High-end clubbing

Greg Encarnacion intends to tee off soon at the Irvine Co.’s new luxury golf club in Newport Coast.

But it might take a few weeks and a few paychecks.

Encarnacion, who worked in guest services at the Pelican Hill Golf Club before it closed for renovation two years ago, has bided his time ever since working — and playing — at the Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine.

He remembers the old Pelican Hill as one of the lushest, most challenging courses in the region, and he knows many of his customers do too; they’ve peppered him with questions about the revised golf club that the Irvine Co. intends to reopen Friday.

The Pelican Hill Golf Club, which overlooks the ocean in Newport Coast and charges a $235 guest fee per round, may cater mostly to the wealthiest golfers in the region. But Encarnacion and others are determined to toe the green sooner or later.

“It’s worth it,” the Aliso Viejo resident said Friday as he swatted golf balls into the morning mist at Oak Creek. “It’s worth the money. If I had the money, I’d play there.

“It feels like Pebble Beach in Southern California. That’s the best way to describe it.”

BIGGER PICTURE FOR O.C. RESORTS

The Pelican Hill Golf Club, which is scheduled to open its clubhouse at 6 a.m. Friday and hold its first tee time an hour later, represents the first phase of a property the Irvine Co. hopes will change the face of hospitality in Orange County.

The company announced plans four years ago for the Resort at Pelican Hill, which features 204 bungalows, 128 villas, a spa, a wedding chapel and a number of restaurants. Irvine Co. officials won’t reveal the price tag for the project, but they’ve been up front about its lofty goals. A promotional book for the resort, distributed this year, features quotations from Galileo, da Vinci, Michelangelo and Shakespeare. The resort’s official slogan is “The Possibility of Perfection.”

The Irvine Co. has slated the Resort at Pelican Hill’s full opening for fall 2008. In the meantime, visitors can catch a glimpse of the Italian Renaissance-style grounds with the revised Pelican Hill Golf Club and the Pelican Grill restaurant, both launching Friday.

RUSTIC AESTHETICS SOUGHT

The Irvine Co. sought a unique vacation spot when it planned the Resort at Pelican Hill — and that meant that, construction-wise, machines often gave way to human hands.