Black Gold Golf Club

There's Gold In Those Hills…Black Gold

By Eric Tracy
erictracy@earthlink.net

"….An' up thru the ground came a bubblin' crude. Oil that is! Black gold! Texas tea!"

Growing up in the 60's, Black Gold is what Ole' Jed Clampett discovered on his property, making him a millionaire and that was the story behind the popular television series "The Beverly Hillbillies".

Today Black Gold is a superb new golf course built on what once was Shell oil fields and is now the centerpiece of a striking development called Vista del Verde in Yorba Linda.

Aside from the well-thought out Arthur Hills course design-(that I thoroughly enjoyed)-- what surprised me the most about Black Gold is how the hilltop facility came to be. Black Gold's origin is not with a group of sophisticated Wall Street golf investors. Nor was it developed by a high-end golf management corporation. Rather, Black Gold has been developed and is owned and by the city of Yorba Linda. That's right folks, Black Gold is a municipal golf course! A 'muni' unlike few you've ever seen. Black Gold is a high-end/daily fee first class facility, from it's thought-provoking golf course (you better keep your head in the game), to it's spacious clubhouse with more than 50 yards of veranda offering sunset vistas and drop-dead dazzling views of the area. The veranda is a perfect setting for getting lost in your thoughts or for easing the pain after paying out your gambling losses. Black Gold is a 3-figure golfing experience but costs only $75-bucks. The green fees are even less if you're a resident. The city keeps the costs down because Shell gave them the land.

WARMING UP: I like golf courses designed by Arthur Hills. He's created some beauties like Half-Moon Bay up near San Francisco and CrossCreek out in Temecula. Hills' approach is that each hole should provide a unique golfing challenge. Years from now when I think back on my round at Black Gold the two things I'll remember prominently are the elevation changes and the four interesting par 3's. Arthur Hills courses makes you think. They toy with your emotions. Here's what I mean, after the first three holes in which you must really play smart if not defensive golf, Hills follows with a relatively short par 5 that has birdie written all over it. Then, just as you get your confidence, he gives you a huge, uphill par 4 that will likely negate that birdie you just made. Holes number 7 and 8 are back-to-back three-pars, something you don't see very often. Then, in keeping with the theme of thinking "outside the tee box", Hills starts the back nine with the 3rd par 3 in 4 holes. With Arthur Hills, everything is in front of you. Nothing is hidden. There are no gimmicks, no railroad ties, no humpback greens as slick as a pool table.

MY FAVORITE HOLES:
Hole No. 4, Par 5, 496 yards (11 handicap): There's something about standing on a tee box after having taxed your gray-matter for the first three holes, then seeing a wide open fairway and a par 5 green, reachable in two. Grip it, rip it and put up a red number.
• Hole No. 7, Par 3, 149 yards, (15 handicap): The first of back-to-back three-bangers. This is a hole that's easy if you reach the green. It's not so easy if you don't. The green is cut into a hillside creating an amphitheater which is great for watching golf but not so great if you have a side-hill/down hill chip to the green.
• Hole No. 8, Par 3, 203 yards, (3 handicap): The fact that this hole is the 3rd toughest hole on the course tells you a lot. Having to play it into a prevailing wind adds to the potential misery. Miss it right and you're either in a 6-foot bunker or chipping up a hill you'd rather sled down. If you walk away from 7 and 8 with two pars, you've had a good day.
•Hole No. 14, Par 4, 378 yards, (12 handicap): The key to this hole is making a choice which way you go off the tee. The 'safe' way is left but it's amazing how many balls that little pot bunker 200 yards out in the middle of the fairway will eat. If you choose to go for gusto over the right edge of the fairway and nail it, the ball will run forever giving you target practice into the bird sanctuary.
• Hole No. 18, Par 5, 518 yards, (2 handicap): This true 3-shot par 5 requires precision and length on your first two shots or your third will be a medium to long iron that will likely need to clear the lake and waterfall guarding the green. The more left you are, the less the lake comes into play. It's terrific finishing hole with the clubhouse and elegant waterfall that backdrops your last shot.

DID YOU KNOW: Kemper Sports Management in the organization that operates Black Gold for the city. Golf course management is a tough job when you have to answer to investors. It's probably tougher having to answer to the city fathers. But these pros who run Kemper Lakes outside of Chicago that was the site of the 1989 PGA Championship and 70 other facilities around the country, have an aura of experience. The golf staff, from the cart kids to the coffee shop servers, from the front office folks to the golf pros, understand a first class facility has to have first class service and they pull it off.

COOL PERKS: Visit the well-stocked Pro Shop and pick up some memorabilia to remember your round. I did. Mainly because the Black Gold logo is as cool at is comes. Also, with a fully lighted driving range and the opportunity to hit off grass instead of mats and I'll bet this summer the range will be jammed.

SUMMING IT UP: How many times have a played a golf course and thought how much better you'll play it the next time? Black Gold is the kind of design where you'll say that after EVERY round. Only truly well designed golf courses give you numerous ways to play a hole depending on conditions. I really like Black Gold. If you love to "think your way" around 18 holes, you'll like Black Gold, too.
"…You're all invited back again to this locality, T'have a heapin' helpin' of their hospitality."
The Ballad of Jed Clampett, lyrics and music by Paul Henning

Eric Tracy

KFWB RADIO