, and the Santa Ana River makes for a nice water hazard down the entire left side. Trees also dot each side of the fairway, and there is a lake along the right to catch wayward third shots.

To find the audience, all you have to do is look up to the 91 Freeway to your left and imagine the drivers watching you, checking out your game, seeing if your socks match. There are bigger crowds during rush hours.