San Juan Capistrano Mulls Course in Hills Above City

Orange County’s high-end golf course fraternity might be getting another member. The San Juan Capistrano City Council is considering a plan to build a golf course on city-owned open space on hills above Interstate 5.

It would be a spectacular course, said Ted Robinson Jr., of Laguna Niguel-based Robinson Golf Design, which hopes to build the course, “I think it would be one of the finest facilities in Southern California.”

Robinson and his father, golf architect Ted Robinson Sr., have completed preliminary work on the design for a 6,900- to 7,000-yard championship course and clubhouse that would cost more than $20 million to build.

The cost is pushed upward by steep terrain that would require major earthmoving to make a golf course feasible for the area above a dead end on Camino Las Ramblas.

The views of Dana Point Harbor and a picturesque stretch of the Pacific Coast are what would presumably be the main draw for golfers.

Greens fees at the course would be similar to those at other upscale courses in the area, which means about $125 to play Friday through Sunday. “It will be a Pelican Hill experience,” Robinson said, “at a Strawberry Farms price.”

But don’t grab your clubs--or wallet--just yet. There is only a slim chance the course will be built, according to San Juan Capistrano City Manager George Scarborough.

“I would describe it as a remote possibility,” Scarborough said.

On Jan. 18, the city council is scheduled to decide whether to continue pursuing the project.

The obstacles to building the course are many. The area is almost certainly home to the gnatcatcher, a federally protected endangered species of songbird.

Perhaps most importantly, however, the road that would access the course, Camino Las Ramblas, goes through an existing residential area and a group of homeowners have organized to fight the project.

Dan Merkle, a resident of the neighborhood and spokesman for Save the Open Space, said the group’s main concern is to keep the hills in their current undeveloped state.

Building the course would require cutting into the ridgeline as much as 125 feet, Merkle said. The city has historically been hesitant to develop its pristine ridgelines, even going as far as enacting a city ordinance to protect hillsides. This project wouldn’t be prohibited by the ordinance.

“The ridgelines they want to destroy,” Merkle said, “are featured in the handbook they give out telling people why they should spend time in San Juan Capistrano.”

GETTING CLOSER

Another high-end course that is being built is nearing completion--sort of.

Within a month, Talega Golf Club in San Clemente should have completed the installation of sod on 12 of its holes, which means they should be playable by early spring. But work on the final six holes isn’t expected to begin until the end of this month. Therefore, the course opening won’t be until next fall, said Brian Austin of developer Talega Associates.

The delay was because the design of 6,900-yard course--by Brian Curley with consulting from PGA Tour pro Fred Couples--had to be adjusted to avoid covering an environmentally sensitive drainage area.

MORE CONSTRUCTION

Not all new construction is in the pricey neighborhoods.

The expansion of Mile Square Golf Course on county land in Fountain Valley is progressing nicely, said Scott Chaffin, general manager of the course.

This week seeding and sodding will start on four new holes that will be added to the current layout so work can be completed on the second 18.

Chaffin is hoping the four holes--which will be the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th--will be playable in March.

“It’s hard to predict but the goal is to get it up and running as soon as possible,” Chaffin said, “so we can finish the other things we have been working on.”

The new clubhouse is expected to open in June and the new 18-hole course by the end of the summer, Chaffin said.

NOTEWORTHY

Tickets for the Nabisco Championship, the LPGA’s first major of the year, March 20-26 in Rancho Mirage, can be had at a reduced price until Jan. 31. A clubhouse badge good the entire week is $60 and a grounds badge is $45. Both prices are $15 less than the regular advance ticket price that is available through March 8. Daily tickets at the gate will be $15 during the week and $20 on the weekend. Details: (760) 324-4546 or https://www.nabiscochampionship.com

The Pelican Hill golf shop has been named one of the 100 best in the nation by Golf Shop Operations. It’s Pelican Hill’s sixth appearance on the trade publication’s annual list.