The Ojai
Valley is a great golf destination, especially as we head into the winter
months.
Everyone
knows about the famous Ojai Valley Inn Golf Course, but there are now two great
layouts in that valley. Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai recently got a bit of a
face lift from Gil Hanse, the minimalist golf
architect who gained local notice with Rustic Canyon in Moorpark.
The heavy
rains of February 2005 wreaked havoc with the Soule Park layout. The Thatcher
River overflowed, and several course crossings were compromised. The layout has
been changed for the better. The old 17th and 18th holes have been reversed and
will now be No. 1 and 2. That leaves the old 10th as the new 3rd hole, and this
is a better fit for this downhill par-3 with water in front. The rest of the
routing is unchanged, but with several new tees for added yardage. All of the
greens have been rebuilt and a new irrigation system has been installed.
I played the
course the other day with UCLA Basketball legend Lynn Shackelford, whose son
Geoff assisted Hanse on the Rustic Canyon design.
Lynn was able to give me special insight as to the architect’s plan.
Gil Hanse operates out of the Philadelphia area. Like the more
famous Crenshaw & Coore team, he prefers to work
with the natural land and, as a result, rarely moves dirt around. His greens
fit the terrain and remind one of courses in Great Britain.
Hanse interned with a golf architect in
England, where he no doubt acquired this trait.
Soule Park
offers wonderful views of the Ojai mountains, and
Thatcher Creek intersects the layout. It has always been a great site, but was
never properly maintained. The course improvements should go a long way to
fixing this problem. I noticed that the course played longer, no doubt because
of the new irrigation system. The greens are tougher and wavy in design. The
bunkering now has the look of an old championship course. All-in-all, I found
the course to be fair, but much more challenging than the old layout.
Accurate tee
shots and approaches will be rewarded, but errant shots will be more penalized
than before. There are stronger par-4s, and most of the approach shots are
guarded by deep bunkers. The old “Monster” hole, No. 7, is gone, and not too
many are weeping.
For
more information visit www.soulepark.com.
The Golf Coach
Chipping and
pitching seem to be two of the real problem areas for most golfers.
Improvement
in this area is the fastest way to improve your score. As the great Bobby Jones
said, “The secret to scoring in golf is the ability to turn 3 into 2.”
Golfers who
struggle often take three, four or more strokes to get the ball in the hole
when they are within 20 yards of the pin. Better players many times take 2, and
never more than 3, from this distance. What I have noticed is a misconception
on the part of struggling players with regard to chipping and pitching.
Most players
seem to be trying to help the ball up in the air. The loft on your wedge or
sand wedge is all you need to get the ball up and over any obstacle. Players
would be better off trying to actually decrease the loft during the course of
their chipping swing.
This reminds
me of a lesson that famed teaching pro Harvey Penick
gave to a low handicapper who had flown from Chicago to Austin, Texas, to see
him.
The golfer
wanted Harvey to fix his chipping game. They went to the range and old Harv watched him chip for a while. He told the man to go
over to a nearby bench and try to chip the ball under the bench from a couple
of yards away. Harvey then went on to another lesson.
About half an
hour later, he went back to check on the golfer from Chicago. Penick could see that the process of chipping repeatedly
under the bench had cured the man’s chipping problem.
”When do I
get my lesson?” asked the Chicago golfer.
”You’ve just
had it,” replied Penick.
The golfer
went out to play that day and discovered that his chipping problem had been
cured. Sometimes it is as simple as that.
Now, this
golfer probably had the right grip and was in balance at address. All he needed
to do was maintain the loft at impact or decrease it.
If you would
like more help with your golf game, please contact The Private Golf Coach at
805-687-4943.