Golf Courses

The British during imperial times built golf courses in India, only to encounter an unexpected problem: monkeys delighted in joining the game by picking up golf balls and dropping them in other places, sometimes nowhere near where the shot had landed or the intended hole. Fences were useless in keeping monkeys off the course. Following the Darwinian principle of adapt or perish, the golfers finally accepted reality and changed the rules of the game. Should a monkey move one's golf ball, one had to play it from the spot where the monkey dropped it. Given that monkeys were indifferent to whether they improved the golfer's lie by their mischief or not, roughly as many strokes were gained as lost through this expedient.

Matt Grenert NEWPORT BEACH -- The Hoag Heart Institute and Medtronic USA Inc. on Wednesday began donating automatic external defibrillators to 10 golf courses, public and private, throughout Orange County. Portable and easy to use, the defibrillators restore normal heart rhythm in victims suffering from heart attacks, which kill about 220,000 Americans each year. "Placing [the defibrillators] in public places has been shown to dramatically increase the chance of survival for these victims," said Joel Manchester, medical director at the Hoag Institute.

Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach has officially squashed John Wayne Airport plans to pave over the back nine holes of Newport Beach Golf Course. “We met with the airport director and discussed a lot of options and other alternatives,” Moorlach said. The land where half the golf course sits is owned by Orange County, and the golf course’s lease ran out earlier this year, prompting officials to mull over turning the back nine holes into parking for rental cars.

Golf courses around the Newport-Mesa area have experienced decreases in play this week, as smoke and ash linger in the air from the Santiago fire. Winds earlier in the week combined with smoke over the last several days have made Newport Beach Country Club “look like a war zone,” said Newport Beach Country Club manager Perry Dickey. Newport Beach Country Club women’s golfers canceled the first two rounds of their President’s Cup, originally scheduled for Tuesday and today.

Irecently read in the Daily Pilot about Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor's proposal to eliminate nine holes from the Mesa Linda Golf Course at Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club and convert them to athletic fields for young people ("Plan swaps golf holes for fields," Sunday). I cannot adequately describe my dismay at this ill-conceived proposal. The two golf courses at the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club are the premier public golf courses in Orange County. There are simply no other golf courses within 50 miles that provide the same level of value, accessibility and quality.

One of the best causes in golf is happening Sept. 4 through Sept. 7 and golfers can help in a very direct way. The Patriot Golf Day will again return to golf courses across the country and the two courses in Costa Mesa — Costa Mesa Country Club and Mesa Verde Country Club — are both participating. Major Dan Rooney, who is the founder of the Folds of Honor Foundation, came up with the idea. That organization provides postsecondary educational scholarships for the children and spouses of military men and women disabled or killed while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If you look at a map -- or even better, an aerial photograph -- of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, you're sure to see plenty of open, green space where the area's many golf courses lie. From the south end with Pelican Hill to the north end with Mesa Verde Country Club, Newport-Mesa seemingly is stock full of places this game. There is even a variety of prices to suit most pocketbooks, starting with the nine-hole Newport Beach Golf Course and ending with Big Canyon Country Club.

-- Mathis Winkler BIG CANYON -- Newport Beach police detectives are investigating vandalism at three golf greens at the Big Canyon Country Club. Vandals destroyed grass by painting such Nazi insignias as the "SS" sign and a swastika, as well as lewd drawings and writings on the ground, said Sgt. Mike McDermott, the Newport Beach Police Department spokesman. The white substance used in the crime has not been identified and groundskeepers are still determining the extent of the damage.

Richard Dunn When Brad Booth arrived as head professional at Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club seven years ago, he had a dream. Mainly, it was the vision that the term o7 country clubf7 would actually be true in the facility's description. The complaint box was always full. Both golf courses, Los Lagos and the shorter Mesa Linda, were deteriorating. Bunkers seemed to have dirt, not sand; water hazards had no water; and the threadbare fairways, well, didn't seem quite fair for the price of admission.

The Resort at Pelican Hill's golf course received top-notch marks in Condé Nast Traveler's April 2012 list of "Top 121 Golf Resorts," according to a news release. The Newport Coast property was the only resort in California to achieve a perfect score in course design and access. Pelican Hill's overall score, based upon ratings in eight categories, was calculated as 96.6. "The beauty of Pelican Hill's coastal setting can be distracting for golfers, so I framed each hole to help keep their focus on the game," golf course architect Tom Fazio, who designed Pelican Hill's two 18-hole courses, said in a prepared statement.

Ron Benedict and staff had to do "emergency surgery" to the golf course at Newport Beach Country Club two weeks ago. A good 'ole fashioned flush for two days for a course that is preparing to host the annual Toshiba Classic next month. Benedict and his crew drenched the fairways and tee boxes under 4 1/2 feet of water to flush out the sodium from the turf. Salt is grass' enemy. Only one other time in Benedict's 22 years at the club have they had to soak the course. The culprit is lack of rainfall.

The British during imperial times built golf courses in India, only to encounter an unexpected problem: monkeys delighted in joining the game by picking up golf balls and dropping them in other places, sometimes nowhere near where the shot had landed or the intended hole. Fences were useless in keeping monkeys off the course. Following the Darwinian principle of adapt or perish, the golfers finally accepted reality and changed the rules of the game. Should a monkey move one's golf ball, one had to play it from the spot where the monkey dropped it. Given that monkeys were indifferent to whether they improved the golfer's lie by their mischief or not, roughly as many strokes were gained as lost through this expedient.

Mesa Verde Country Club welcomed a field of 72 golfers playing in the sixth annual SPIN (Serving People In Need) Golf Tournament. SPIN is a local nonprofit dedicated to eradicating homelessness in Orange County. Head pro Tom Sargent greeted the teams of golfers who helped raise an estimated $23,400 by the end of the Monday tournament. The funds go toward SPIN's programs that provide housing, rehabilitation, counseling, food and job training for individuals and families suffering from homelessness and substance abuse.

Editor's note: This corrects the length of the lease terms. Golfers could keep hitting balls under the bellies of flying jets for another decade if the County Board of Supervisors signs a new lease with the Newport Beach Golf Course on Tuesday. Four years ago, the county scrapped John Wayne Airport's controversial plan to pave a parking lot over the public course and decided to renew its land lease. But the lease was on a month-to-month basis, and the course's owners and some golfers were left in uncertainty.

The history of golf never ceases to amaze me and I was recently introduced to a group that has been playing a monthly tournament since 1926. The Terrible Twenties recently held their 1,000th tournament Sept. 10 at Hacienda Golf Club. One thousand months, 14 presidential administrations, a depression, two riots, and a snow storm haven’t deterred the Terrible Twenties. The group consists of 11 private clubs; Annandale in Pasadena, Oakmont in Glendale, Hacienda in La Habra, Candlewood in Whittier, San Gabriel, Lakeside in Toluca Lake, Virginia in Long Beach, Red Hill in Rancho Cucamonga, El Niguel in Laguna Niguel, Wilshire in Los Angeles and Santa Ana. In the beginning there were 20 golfers and they got its name when the friends were playing at the old Flintridge Country Club.

A year and a half ago, Andy Weaver tried and tried to get Zane, his then-5-year-old son, to play on a golf course. Most representatives at the golf courses feared for Zane’s safety. They also worried the little guy didn’t know enough about the game. But father knew best. Weaver, a Corona del Mar resident, wrote letters to the American Golf Corporation, a large management firm for several golf courses, public and private. Yet Zane would still be turned away. One time, while playing with his grandfather, John Loeschhorn, at Casta del Sol Golf Course in Mission Viejo, an official asked his age. Moments later, Zane couldn’t play on the course anymore.

Police are looking for information and possibly more cases involving two men they arrested last week and suspect of illegally withdrawing money from other people’s automated teller machine accounts and using their stolen credit and debit card information for purchases. Friday night, Costa Mesa police arrested Paul Hastings, 36, of San Juan Capistrano, and 29-year-old Rafael Aldaco of Whittier after authorities say they saw the men acting suspiciously in an area known for drug activity.

The airport activist group AirFair is calling on Orange County to sell the back nine holes of the Newport Beach Golf Course, but city and county officials say the idea is not exactly a gimme. The owner and operator of the golf course has been on a month-to-month lease with the county for the back nine holes since its long-term lease expired last year. Local golfers and airport watchers have long worried county officials would allow the land to be turned into a parking lot for John Wayne Airport.