Southland Focus

A weekly look at golf courses open to the public in Southern California.

GENERAL OLD GOLF COURSE

Green fees: $17-$25.

Address: 6104 Village West Dr., Riverside.

Phone: (909) 697-6690.

Tee times: Seven days in advance.

The facility: You know you’re playing a course with ties to the military when the starter bellows over the loudspeaker before your round, “If the group ahead of you is putting distance between you, they are not fast, you are slow!” Gen. Archie J. Old, who spearheaded the effort to open a course on March Air Force base in the mid-50s, probably never envisioned the average Joe being able to play here, but when the base effectively closed in the spring of 1996, it was opened to the public. And the sprawling layout with a grass driving range and a giant practice green for chipping remains one of the Southland’s best-kept secrets.

The good: Fairways are plush, greens slick, true and small. And there is creativity in the layout: No. 7, a short par four, features a water hazard no bigger than a child’s swimming pool in the middle of the fairway about 210 yards out, which gives players the option of swinging away and taking their chances or laying up. No. 18, a tree-lined dogleg left, plays 538 yards on calm days, but closer to 600 with the prevailing wind in your face.

The bad: Riverside in the summer. A relatively flat layout with fairways flanked by barren fields, on which players with poor shots sometimes find themselves with an even better shot to the green.

The score: The price is right, and the course tricky enough and in good enough shape to make for an enjoyable round. Provided, of course, one is able to keep one’s cool.

Overall rating: 2 1/2 balls.

One ball-No frills golf

Two balls-Worth an occasional round. Three balls-Like shooting four strokes under your handicap

Four balls-Where the golf gods play

Hole 1

Back Tees: 504

Middle Tees: 489

Men’s/women’s par: 5/5

Front Tees: 425

Hole 2

Back Tees: 197

Middle Tees: 190

Men’s/women’s par: 3/3

Front Tees: 167

Hole 3

Back Tees: 387

Middle Tees: 380

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 331

Hole 4

Back Tees: 439

Middle Tees: 429

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 379

Hole 5

Back Tees: 546

Middle Tees: 535

Men’s/women’s par: 5/5

Front Tees: 489

Hole 6

Back Tees: 388

Middle Tees: 382

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 340

Hole 7

Back Tees: 335

Middle Tees: 322

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 281

Hole 8

Back Tees: 181

Middle Tees: 171

Men’s/women’s par: 3/3

Front Tees: 130

Hole 9

Back Tees: 399

Middle Tees: 390

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 346

Out:

Back Tees: 3,376

Middle Tees: 3,288

Men’s/women’s par: 36/36

Front Tees: 2,888

Hole 10

Back Tees: 434

Middle Tees: 424

Men’s/women’s par: 4/5

Front Tees: 410

Hole 11

Back Tees: 196

Middle Tees: 187

Men’s/women’s par: 3/3

Front Tees: 178

Hole 12

Back Tees: 395

Middle Tees: 386

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 370

Hole 13

Back Tees: 541

Middle Tees: 522

Men’s/women’s par: 5/5

Front Tees: 507

Hole 14

Back Tees: 357

Middle Tees: 336

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 317

Hole 15

Back Tees: 376

Middle Tees: 367

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 345

Hole 16

Back Tees: 158

Middle Tees: 149

Men’s/women’s par: 3/3

Front Tees: 131

Hole 17

Back Tees: 382

Middle Tees: 366

Men’s/women’s par: 4/4

Front Tees: 348

Hole 18

Back Tees: 538

Middle Tees: 457

Men’s/women’s par: 5/5

Front Tees: 429

In

Back Tees: 3,377

Middle Tees: 3,194

Men’s/women’s par: 36/37

Front Tees: 3,035

Total

Back Tees: 6,753

Middle Tees: 6,482

Men’s/women’s par: 72/73

Front Tees: 5,923

Rating/Slope: Back--71.9/118, Middle--70.5/115, Front--73.1/120