GOLF / STEVE ELLING : Course Is on Track to Reopen

Think it’s hot now?

Imagine the possibilities not so long ago at Scholl Canyon Golf Course in Glendale.

A golfer crouches to line up his putt, eyes the hole, adjusts his cap, throws his cigarette to the ground. . . . and spontaneously ignites a white flash of fire.

It could have happened.

Four years ago, the Air Quality Management District shut down Scholl Canyon, built on a landfill site, because of methane gas seepage.

Opening day is only four months away. It’s been a long climb back for the course, located at the top of the mountains overlooking Glendale, Pasadena and Downtown Los Angeles.

“On a clear day up there, you can see Catalina,” said Bob Mezak of the Glendale Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.

Methane is a colorless, odorless gas produced by decomposing organic matter. Scholl Canyon opened in 1986, but because of the potentially dangerous and pollutive problems associated with leakage of methane--which is highly flammable--the course was ordered closed in 1990.

“(Methane) burns clear, too,” Mezak pointed out.

Poof, just like that, golfers in Glendale were left high and dry for four years by a problem they couldn’t even see. Scholl Canyon was the city’s lone public course. Nearby Chevy Chase and Oakmont country clubs are private.

Last November, the city of Glendale entered into a 40-year operational lease with the American Golf Corp., and the two parties have ensured the acreage won’t go up in smoke. In November, the facility will reopen and it’s a safe bet nobody will recognize the place.

The city installed a series of new wells and underground pipelines to collect the methane, clearing the way for the new course. In fact, the gas will be piped to the Grayson Power Plant and will be used to generate juice for the city. Water at the course will be reclaimed for use elsewhere, Mezak said.

After the wells and pipelines were installed, the course was covered with 6-10 feet of topsoil, both at city expense. Some of the dirt is from various Metrolink tunneling projects. Thereafter, the parcel was turned over to American Golf, which paid for the actual course construction.

The original 40-acre site has been expanded to 60 acres and the course has grown from nine to 18 holes. The par-60 executive layout will feature six par-four holes and 12 par-threes.

Another boon for Glendale golfers: A 35-stall lighted driving range has been built, the city’s only public practice facility, Mezak said.

The appetite for a public course in Glendale caught Mezak, a senior park services supervisor, off guard. Last spring, American Golf held a barbecue for the long-suffering members of the Scholl Canyon men’s and women’s clubs, which continued to distribute a monthly newsletter over the past four years. Eighty-five folks showed up.

“They kept together all this time,” Mezak said of the clubs. “That’s hard to believe, but they’re very enthusiastic about this (project).”

Improvements in methane collection made it possible. The system installed in 1986 wasn’t very effective, Mezak said. Even worse, fissures and sinkholes formed on fairways and greens. Subsidence was so severe on the old third green that putting became a misadventure, Mezak said.

Mezak said advances in methane collection should all but eliminate the possibility of future shutdowns, and American Golf has installed a layer of plastic sheeting underneath each green to help ensure that no methane percolates to the surface beneath unwitting players.

“Technology has improved considerably,” Mezak said.

So will the course, it seems. Reconstruction began last November. More than 300,000 cubic yards of soil were redistributed, according to Scott Williams, the site’s construction superintendent. Williams said the pre-existing course was “totally demolished.”

The rudimentary construction already is complete, though fertilization and fine-tuning continues in preparation for the unveiling on Nov. 12.

Folks won’t recognize the place, Williams promised. Like a piece of clay, the land has been sculpted.

“I would never have imagined that some of the holes that now exist could have been built,” Williams said. “What a huge, huge difference.”

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Some, some summertime: Linda Ishii can play with the big boys. Not to mention the big girls.

Ishii, who will be a junior at Westlake High, was among the starting six on the school’s highly regarded golf team, which is a feat in itself. The fact that Ishii, at 5-foot-4, was able to keep up with some of the best players in Ventura County shows considerable mettle.

High schools don’t field girls’ golf teams, so Ishii played all season from the men’s tees.

“The courses are real, real long,” she said.

It may have hastened her development.

In a five-day span last week, Ishii placed first and second in the girls’ division of two junior tournaments. She won a Southern California PGA event in Apple Valley with a six-under 59 and finished second in the SCPGA match-play event in Long Beach.

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Volunteerism: Ever want to watch the world’s top professionals from inside the gallery ropes?

The Riviera Country Club, located just over the Sepulveda Pass in Pacific Palisades, is seeking volunteers to work the 1995 PGA Championship on Aug. 7-13, which marks only the third time in the past half-century that Los Angeles has hosted one of golf’s four major events.

You can’t get any closer to the action without a club in your hand.

Adult volunteers are required to pay a $140 fee and must work at least three half-day shifts. Volunteers receive a uniform valued at $170 and may use their parking and admission passes over each of the seven days--even when they are not working the event.

“I think when you look at what you get, it’s a very good deal,” said Jim Magnusson, a PGA official and the tournament director.

More than 1,000 volunteers are still needed. Also, 600 teen-age volunteers are being sought. Teen volunteers are not required to pay a fee. Riviera last hosted the PGA in 1983. The 1948 U.S. Open, also held at Riviera, was the only other major held in the region in the past 50 years.

Volunteer information: (310) 573-7780.