Going Online Can Keep Golfers on Course
Say you are tired of playing the same old golf course and want to swing somewhere new, or at least new to you. What do you do?
You could ask friends for a recommendation or browse through a golf guidebook at a bookstore or library. You could check the phone book or, if you have one, a Southern California Golf Assn. directory.
But in the late 1990s, those options seem positively anachronistic. These days the computer has become the information source of choice--even for a sport as tradition-bound as golf.
So, looking for that new place to play, you jump on the World Wide Web and click on an Internet search engine and type in “southern california golf course” and get nearly 4 million pages to check out. Eventually, you might find some useful sites and actually find a course you would like to try.
There are ways to narrow your search, as anyone who is at least semi-Internet savvy knows, but let’s skip that step and go directly to some of the best online golf guides.
Two of the most extensive are GolfWeb (https://www.golfweb.com) and Golfcourse.com (https://www.golfcourse.com), which both provide descriptions and brief reviews of courses all over the world, including, of course, Southern California.
All the pertinent facts are included for each course--phone number, address, greens fees, etc.--but most enlightening are the bulletin boards that provide a place for readers to sound off about a course. It’s here you can find out about poor--or fantastic--course conditions or how fast--or slow--it plays on the weekend. The critiques can be blunt, as a recent posting on GolfWeb about Anaheim Hills illustrates:
“Great course with a lot of blind shots. Only complaint is that they paired me up with two bozos that acted like Moe and Larry. I also noticed a lot of people going to the bathroom in the woods. They need more bathrooms on the course.”
Detailed information, though not usually that intimate, about Southland courses can also be found in locally based sites. One is this newspaper’s own CalendarLive (https://www.calendarlive.com). There you can find thumbnail descriptions of every course, public and private, in The Times’ circulation area. It’s a tremendous resource if you want to look up a specific course. Unfortunately, if you are just browsing, you have to wade through a list that includes miniature and Frisbee golf.
Another option if you want the scoop on Orange County courses is https://www.OCnow.com, a service of Cox Interactive Media in Irvine. OCnow, which debuted in April, has put together what it calls the Ultimate Golf Guide.
It’s hard to argue the point. The guide takes a detailed look at the courses it profiles and so far it has gotten out to 16 of the county’s 21 regulation-length public courses and has also done profiles on par-67 Fullerton Golf Course, nine-hole Aliso Creek and Green River, with its two courses just over the county line in Corona.
A profile of Mile Square is expected to be posted this week, says Stuart Matthews, the OCnow staffer in charge of the golf guide, with RiverView, Strawberry Farms and the two courses at Pelican Hill to follow in the near future.
The OCnow reviews include a description that Matthews writes after playing the course and interviewing its golf professionals. For each hole, there is a description, strategy how to play it, a picture and a graphic.
The usual information is supplemented by advice to the “sharpshooter” and the “hacker.” Other sections of the site offer features on local professionals, general tips from teaching pros and other local golf news.
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Picking up speed: Accessing the Internet can sometimes be maddeningly slow, nearly as frustrating as a six-hour round of golf, but there is another way. Macro Communications Inc. of Irvine has produced a CD-ROM golf guide.
The CD, which sells for $19.95 in many golf shops, is called Southern California Golf Interactive. It’s something of a misnomer because it includes only courses in Orange and San Diego counties, but it does offer a slick look at quite a few Southland courses.
Mike Carran, president of Macro Communications, started playing golf a couple years ago and couldn’t find a comprehensive source about local courses. So he decided to provide one.
The guide has the same basics as the Web sites but access is much quicker and you can search the data base alphabetically or by cost of greens fees. Also included is information about driving ranges and retail golf stores.
There are pictures of every hole on the courses, which allows a player to get an idea of what a course is like without going there.
“There’s nothing worse than driving to a course, spending $80 and being disappointed by it,” Carran said. “This way you can preview a course before playing it.”
The price includes coupons for discounts on greens fees and range balls at Temecula Creek Inn, Redhawk, NorthWood practice range and several other facilities.
The company is currently working on guides for Hawaii, Phoenix-Scottsdale and Las Vegas-Reno and is also planning a guide for Palm Springs and a combined one for Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. For more information, call (949) 261-2771 or try the company Web site at https://www.macrocommunications.com.
Notes
Bill Hulbert, head professional at Yorba Linda Country Club, has been named the 1998 golf professional of the year by the Southern California PGA. David Wright of Pelican Hill has been named the SCPGA teacher of the year. Pelican Hill’s Mike Vandergoes was picked as the assistant pro of the year and Tustin Ranch’s Randy Chang the merchandiser of the year at a public facility. . . . Tijeras Creek’s junior golf team won the SCPGA Metro Chapter Junior Team Championship last month. The eight-player team--Taylor Wood, Chris Todd, Chris Porter, Daniel Kush, Mike Tran, Danny Grant, Matt Wares and Daniel Cichocki--beat Industry Hills by four strokes at Industry Hills’ Zaharias Course. The team from Fullerton Golf Course finished fourth. . . . The Pacific Amateur Golf Classic, a full-handicap competition in central Oregon Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, is accepting entrants until Sept. 15. The fee is $375 and includes a minimum of three days of golf on Awbrey Glen, Black Butte Ranch, Eagle Crest, Widgi Creek, and the Woodlands Course at Sunriver Resort. The finals will be held at Sunriver’s Crosswater course. For more information, call (800) 800-8334.
Beck and Kresal can be reached with comments or suggestions at (714) 966-5904, fax 966-5663 or e-mail at Martin.Beck@latimes.com or Steve.Kresal@latimes.com
