Cheap Rounds Can Be Found

Golf Economics 101: When demand is high and supply is low, prices will soar like Tiger Woods’ nine-iron shots.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in Orange County, which has one of the lowest ratios of golf holes to golfers in the nation, according to the National Golf Foundation.

So it’s no surprise that it will cost you dearly to play any of the eight courses that have opened in the county in the 1990s. From Coyote Hills on a Monday ($80) to Pelican Hill on a Sunday ($225), the menu choices are all expensive.

You do get a posh golf experience for your money: valet parking, swarming cart attendants, immaculate fairways and billiard-table smooth greens. And, maybe even more important, a chance to play a round in less than six hours.

It’s as if, many course operators say, you are member of a country club for a day. We don’t doubt that. Everyone enjoys occasional pampering, but we don’t run with a crowd that can afford it regularly.

So do we save our change in a jar, skip lunch twice a week and play one $100 round a month? Or just throw up our hands, toss away the clubs and give up golf?

No way.

The state of public golf is not as bleak as it seems. There are plenty of affordable--and well-kept--courses in and around the county. We intend to regularly profile some of them, illuminating what makes them unique and providing hints on how to win the often ferocious battle for tee times.

Here are some of the courses we plan to review in the coming weeks:

* Anaheim Hills. One of the better values in the county with $36.50 weekday rounds and $42.50 on weekends (including cart).

* Anaheim Dad Miller. For a course that charges $20-$26 to walk, it’s in remarkably good shape.

* Rancho San Joaquin. This mostly wide-open course has several challenging holes, especially the par-five fifth with a green guarded by an L-shaped lake.

* Mile Square. The county’s most-played course is kept in decent shape.

* San Clemente. Many believe this is the county’s top public layout. San Clemente residents get a sweet deal, priority in tee-time reservations and reduced green fees.

* Green River. Two well-maintained 18-hole layouts next to the Santa Ana River, one in Orange County and the other just over the county line in Riverside County.

* Willowick. On the Santa Ana/Garden Grove border, the course is on the short side (6,061 from the tips) but still has character.

* RiverView. Unique layout runs in and around the Santa Ana River bed.

* Costa Mesa. You can choose between two 18-hole courses--6,542-yard Los Lagos and 5,530-yard Mesa Linda. Conditions have greatly improved since Jim Fetterly was hired as superintendent.