Mountainside Glen Annie Golf Club in Goleta, and the fun Alisal River Course - where the golf scene in the wine movie Sideways was shot are other good choices.įrom Santa Barbara we backtrack to Ventura and follow Highway 33 into the golden hills of the Los Padres National Forest, and the renowned Ojai Valley immortalised as the mythical Shangri-La in the movie Lost Horizon, filmed here in 1937. A demanding test, La Purisima has been used numerous times for PGA and Champions Tour qualifying events. PHOTOS: PAUL MARSHALLAnother is majestic La Purisima Golf Course near Lompoc, which has been crafted out of a rollercoaster canyon interlaced with scrub oak. Nestled against the scalloped coastline, it’s an inspiring combination of challenge and beauty with a links-style layout.ĭevils Golf Course, Death Valley, where gnarled crystalline salt spires dot the landscape. Santa Barbara makes a good base for our first round at Sandpiper Golf Club, sometimes known as the "Poor Man’s Pebble Beach". With the world’s lowest elevation golf course and some of the best desert layouts on the planet - the sheer quantity and variety of golf courses in California and Nevada is astonishing.Īfter loading our clubs into our spacious Alamo SUV at LAX, my brother Paul and I cruise north along palm-fringed Pacific Highway 1, passing through Santa Monica, Malibu and Ventura towards the picturesque beachside town of Santa Barbara, dubbed the American Riviera thanks to its low-slung red-tiled roofs, white stucco buildings and gorgeous sunsets.
And for serious golfers, this is a true place of pilgrimage. Road journeys don’t come more quintessential than the 450-mile (724km) trip (give or take a few) from Los Angeles to Las Vegas via Death Valley.From lone roadside diners and highways stretching to infinity, to buzzards circling cloudless skies and distinctive Joshua trees dotting the desert landscape – all the classic imagery is here in abundance.
0 kommentar(er)
