Southern California Golf Association Team Play

[Obee]

Our annual inter-club "Team Play" season started two weeks ago. Always fun. Always competitive. Always some sandbagging. 😜

In our first match vs. South Hills last week, I was even-par through 16 holes to close my guy out 3&2. This week at home vs Red Hill, I was 2-under through 16 to win 3&2.

 

This is the first time I have felt relatively healthy in the winter in probably 7 or 8 years. Back is finally okay due to my daily regimen of the anti-inflammatory, Meloxicam. It's been a life-changer for me. Happy to be out there again. Have my first WAGR Senior Event coming up soon. Looking forward to it.

[Hkovo17]

Was out in SoCal this past weekend. Hermosa Beach area. 

I was honestly shocked at the lack of accessible golf around that area. Trump is the nicest you'll get and it's a whopping ~$200/round. Looks like you have to go more towards Long Beach to get to the golf, no? Where do you play in SoCal? I'm thinking about moving out to the Hermosa area at the end of Feb and no golf would be a big deal breaker for me... 

[Obee]

10 hours ago, Hkovo17 said:

Was out in SoCal this past weekend. Hermosa Beach area. 

I was honestly shocked at the lack of accessible golf around that area. Trump is the nicest you'll get and it's a whopping ~$200/round. Looks like you have to go more towards Long Beach to get to the golf, no? Where do you play in SoCal? I'm thinking about moving out to the Hermosa area at the end of Feb and no golf would be a big deal breaker for me... 

I'm in the Inland Empire. Riverside, to be exact. I'm a member at an old, cool private club, Victoria Club from 1903. We actually have members who drive out from L.A. and Orange County because our dues are $675 versus $1,000 to $1500 in Los Angeles, OC for the most part for private clubs.

For L.A. Golf, if you're by the beach, you are going to have to drive a bit for decent public golf. No way around that.

[the bishop]

1 hour ago, Obee said:

I'm in the Inland Empire. Riverside, to be exact. I'm a member at an old, cool private club, Victoria Club from 1903. We actually have members who drive out from L.A. and Orange County because our dues are $675 versus $1,000 to $1500 in Los Angeles, OC for the most part for private clubs.

For L.A. Golf, if you're by the beach, you are going to have to drive a bit for decent public golf. No way around that.

Good luck!  Here's my SCGA Team Play story.  When we still lived in CA I was a men's club member at Tukwet Canyon in Beaumont and signed up for the Team Match Play in 2017.  But I was still a relatively new member of that club for only a couple of years at that point.

 

Our team captain decided to set up a series of five practice matches between team members at courses we would be playing.  I went 4-0-1 in singles and 4-1-0 in the team.  But only got to play one match against Strawberry Farms (won my singles and team match).  In reality the captain wasn't trying to figure out who his strongest players were.  He had already decided who was going to get the most play and was trying to get them match tough.  Some of the guys I beat had bad practice records and got in 3-4 matches each.

 

Consequently we had a pretty bad team.  Not just because I didn't play more.  There were a couple more guys who had good practice records who got shorted as well.  BTW one of the practice matches was at Bear Valley CC in Victorville in January.  A memorable experience.

 

Victoria Club.  Never played it but when my wife was an administrator at Rim of the World H.S. in Lake Arrowhead they held their prom there for a couple of years and I went with her once as a "chaperone".  They were taking prom pics in the downstairs so I walked down there and got to see the Gary McCord shrine - and I never would have guessed one would have existed anywhere.  Kinda cool though.

[billyspan]

1 hour ago, Obee said:

I'm in the Inland Empire. Riverside, to be exact. I'm a member at an old, cool private club, Victoria Club from 1903. We actually have members who drive out from L.A. and Orange County because our dues are $675 versus $1,000 to $1500 in Los Angeles, OC for the most part for private clubs.

For L.A. Golf, if you're by the beach, you are going to have to drive a bit for decent public golf. No way around that.

Victoria Club is fantastic. Played a Jr State Am and a few other tournaments there long, long ago. Good luck @Obee

[Obee]

1 hour ago, the bishop said:

Good luck!  Here's my SCGA Team Play story.  When we still lived in CA I was a men's club member at Tukwet Canyon in Beaumont and signed up for the Team Match Play in 2017.  But I was still a relatively new member of that club for only a couple of years at that point.

 

Our team captain decided to set up a series of five practice matches between team members at courses we would be playing.  I went 4-0-1 in singles and 4-1-0 in the team.  But only got to play one match against Strawberry Farms (won my singles and team match).  In reality the captain wasn't trying to figure out who his strongest players were.  He had already decided who was going to get the most play and was trying to get them match tough.  Some of the guys I beat had bad practice records and got in 3-4 matches each.

 

Consequently we had a pretty bad team.  Not just because I didn't play more.  There were a couple more guys who had good practice records who got shorted as well.  BTW one of the practice matches was at Bear Valley CC in Victorville in January.  A memorable experience.

 

Victoria Club.  Never played it but when my wife was an administrator at Rim of the World H.S. in Lake Arrowhead they held their prom there for a couple of years and I went with her once as a "chaperone".  They were taking prom pics in the downstairs so I walked down there and got to see the Gary McCord shrine - and I never would have guessed one would have existed anywhere.  Kinda cool though.

was the captain Tom Norys???

[the bishop]

3 minutes ago, Obee said:

was the captain Tom Norys???

Bob Radabaugh

[Hkovo17]

4 hours ago, Obee said:

I'm in the Inland Empire. Riverside, to be exact. I'm a member at an old, cool private club, Victoria Club from 1903. We actually have members who drive out from L.A. and Orange County because our dues are $675 versus $1,000 to $1500 in Los Angeles, OC for the most part for private clubs.

For L.A. Golf, if you're by the beach, you are going to have to drive a bit for decent public golf. No way around that.

Very cool/good to know - thanks. Victoria looks awesome.

Yeah, luckily I will have a car. I gave Rolling Hills a call - that was a mistake lol... 50 bones on initiation and I think a grand or two per month. Could probably call up Palos Verdes. But yeah, looking like I'll need to drive to anything worthwhile. Beach City Golf Club would be right by my apartment in Hermosa and that's $275/month for trackman / putting simulators good for 1-hour every day per month.

Edit- could also put a net in our backyard... Beach city would be nice just to get loose for an hour a day, but would be awesome to hit balls at an actual club for "free" - 

Edited January 31 by Hkovo17

[Dutch1008]

35 minutes ago, Hkovo17 said:

Very cool/good to know - thanks. Victoria looks awesome.

Yeah, luckily I will have a car. I gave Rolling Hills a call - that was a mistake lol... 50 bones on initiation and I think a grand or two per month. Could probably call up Palos Verdes. But yeah, looking like I'll need to drive to anything worthwhile. Beach City Golf Club would be right by my apartment in Hermosa and that's $275/month for trackman / putting simulators good for 1-hour every day per month.

Edit- could also put a net in our backyard... Beach city would be nice just to get loose for an hour a day, but would be awesome to hit balls at an actual club for "free" - 

Your best bet near Hermosa would probably be Old Ranch CC in Seal Beach. It's not particularly close but doable. 

 

https://www.invitedclubs.com/clubs/old-ranch-country-club

[Obee]

3 minutes ago, Dutch1008 said:

Your best bet near Hermosa would probably be Old Ranch CC in Seal Beach. It's not particularly close but doable. 

 

https://www.invitedclubs.com/clubs/old-ranch-country-club

They also just raise their dues to about 1500 or so.

[Barfolomew]

Obee wassup amigo!  I gotta check into that SCGA team stuff cause we have a 4 some that all play SCGA tourneys but team stuff seems so rare.... I better call em and see how we can get into that....  Is it only for private clubs or something cause we were not members anywhere accept for players club lol

 

Glad you're backs finally feeling better so you can bomb them hybrids lol 🦆

[clover]

3 hours ago, Hkovo17 said:

Very cool/good to know - thanks. Victoria looks awesome.

Yeah, luckily I will have a car. I gave Rolling Hills a call - that was a mistake lol... 50 bones on initiation and I think a grand or two per month. Could probably call up Palos Verdes. But yeah, looking like I'll need to drive to anything worthwhile. Beach City Golf Club would be right by my apartment in Hermosa and that's $275/month for trackman / putting simulators good for 1-hour every day per month.

Edit- could also put a net in our backyard... Beach city would be nice just to get loose for an hour a day, but would be awesome to hit balls at an actual club for "free" - 

PVGC has a lengthy wait list, and that's if you live in PV Estates. Longer if you don't. I think it's $65k if you're in PVE. Rolling Hills is $250k (I think) for an equity membership unless they have some "young/junior" membership (not aware of one) that you qualify for that's cheaper. Old Ranch is only 20 minutes down the 405 against traffic) but if dues are now $1,500 forget it. It's not worth it.

 

Are you expecting to play mostly weekends or do you play weekdays? I think Long Beach munis are a good choice and, again, about 20-25 minutes from Hermosa. I belong to a private club in L.A. that I love, but on weekdays it's 40-60 minutes from my place in Manhattan Beach (only 15 miles!). Several times a month I play in LB with some fellow members that live in the South Bay because the drive is much shorter and the courses are decent. We usually play El Dorado or Skylinks but Rec Park and Navy are fine too. Get yourself a LB mens club card (about $45/month I think) which gets you cheaper fees, preferred tee times and unlimited range balls. If you want to treat yourself to upper scale public golf occasionally, then head to OC for Pelican, Strawberry, Oak Creek., etc. And of course there's always Rustic Canyon in Simi Valley.

 

For practice, the best deal in town is at Top Golf/The Lakes @ El Segundo. For $10 you get a bucket of about 75 range balls and you use the TG hitting bays. The catch is you can only do that M-F between 7 and Noon (I think). The mats are excellent, though you don't have access to the Top Tracer data unless it's been left on accidentally. There's also a huge putting green and separate chipping/bunker practice green that is free. And the 10 hole par 3 is only $25 and gives you good short game practice.

 

L.A. and particularly the South Bay have never been great for public golf but it's a whole lot better than it used to be, and I've been here 30+ years. Good luck!

[Obee]

2 hours ago, Barfolomew said:

Obee wassup amigo!  I gotta check into that SCGA team stuff cause we have a 4 some that all play SCGA tourneys but team stuff seems so rare.... I better call em and see how we can get into that....  Is it only for private clubs or something cause we were not members anywhere accept for players club lol

 

Glad you're backs finally feeling better so you can bomb them hybrids lol 🦆

private, public, whatever!!

[Obee]

2 hours ago, Barfolomew said:

Obee wassup amigo!  I gotta check into that SCGA team stuff cause we have a 4 some that all play SCGA tourneys but team stuff seems so rare.... I better call em and see how we can get into that....  Is it only for private clubs or something cause we were not members anywhere accept for players club lol

 

Glad you're backs finally feeling better so you can bomb them hybrids lol 🦆

http://www.scga.org/tournaments/team-play

[Hkovo17]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:33 PM, clover said:

PVGC has a lengthy wait list, and that's if you live in PV Estates. Longer if you don't. I think it's $65k if you're in PVE. Rolling Hills is $250k (I think) for an equity membership unless they have some "young/junior" membership (not aware of one) that you qualify for that's cheaper. Old Ranch is only 20 minutes down the 405 against traffic) but if dues are now $1,500 forget it. It's not worth it.

 

Are you expecting to play mostly weekends or do you play weekdays? I think Long Beach munis are a good choice and, again, about 20-25 minutes from Hermosa. I belong to a private club in L.A. that I love, but on weekdays it's 40-60 minutes from my place in Manhattan Beach (only 15 miles!). Several times a month I play in LB with some fellow members that live in the South Bay because the drive is much shorter and the courses are decent. We usually play El Dorado or Skylinks but Rec Park and Navy are fine too. Get yourself a LB mens club card (about $45/month I think) which gets you cheaper fees, preferred tee times and unlimited range balls. If you want to treat yourself to upper scale public golf occasionally, then head to OC for Pelican, Strawberry, Oak Creek., etc. And of course there's always Rustic Canyon in Simi Valley.

 

For practice, the best deal in town is at Top Golf/The Lakes @ El Segundo. For $10 you get a bucket of about 75 range balls and you use the TG hitting bays. The catch is you can only do that M-F between 7 and Noon (I think). The mats are excellent, though you don't have access to the Top Tracer data unless it's been left on accidentally. There's also a huge putting green and separate chipping/bunker practice green that is free. And the 10 hole par 3 is only $25 and gives you good short game practice.

 

L.A. and particularly the South Bay have never been great for public golf but it's a whole lot better than it used to be, and I've been here 30+ years. Good luck!

Big thanks for this. Love the $45/month card - will definitely do that. My move to Cali would be a 2-3 month stint I think, then would move to West Palm Beach, Florida. Long story short, I'd like to pursue a career in instruction, alongside some mini tour events down in the West Palm Beach area through the MLGT. 

Public ranges have turned me off ever since I cracked a driver with a water-logged ball on a public range. My swing speed/ball speed is up there, and if you're hitting bad public range balls, they will damage your clubs and grooves. Usually nicer balls at a private track (obviously). Stupid question I guess but are the balls decent at these public ranges? It is SoCal so would imagine none of them get water-logged lol... 

But yeah public golf maybe not so good. We'd be in the Hermosa Beach area.
 

[clover]

The range balls at the LB courses vary from good to not so good, but a couple of the courses play off grass instead of mats a day or 2 a week. There have been a number of mini-tour events held at El Dorado (Skylinks too I think) in recent years and some good players hang out there. The range balls at Top Golf are very good usually, though they are limited distance balls (I think 80%). That said, they will still give you good feedback on feel and you can cut and draw them. If you use the top tracer system it adjust distances, curve, height to normal ball levels. As I mentioned, the practice putting and chipping greens at TG are far superior to anything else I've seen at public golf anywhere near the South Bay. By the way, I haven't included Trump National (in RPV) in this discussion because it's a bad course that's way too expensive. However, they do have a decent range across the street that anyone can use. But, it will take longer to drive there from HB than to either TG or LB.