Sun Will Set on Jewel of a Course

“This golf course deserves to die,” muttered one angry golfer when his par putt slipped over the lip of the cup. It was only gallows humor. We all know that no golf course should ever die, especially if it’s to be reincarnated as another housing development.

And who wouldn’t mourn the loss of a robust, thriving course with mature trees, lush fairways, smooth greens, $22 weekday green fees and, get this, occasional rounds under four hours?

Sometime next Sunday afternoon, the last foursome of mourners will tee off at Imperial Golf Course in Brea. It will mark the end of the course’s 28-year reign as a quintessential example of a dying breed in Orange County: the well-groomed, affordable municipal course.

Next up on the No. 1 tee: the bulldozers.

Unocal, which owns the land, probably is going to make lots of money selling the 390 single-family homes. You can’t stand in the way of progress.

It seems news of the course’s impending demise hasn’t reached the groundskeepers.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Nick Saqr of Yorba Linda, as he and partner Tony Diab lit cigars before teeing off last week. “Look, there are guys trimming the hedges, even fertilizing the flowers, and they’re going to plow it under in a week. You’d think they’d just let it go and save a few bucks, but the management company is really showing some class.”

It was a conscious decision, said Bob Wine, president of MDJ Management Co., which runs the course. “We just decided that we would keep it up until the end,” Wine said. “We didn’t want the quality to go down and have people’s memory of the course be bad.”

There’s little chance of that. The course is immaculate these days. The greens are as true as those on many a country club.

True, this is not a world-class facility. Even from the tips, the course is a rather short 6,211 yards and there have been times it has been rough around the edges.

But it has character--picture rolling fairways lined by mature trees punctuated by the occasional working grasshopper oil well--and presents a fair challenge to the average golfer.

And those golfers are lining up to say their goodbyes to Imperial. Tee times are nearly booked solid for the course’s final days.

“The saddest part is we’re losing this course and all the new courses being built these days are too expensive for the middle class,” Saqr said. “We can’t afford to play Pelican Hill or Tustin Ranch or Coyote Hills, so now we’ve got to scramble to find a new course we can afford . . . and you can get a tee time.”

It is certainly going to be difficult for Orange County’s similarly priced courses to absorb the refugees from Imperial.

Finding a tee time during the prime morning hours is already a tough proposition. Mike Pearson, Imperial’s head professional, says Imperial turns away about 150 disappointed callers on a typical weekday and about 400 on a weekend day.

Pearson said: “It’s just going to make the other courses a lot more crowded.”

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Senior sighting: For the first time in the four years of the Toshiba Senior Classic, Chi Chi Rodriguez was a no-show, but Rodriguez is returning to the county in April.

Rodriguez, one of senior golf’s most popular performers, is hosting a charity event to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, April 7 at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. A limited number of tournament entries are available. For information: (714) 938-1393.

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The Orange County Golf Notebook runs monthly. Suggestions are welcome. Call (714) 966-5904, fax 966-5663 or e-mail Martin.Beck@latimes.com