SOUTHLAND FOCUS
A weekly look at golf courses open to the public in Southern California.
SCGA MEMBERS’ CLUB
Address: 38275 Murrieta Hot Springs Rd., Murrieta.
Green fees: $50-$60 (cart included); $35-$45 for SCGA members.
Phone: (800) 752-9724, (909) 677-7446.
Tee times: One week in advance.
The facility: A Robert Trent Jones (Sr. and Jr.) design, with doglegs, generous fairways and large, smooth putting surfaces. The greens are bracketed by bunkers, and virtually every fairway has traps catch straying tee shots. The SCGA took over the course formerly known as Rancho California in February 1994, and it has never been in better condition. Expansive driving range with ample grass hitting area.
The good: Exceptional variety; contoured fairways, manicured greens, soft sand. Each nine follows a circular route, the layout forming a figure-eight, so only a few holes are adjacent. That means each hole is its own little world, which, after all, is the way the game is meant to be played. No. 3 plummets to a fairway with out of bounds on both sides and a green fronted by a pond. If you can play Nos. 3, 12-13-14 and 18 in even par, it’s time for PGA Tour qualifying school.
The bad: Holes 15 and 16, bordered by a development, don’t have the character of the others. Of course, that’s like whining that the wheel covers on your Jaguar aren’t as shiny as you’d like.
The score: Well worth the hour-and-a-half drive from Los Angeles. Black tees stretch the course to championship-level 7,008 yards. An additional nine holes have been designed and approved, though no timetable is set for construction. A warning: The club sandwich (fries included) in the snack bar is big enough to fill Hell Bunker at St. Andrews; split it with your partner.
*
Overall rating: 3 1/2 balls.
* One ball: No-frills golf.
** Two balls: Worth an occasional round.
*** Three balls: Like shooting four strokes under your handicap.
**** Four balls: Where the golf gods play.
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Hole Back Tees Middle Tees Par Front Tees 1 545 514 5 473 2 174 146 3 113 3 387 372 4 213 4 539 527 5 426 5 420 392 4 351 6 160 144 3 110 7 324 309 4 280 8 420 350 4 303 9 356 317 4 294 Out 3,325 3,071 36 2,563 10 191 135 3 102 11 380 369 4 348 12 411 377 4 367 13 565 542 5 489 14 408 398 4 318 15 343 319 4 277 16 189 164 3 155 17 499 459 5 429 18 411 401 4 307 In 3,397 3,161 36 2,792 Total 6,722 6,235 72 5,355
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Rating/Slope: Black--72.1/126, Middle--69.4/117, Front--70.5/116
