Course Source: Angeles National, Stoke Park
Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange July 1, 2013 12:10 AMThe SportsXchange
IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Angeles National Golf Club in Sunland, Calif.
Even though the area had become a dumping ground, the course was created only after a 15-year battle with bureaucrats and environmentalists.
Angeles National, with the basic design created by Steve Nicklaus -- son of the greatest golfer of all time -- plays to a par of 72 and measures 7,140 from the back, or theNicklaus Tees. However, there are four sets of tees to make the course playable for golfers of all abilities.
Players who receive permission to play from the Nicklaus Tees receive a special introduction from the course starter similar to what you hear on the PGA Tour.
HEAD PROFESSIONAL: Ben Krug.
Judging from the response of golfers in the area who have flocked to the course at the base of the Angeles National Forest since it opened, that might not be far from the truth.
Despite the landscape, there is ample driving room at Angeles National, and there is some undulation on the greens -- but they are not over the top. Golfers find the test challenging yet fair.
Book-ending the final four on the front side are two exceptional par 4s, the 459-yard (from the Nicklaus Tees) sixth hole, called "Hollow," and the 486-yard ninth hole, which is known as "Oak Tree." They are the most difficult holes on the front, requiring approach shots over a barranca, and perhaps the most challenging on the entire course.
On the back side, the 130-yard 12th hole, called "Valley," is deceptive because the narrow green is 42 yards from front to back and is surrounded by bunkers. The 494-yard 13th, known as "Wasteland," is a reachable par 5 with a waste bunker that juts out into the fairway from the right.
The well-bunkered 16th hole is a 537-yard par 5 that has been dubbed "Domino," followed by two strong par 4s. The 406-yard dogleg 17th, "Tujunga," tempts golfers to cut the corner over a large bunker, and the 416-yard finish, known as "Creek," is a slight dogleg left with a large lake fed by a creek to the left of the tiered green.
OTHERS COURSES IN THE AREA: Angeles National is one of several courses that opened in the foothills and valleys north of Los Angeles in a span of 10 years or so. Among the others are the Mountain and Valley Courses designed by Ted Robinson at Robinson Ranch in Canyon Country; TPC Valencia, which had two-time major champion Mark O'Meara on the design team; Rustic Canyon Golf Course, a unique links-style course in Moorpark designed by Gil Hanse and Geoff Shackelford; Lost Canyons Golf Club in Simi Valley, designed by Pete Dye and Fred Couples; Moorpark Country Club, designed by Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy; Sterling Hills Golf Club in Camarillo, designed by Robert Muir Graves, and Tierra Rejada Golf Club in Moorpark, designed by Robert Cupp.
WHERE TO STAY: The best hotels in downtown Los Angeles -- including the Westin Bonaventure, the DoubleTree by Hilton, the Omni Los Angeles Hotel, the Millennium Biltmore, the Hilton Checkers and the Los Angeles Marriott Downtown -- are about a 20-minute drive from Angeles National during non-commute hours. The Sheraton Universal, adjacent to the theme park in Universal City, also is about 20 minutes away.
THE LAYOUT: The legendary Harry Shapland Coltdesigned 27 magnificent holes on a revered piece of land, once owned by the family of William Penn, which has a recorded history dating more than 1,000 years.
In 1998, Stoke Park brought back nine holes that had been dormant since the land was used to grow potatoes during the lean days of World War II, recreating Colt's original 27-hole design.
Colt also designed the famed courses at Muirfield, Sunningdale, Royal Portrush and Wentworth in addition to Pine Valley, considered by many to be the best golf course in the United States.
Bond, played by Sean Connery, was driving his souped-up Aston Martin, which was auctioned off in a charity event at Stoke Park a few years ago.
Connery, an avid golfer, hit his own golf shots in the movie.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Stand on the seventh tee at Stoke Park Club and you get the feeling you might be thousands of miles away. Like on the famed 12th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, one-third of dreaded "Amen Corner."
No. 7 is part of Stoke Park's own "Amen Corner," a fearsome foursome that can stack up with any similar stretch of holes in the world. First is the par-4, 422-yard fourth hole, a slight dogleg right, followed by the par-5 fifth, a 525-yard test that sweeps left through a row of trees, and then the uphill, 408-yard sixth hole.
There are other reminders of Augusta at Stoke Park, especially when the azaleas and rhododendrons are in bloom, most notably on the picturesque 156-yard 11th hole, where the tee shot through a grove of trees must carry a large pond.
Goldfinger miraculously "finds" his ball in the rough on No. 17, after Oddjob drops a new one out of a hole in his pocket, and wins the hole. However, Bond turns the tables on No. 18 below the famous Stoke Park dome.
Also in the area are Lambourne Club in Burnham, the Marriott Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club in Warwickshire, Woburn Golf Club in Milton Keynes and Foxhills Golf Club in Ottershaw -- which is considered the most American-like club in England.
Stoke Park Mansion, which houses the hotel, clubhouse, restaurants and conference rooms, is said to have influenced the architects of the White House since the dome is similar and both edifices have an oval office.
Also close are the Bull Hotel, a 17th century coach stop in Gerrards Cross; Burnham Beeches Hotel, a magnificent structure of Georgian architecture on 10 landscaped acres in Burnam; Grovefield House Hotel, a charming Edwardian country house in Windsor; the Christopher Hotel, the only hotel in Eton; the Castle Hotel in Windsor, a two-minute walk from the front gate at Windsor Castle; and Sir Christopher Wren Hotel on the banks of the Thames River in Windsor.
Atricles Course: http://golfatn.blogspot.com/
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