Memorable layout offers scenery and history

UNION-TRIBUNE

TEMECULA - Southern California’s newest golf course is called Journey at Pechanga and its slogan is “10,000 years in the making.” If that sounds a little gimmicky, like a freeway billboard for the opening of a new ride at Knott’s Berry Farm, give us a minute to put it into perspective.

One hundred and 33 years ago, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians made the most significant journey in the 10,000 years they had lived in the Temecula Valley. Ranchers convinced a San Francisco District Court to evict them from their ancestral land, and a posse led by a San Diego sheriff forced the tribe into a small plot in the hills south of Temecula.

Seven years later, in 1882, despite objections from the California Legislature, President Chester A. Arthur gave the tribe back a small piece of its sovereignty when he issued an executive order setting aside 4,000 acres to create the Pechanga Indian Reservation.

It was a tiny slice of the vast area they once roamed, but it was, importantly, theirs.

So, understand, that this rather grand name, Journey at Pechanga, has a purpose. The tribe wants this to be more than a round of golf. This is about history, too.

“Everything we did was dictated by the culture of the tribe. It was important to respect that,” the course’s primary architect, Steve Forrest, said last week when Journey celebrated its grand opening.
Forrest likes to say that some of his most difficult challenges as an architect can produce the most satisfying results, and in the Journey he had one-of-a-kind issues he countered with wildly creative solutions. The result for golfers is one of the more memorable layouts in all of Southern California.

Be it working your ball around 900-year-old oak trees in the middle of the fairway, or counting the seconds of your drive’s free fall from a 200-foot cliff, the Journey is a unique experience shaped by the will of a people.

“It’s certainly one of the most exciting and dramatic pieces of land we’ve ever had,” said Forrest, who worked with partner Arthur Hills on the project for the past five years.

The challenges were many, including convincing the tribe to even build a golf course. For reasons cultural and economic, there was considerable resistance from some members.

“I was privileged enough to sit in on the vote,” Forrest said. “The whole tribe came in, and it was a very democratic process. Everybody went up to the front of the room to vote. The results were flashed up on a board immediately. And it wasn’t a sweeping majority who approved it, believe me.”

There still were many obstacles to overcome. Forrest, the current president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and a big proponent of environmentalism, had burial grounds and ancient adobes to avoid. He had to be extremely careful not to kill oaks or elderberry plants. He also had the dry wash of Pechanga Creek around which to maneuver.

“When I first walked the property, my question was, ‘Do we have enough buildable land here to get 18 golf holes in without totally destroying the character of the land?’ ” Forrest said.

There was only one solution: Head for the hills. In doing so, Forrest got some of his most spectacular holes, along with some heavy duty work for those who laid 7 miles of cart paths.

As Arthur Hills joked last week, “The real journey here is from the green to the next tee.”

Nowhere is that more evident than at the par-4 sixth, where it takes a 300-foot climb of several minutes to reach the tee box. From there, the view is incredible, with the fairway beckoning nearly 200 feet below. From the middle of the fairway, the green is another 100 feet down.

“The hang time there is stupendous,” Forrest said of the drive.

Forrest’s favorite hole is another cliffhanger. The par-3 17th, playing 180 yards from the white tees, is essentially an island in the sky, overlooking the Pechanga hotel and casino in the valley below.

The par-4 finishing hole is bizarre at first attempt. It is severely downhill with a disappearing fairway. But once you’re down the mountain, you realize there is plenty of space to set up an approach to a green with an enormous gully that separates two halves. The green style, Forrest said, is called Biarritz, after the French town where it was first introduced.

“We tried to push the edge of fun without being gimmicky,” Forrest said.

The tribe’s restrictions did force Forrest into some odd circumstances. An oak in the middle of the ninth fairway couldn’t be moved, and it presents a rather large hazard in the heart of the driving zone. The par-5 11th - 463 yards from the whites - is a severe and narrow dogleg right around Pechanga Creek that all but demands three iron shots.

Evidence of Pechanga’s heritage is there at nearly every turn. To the right of the fifth green is a protected area with a crumbling adobe ruin. “Kiicha” huts, constructed by children in the tribe as a cultural education, punctuate the course’s landscape. Several elaborate, railroad-style wooden bridges provide an Old West ambience.

The price to play, however, is decidedly New West: $150 on weekdays, $200 on weekends.

A costly journey into golf and history, but one worthy of serious consideration.

Tod Leonard: (619) 293-1858; tod.leonard@uniontrib.com
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Posted on November 18th, 2008 by hunwut
Filed under: Hotel & Resorts