First look

This is the ninth fairway, looking from the green, of the Monarch Course. A lake lines the left side of the fairway, leaving golfers an "islandlike" landing area from the tee. From there, it is 150 to 180 yards to the green, with a carry over water. TPR photo by Vern Ahrendes.

Woodlands course takes shape, may have 'soft' opening in October

By Vern Ahrendes / Associate Editor

The first six holes are there, beckoning golfers as they drive by the massive Woodlands complex south of Willow Road and east of Highway 1.

By October, a soft opening could hail the South County's first new 18-hole golf course since Cypress Ridge opened its doors.

The Woodlands, the controversial development that has been on the books for more than a decade, has its team of designers in place, and excavation and rough contouring of the final 12 of the project's first 18 holes continues this week.

The TPR was granted a first look at the championship layout by Damian Pascuzzo of Pascuzzo and Pate and PGA Tour player Steve Pate. Both were at the site Tuesday and gave the TPR an overview of what will happen over the coming months.

Pate, fresh off of a bid Monday to qualify for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, N.C., was still a bit groggy and tired from the 36-hole marathon at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana. The former U.S. Ryder Cup player missed the qualifying standard by just a few strokes.

He was visibly impressed by what he saw in Nipomo this week.

"There's color here," he said, referring to the fairway grass along the first, second, seventh, eighth, ninth and 17th holes and a system of three linked lakes that border all of them.

None of that was here the last time he visited. And the fairway grass is almost ready for its first mowing.

Final grading is still pending on holes 10 through 15 as irrigation pipe is still being laid there this week.

The "soft" opening of the golf course is roughly scheduled for the same time the first of The Woodlands' 1,300 homes will be finished. An official opening for the golf course is likely next spring. Construction workers this week were busy framing the model homes and working on the roof and walls of the Shea Homes sales office. Shea is handling the sale of most of the homes.

While Shea is doing its thing, Pascuzzo and Pate are trying to co-author the design of the golf course as the homes are going up.

"It makes for a bit of a challenge," Pascuzzo said. "We had to redesign a few holes to adjust for changes in the homes and sales office."

The biggest change is shortening up what will be the par-4 18th.

"We wanted it to be a little longer," Pascuzzo said. "Some big hitters might be able to drive the green now."

But, as with every hole in the design, there is serious risk for gambling off of the tee.

Just start with the opening hole, a par-4, dogleg left. Water lines the entire left side of the fairway, and dunes will grab anything that goes right (to keep errant tee shots from hitting the homes that will line the right side of the fairway).

And it will be the sand, lots and lots of sand, that will be the trademark of the Monarch Course, the name that will be given to the north 18 in the 45-hole layout. A primarily par-3 course will be carved next into the eucalyptus groves east of the current golf course. The south course, with another 18 holes, will run near the bluff overlooking Santa Maria.

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The nuts and bolts of the course layout will be a lot of "visual trickery" for the golfer, said Pascuzzo, who has been involved with the golf course part of the project since 1992.

"We don't want to punish the people who will regularly play here off of the tee," Pascuzzo said. "The first time out, landing areas will look closer than they are, or landing areas will look smaller than they are."

Pascuzzo added, "But, we want to challenge golfers around the green."

For golf fanatics, Pascuzzo has told us in previous interviews that the Monarch Course will be similar to the front nine at Avila Beach.

"This course has terrific topography," he said. "There are a number of holes that are flat but many (like hole Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8 at Avila Beach) play across and along ridge lines."

And there will be plenty of water to deal with.

"We had to have a lot of water storage for the project," he said. "There are five lakes that will affect six holes, or about a third of this golf course."

The first three lakes will impact tee shots off of Nos. 1, 7, 8, 9 and 17. In most cases, the lakes border fairways for a long stretch of the hole. Only one, the par-3 No. 8, will require a carry over water.

The Monarch Course at The Woodlands will not be particularly long -- measuring about 6,500 to 6,600 yards from the back tees.

"For our market, that is plenty," he said. "Our philosophy was to challenge the golfer but protect the course from players who like to attack."

By that he meant there will be a generous fairway to hit off the tee, in most cases, but the challenges arise as golfers approach the greens.

"Some greens are enclosed by mounds or dunes," he said. "Others are just targets perched in the air. We are trying to play with all of the golfer's senses."

That is apparent with our look this week. Dramatic par-5s (Nos. 7 and 17) will be reachable in two for the gambling, long hitters. But deep bunkers guard the front of both greens and existing dunes will become dangerous waste areas for shots that go beyond the first cut of rough.

Pate said the dunes remind him of the sand that is found in Scotland.

"It has got that same feel," Pate said.

And Pascuzzo hopes the course will remind some golfers of great courses elsewhere in the state.

"No. 17 will be more reminiscent of old courses like Lake Merced in San Francisco that follows the contour of the land," Pascuzzo said.

"We are trying to put the bounce and the roll back into the game of golf with this layout," Pascuzzo said. "There will be penalties for those golfers who just like the aerial game."

An example is No. 7, a short 310-yard downhill par-4 that doglegs to the right. The visual challenge is that golfers can see the hole and may be tempted to try and drive the hole. But plenty of danger awaits.

"It looks closer than it really is," Pascuzzo said. "To drive the green, a golfer will require a carry of nearly 280 yards."

Another unique feature of No. 7 is a horizontal dune that works across the fairway.

"We didn't want all of our hazards to be along the edges of the fairway," he said. "It only requires a carry of 40 yards to reach the fairway, but it is an intriguing visual."

The greens on holes Nos. 6 and 8 will have greens perched on hillsides.

Pate believes the par-3 eighth could be the toughest hole on the course.

It will be a 160-yard tee shot for regular golfers, and nearly a 200-yard rip from the back tees. Water borders the whole right side of the hole, and the swale of the two-tiered green may take errant tee shots far, far from the hole.

"If we can make people think while they are playing then we've done our job as designers," Pascuzzo said.

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A quick overview of the rest of the layout gives golfers a taste of what they can look forward to this fall.

Hole No. 2 plays in the same valley as No. 1.

No. 3 is a short par 3, and No. 4 is a long par 4 in another valley. Then, the course takes off to the ridge line and crosses valleys on holes Nos. 6, 7 and 8.

No. 9 requires a tee shot to what appears to be an isthmus that is bordered on three sides by water.

"The landing area is much larger than it appears," Pascuzzo said. "But from the tee, it just looks like an island."

No. 10 is another "risk/reward" choice for the golfer. The fairway of the par 5 will split, giving golfers a narrow alley to hit into on the left side that gives a shortcut to the hole. The right fairway is wider and more forgiving, but is a longer route.

One of his favorite holes on this 18 is No. 12, a long par 5 along Highway 1.

"It will be an uphill tee shot to a ridge some 30 to 40 feet above the tee box," he said. "If you can hit your drive 220 from the white tees, you will watch your tee shot disappear over the ridge, not knowing if it is in a good location or not."

The next two holes, Nos. 13 and 14, will be short par 4s that play from elevated tees.

"The golfer will have to decide if a driver off the tee is worth the risk," he said.

A unique feature of the course is the attempt to mimmic the look and appearance of nearby dunes.

"We are shaping dunes throughout the golf course, rather than doing typical grassy mounds," he said. "We simply decided not to do the whole course in turf."

Associate editor Vern Ahrendes can be reached by calling 739-2210 or vahrendes@pulitzer.net.

The Pate File

Steve Pate: Co-designer of the Monarch Course at The Woodlands

The Ventura native lives in Agoura Hills and plays out of the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake.

The 1984 graduate of UCLA turned professional in 1983 and has six PGA Tour victories (the 1987 Southwest Golf Classic, the 1988 MONY Tournament of Champions, the 1988 Shearson Lehman Hutton Andy Williams Open, the 1991 Honda Classic, the 1992 Buick Invitational and the 1998 CVC Charity Classic).

His best finish this year was his tie for 51st at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Other career highlights include being a Captain's Choice to the 1999 Ryder Cup, being the 1999 PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year, earning a spot on the 1991 Ryder Cup, and becoming an All-American at UCLA in 1993 for the PAC-10 champion Bruins.

He still has exempt status on the PGA from his previous Tour wins.