When you hear about California, it’s usually something about Los Angeles, San Diego, or San Francisco, the three largest cities in the Golden State.
Orange County often takes a backseat to those booming metropolises, but that’s OK for those Californians and visitors who are looking for a more mellow experience.
People who live in Orange County often talk about how it exudes a “state of mind” and laid-back atmosphere and lifestyle. The OC has everything, and whatever it doesn’t have is only a short drive away.
It’s the home of mountains, gorgeous beaches, awesome hiking trails, cool attractions for the kids, and – for our purposes – great public golf courses, all is just an hour south of Hollywood and the famous City of the Angels.
On a recent trip to Orange County, we teed it up at three of the county’s top-ranked public courses — Black Gold Golf Club in Yorba Linda, and Strawberry Farms Golf Club and Oak Creek Golf Club, both in Irvine.
Afterward it was easy to see why everyone seems to be smiling in Orange County – we left with great memories of varied courses and challenges and in our best mood in months.
Up and down at Black Gold Golf Club
Black Gold Golf Club in Yorba Linda is routed on a rolling 219-acre plot involving prominent rises, valleys and canyons. Golf course architect Arthur Hills and his team had a challenge with the routing, doing quite a balancing act to fit the holes in, especially on the tight home half.
Hills moved more than 2 million cubic yards of dirt to provide enough space for the tees, fairways and greens and to create this dandy, 6,756-yard par-72 layout.
“The Black Gold site was one of the hilliest we’ve ever worked on,” the late Hills once said. “We’ve never moved even a million yards of dirt on any other golf course that I can remember. And because of all the cut and fill, we had to do a ton of re-vegetation of the slopes above the golf course.”
There are still several active oil wells on the property. Hills noted they capped the ones that were actually affecting the course, and the existing layout came very close to at least one of them. Surprisingly, there weren’t any outstanding environmental issues to deal with, and all has been well in the near-two decades since the course debuted.
Black Gold runs the length of the 843-acre Vista Del Verde, serving as the centerpiece for the community. Owned by the city of Yorba Linda, the course is also a focal point for local citizens. On a clear day, visitors can view Catalina Island and the Pacific Ocean from several points around the course. The gorgeous 12th hole presents the highest elevation point of any golf facility in Orange County.
Black Gold’s five sets of tees ensure its amenability for all handicaps and, despite the site’s considerable variety, the majority of the landing areas are flat and mainly treeless. Black Gold’s hazards can be very intimidating because of their placement, size and plenitude.
The layout’s most memorable quality may be its smooth putting surfaces, which can be challenging for rookies to gauge. Here’s a tip that might help: the greens break toward Disneyland, about 10 miles to the southwest.
Black Gold’s front nine is flatter and a bit easier, while the back side is much tighter and features a couple of truly difficult holes. There are only two par-4s exceeding 420 yards, and none over 450; the two longest holes have more than adequate landing areas off the tee.
Hills did an amazing job with the greens and surrounds, but they’re a little tricky. At times, a putt will break opposite to what your minds’ eye tells you, and there’s more movement than appears.
Despite the severe terrain around Black Gold, there’s a surprising amount of flatness to the course. It looks as though it’s always been that way, with plenty of native vegetation bordering the property to make it like you’ve left the city and are enjoying golf in nature.
Black Gold has received several honors, including a rating of 4½ stars by Golf Digest‘s Best Places to Play and a ranking as a Top 3 Best Public Golf Course in Orange County by the Orange County Register.
Use course management at Strawberry Farms GC
Strawberry Farms Golf Club, a Jim Lipe design opened in 1997, is a bit off the beaten path – but that’s okay. The 6,700-yard par-71 track runs through canyons and across wetlands, with holes routed between a large reservoir and an environmentally sensitive hazard, and both features narrow the fairways at different times in the round.
The back nine is the stronger side here, with the start and end the best holes. The 10th asks for a drive from an elevated tee box that must avoid the reservoir that runs the length of the left side of the hole. The approach must avoid the large bunker front left or the reservoir farther left.
The finishing hole is a bit odd, with a tee shot that is uphill and partially blind from the back tees. The key is to not get too aggressive as there are pot bunkers and odd bounces that can doom even a good strike. The narrow green is perched over a hazard and is angled at 45 degrees, with a tier, making it quite difficult to hit from far out. Stay away from the scenic waterfall to the right.
Lot’s to like at Oak Creek GG in Irvine
Set 10 miles from the coast in Irvine, Oak Creek Golf Club is a not-too-punishing, 6,850-yard Tom Fazio layout with wide fairways and big greens that’s surrounded by homes and industry.
The course has done an artful job of blocking all that out, using fragrant Eucalyptus trees to line its perimeter. Fazio incorporated a handful of water hazards into the course’s ex-orchard setting.
Oak Creek GC’s best hole might be the 16th, a 370-yard par-4 that’s a short dogleg left and has an enormous bunker that forms the left side of the hole from tee to green. The more of the bunker you flirt with on the drive, the shorter the approach. The green has a tier that slopes balls from right to left.
Orange County might be a haven for surfing and golf can be considered a “kindred spirit” to that sport, at least in this locale. As actor Dennis Quaid says, “surfing is like golf…it keeps knocking you down. But when you stay with it and catch that wave…magic.”
