Everywhere An Ocean View At This Bluffside
Beauty
Ocean Trails is Pebble Beach without trees
 LA
golfers need not travel anymore all the way up to Santa Barbara's
Sandpiper, or the way down to Newport Coast's Pelican Hill
if they need a fix of nature's colors that include ocean blue
and fairway green. Pete Dye's Ocean Trails on the Palos Verdes
Peninsula may soon be known as "Pebble Beach without trees."
The views from everywhere on this course are spectacular.
That is, of course, if the Palos Verdes coastline, white sand
beaches, craggy cliffs and Catalina staring you in the face
on every shot is your idea of beautiful. It is to me.
You may have heard the 18th hole at Ocean Trails breaks toward
the ocean. Actually, it fell into the ocean in June '99, a
month before the course opened. About a year ago, it had a
grand re-opening. However, only 15 holes are included in a
summer reduced fee of $99 during the week ($145 on the weekends)
with the opportunity to replay the 15 holes for free on a
space-available basis. Give me that kind of green light and
it's like sending a 300-pound guy into a smorgasbord. Here's
the deal; until holes number 9, 12 and 18 re-open sometime
around the holidays, you'll play a strange serpentine route
that begins with 10 and 11, then 1-through-8, then 13-through
17. Once you're finished with that 18, it's grab a sandwich
and play 'em all again. But even if you don't do the nstant
replay, be aware the 15 holes you get to play are more of
a challenge than some of you may want. The fact is, Ocean
Trails, playing 15 holes plus a replay of the first three
are rated at 72.6 with a slope index of 146. That give OT
the dubious distinction of being the highest rated course
in LA County. Beauty and a beast.
My Favorite Holes: 
- The first two you'll play, No. 10, a 308 yard par 4 (12
handicap) and No. 11, a 280 yard par 4 (16 handicap), set
the stages for the rest of this breathtaking roller coaster
ride. From the tee box, savor the view of the coves along
the Palos Verdes Peninsula because it's downhill from here,
literally. And as you drive across the bridge after your
first tee shot, look down and to the left at the magnificent
graveyard of balls. It's like a bunch of $5 bills smiling
up at you. Then, when you play the 11th, look at the bunker
near the green closely as you try to get out of it. Tiger
Woods filmed a commercial there last year. A bunch of new
homes will be built near the 11th tee, so enjoy the view
for now.
- No. 14, 477 yard par 5 (4 handicap): "The Quarry" hole
looks like a bunker maze - five of them to worry about on
your drive as it zigs right into a pile of rocks, a blind
second shot as it zigs left again toward the ocean, an arroyo
to clear with the third shot and, if the wind is blowing
in your face (as it will in the afternoon), a chip-n-dip
to the green protected by a huge bunker in the backside.
- No. 2, 490 yard par 5 (9 handicap): It's called "Blind
Faith," something we all need on a golf course when you
can't see where your tee shot is going, let alone if it's
going to plunk the foursome ahead of you. Be careful.
- No. 8, 206 yard par-3 (11 handicap): Called "Lake's Lure,"
this hole is not so much about the 194-yard drive you need
just to clear the water on the left but there's rocks and
waste area in the back and no much area to bail out. Luck,
and a drag off a $40 Davidoff Double "R" cigar from the
pro shop, is necessary here.
A Word About the Designer: Pete
Dye's autobiography is available in the pro shop. It's entitled
"Bury Me In A Pot Bunker." I have such a love/hate relationship
with Pete Dye courses (usually depending on how I play that
day) that sometimes, burying him "alive" seems like a good
idea. I think Pete, who designed the Stadium Course at TPC
and PGA West suffers from sandcastle envy. When you play a
Pete Dye course, it's everyone on the beach. And some of the
Sahara shell-shaped sand pits at Ocean Trails (like on No.
7) are bigger than the green. The simple rule of thumb: If
you hit a shot and can't find it, you've become the newest
member of the Bunker family, you meathead.
Wildlife Alert: Whale watching is possible in the
winter months, and schools of dolphins often pop up near the
fishing boats off shore. Aside from wild rabbits, be conscience
of the indigenous cart path jogger. They don't bite, but because
of the public beach access they're around and not very golf-savvy.
There are no extra points for plunking pedestrians. Incredible
Clubhouse: Ocean Trails is an upscale facility. If it were
a private club it would demand a 6-figure initiation fee.
But why buy when you can rent? The Clubhouse and banquet rooms
are as nice as any daily-fee course I've ever seen. And it's
yours, for a fee much less than a comparable private club,
yours for a wedding, a charity golf tournament or a corporate
outing. They have so many nice meeting rooms, it's the kind
of place you bring three foursomes of clients for morning
golf, have a first class lunch in a first class ocean-front
dining room, then get down to afternoon business in one of
their meeting rooms. Talk about impressing your clients.
 Summing
It Up: The course itself at Ocean Trails is not long.
In fact, if you can keep it straight you might even hit a
few more greens in regulation than you normally do. But that's
when the fun (or is that Pete Dye torture) comes in. You'll
3-putt so many of these hump-backed, multi-leveled greens,
at times you'll think the golf course used to be a Volkswagen
burying ground. Each hole has a name - very cool, but since
there's no room for a driving range, come warmed up. That
process can be helped by a few sips of the Ocean Trails Blonde
Lager on tap ($4.50), made especially for the course by Golden
State Beer Co., in Oxnard. If the place looks familiar, it's
probably because you've seen ABC's coverage of the "Michael
Douglas And Friends" celebrity charity event held at Ocean
Trails the last three years. Don't worry; Jack Nicholson isn't
hanging around to laugh at your swing.
Eric
Tracy
KFWB
RADIO
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