Luckily for golfers, the housing development came with a championship caliber 18-hole golf course. It opened for play in 2001 and was designed by Schmidt-Curley with help from Fred Couples himself. Over the years it has seen a number of different owners and management groups, but it has always been a beautiful property. I had a chance to tee it up at Talega on May 23rd, which was a picturesque Monday afternoon. My friend and Talega employee Nick Gomez called me at 2 pm to see if I would be interested in a last-minute super-twilight round. I hemmed and hawed over rushing to make the 30 mile drive from my Tustin bachelor pad to deep behind the Orange Curtain in South County, but decided to get out of the house and give it a go. After all, a round of golf with Gomez always ends up producing a few good laughs.
I arrived at Talega around 4pm. Nick greeted me at the parking lot after coming from the driving range, which oddly is quite a distance from the clubhouse and the rest of the golf course. I paid my green fee and we were off and running. Nick is a very good player, a former junior college player who is still active in competitive golf and probably carries around a one or two handicap. He also plays the course regularly so any match we were going to have was going to require some serious adjustments. He decided to give me four strokes per side, which I felt was pretty fair, and I was adament about playing from the blue tees, which would negate his length advantage. We decided to play a straight 18-hole match and allowed our favorite "press when pissed" option for a friendly yet undisclosed amount.
On the first tee, I told Nick that I wanted to try out a Scotty Cameron Laguna 2.5 putter that I had purchased from eBay about a year ago but never had used during a round. I had always wanted one of these because they closely resemble the old Ping MyDay design that I used to roll the rock with in the late 90's. I had one MyDay that was about 33.5 inches and I putted great with that club for years. One day I slightly tweaked it somehow and it never was the same for me. I tried other MyDays from Ping but they never looked or felt as sweet as my old gamer. I was hoping the Scotty Cameron copy would somehow bring the magic back. I reserved the right to switch back to my latest standby, a Taylor Made Rossa that I have been using for the last three years or so. Nick agreed to my terms.
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| Talega's 7th Hole -183 yards. |
On the back nine, I got to see an awful lot of scenery. I had been striping my driver pretty much all day but as the day wore on I found myself in some awkward places. On 11, I drove my ball right to the right edge of a fairway bunker. I had no stance whatsoever because the face was so steep, so I had to slap it down the fairway using a bundled up stance and swing. My drive trickled through the fairway on 13 and ended up right at the base of a tree. I had to punch this one out off of a hefty root. On 15, I had a severe downhill lie with the ball below my feet. I played a great hybrid shot out of there to put me in a great position for my third shot into the par-5. Nick is insensitive and found my misfortunes to be comical (as I would if HE were hitting the rescue shots) but I get the sense that he was impressed by my scrambling ability.
The match was getting heated on the back nine and we both played some UGLY golf coming home. On the 296 yard 14th we were both about 70 yards out after our drives. It was a pivotal hole because I had gotten behind after chopping my way through the first few holes of the back side. I was down and I had some stroke holes coming so I knew I could flip the script on this match very quickly. I used my 52 degree Vokey for this shot and when the ball left the club I thought it was all over the stick. I called for it to "be right" but it flew the flag in the center of the putting surface - about 20 yards too long and into the rough. Nick got a good laugh at that one but wasn't looking so happy when he did the same exact thing but worse only moments later! I believe we both made bogey so no harm was done, but I wasted an opportunity to get back in it. I made things worse by hitting an awful iron shot on the long par-4 16th and a woeful tee shot on the par-3 17th that landed in a fried egg in the greenside bunker. The real fun came on #18.
As I said, we play "press when pissed". Needless to say when I reached the 18th tee, I was a bit steamed. So, I put the press on. I had to win the hole to come out dead even, if we tied the hole, I would lose two ways, but if I lost the hole, I would lose four ways. After some chit chat on the tee about something completely not related to golf, Nick hit a nicely placed tee shot that avoided a huge bunker in the middle of the fairway and also laid up short of a huge lake looming in the distance. I knew I needed a good tee shot. Now, it isn't really like me to choke, but I hit my drive off the heel of the club. A grounder to third base that traveled a grand total of about 40 yards. I did not pass the forward (ladies) tees and of course I had to withstand the usual jokes (golfers know what I'm talking about). I could not reach the green from where I was so I tried to rip it down there as close as possible and hope for a miracle. However, I ended up rolling my ball through a bunker about 100 yards from the green and just onto the grassy lip at the top of the steep face. As we reached my ball, Gomez was delighted. Here I was, hitting my third shot, ball sitting about waist high, 100 yards out, water on the entire left side of the green with bunkers and junk to the right. Channeling Al Czervik from Caddyshack, I offered odds. "Nick, 500 to 1 I hit the green from here?" He hesitated like he was going to take the long odds but declined. "OK, how about 100 to 1? I'll put down a buck. Easiest dollar you will ever make." Again, he declined after some debate. So, I decided I would just go for broke regardless. I choked up on a 19 degree rescue club and literally took a baseball half-swing. It was more like chopping wood with a hatchet than taking a golf swing. I made really solid contact and the ball came out starting at the flag with a little draw. It actually landed on the putting surface but barely rolled through the green and stopped on the collar just before reaching the lake. Nick could not believe the shot that I had just pulled off and we laughed because if he had taken one of those bets, he would have been shaking in his spikes as my ball slowly rolled inches away from me collecting on those long odds. Unfortunately, I made bogey, which was no help, and I lost four ways.
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| Talega's 11th Hole - Dogleg Left Par-5 |
Course review - I have played Talega several times in the last five years and I have always had mixed feelings about the course conditions. Courses that charge $80 weekday and $100 weekend at rack rates should usually be in prime condition. Orange County courses have the advantage of being in an affluent area where people can afford to pay those types of green fees. However, I know of a lot of OC golfers who would rather travel to areas like Corona or Temecula to play a course in spectacular condition at 50-65% of the price. In past years, I have seen Talega's greens suffering from turf loss, patchiness, and an overall poor look. In my latest round, I felt that the greens were very much improved. They certainly had better color, were much more smooth, and rolled true. However, I do feel that in order to reach that elite level of golf course, that they need to speed up their greens just a touch. I would say that they were rolling in the 8.5-9 range on the Stimpmeter, which isn't bad for a public course, but Talega would benefit from getting them up to around 10+ in my opinion. The fairways, tees, and bunkers were mostly in great shape. I was a little surprised to find an awful lot of grass overgrown in one of their bunkers on the back nine, but that was a relatively small detail issue.
Overall, the golf experience was wonderful. The views at the course are incredible. Many holes on the back nine providing vistas and elevated vantage points that provide golfers with a chance to soak in the rolling hillsides of San Clemente. One benefit of the location is that there are typically not a lot of players late in the day. As a twosome, we played in just under three hours and we weren't rushing one bit. If you are looking for a quick super-twilight round on a really nice course, this is your place. The fresh air and the peace and quiet are well worth the green fee of $45 after 4pm during the week. In the summer, players should be able to play all 18 holes if they are quick enough.
The course is a very fair test of golf for golfers of all skill levels. The design has a good mix of long and short holes, and offers birdie opportunities in many places while also putting up a strong defense on several difficult holes. Water comes into play on at least six holes, including the two challenging par 3's on the front side. At 6600 yards, 71.1 rating and 129 slope, the blue tees are just about right for most players. The tips jump up to 6900 yards and the extra yardage adds to the difficulty of the shorter par-4s and the par-5's.
I have not spent much time at Talega's restaurant or bar, but I have heard good things about their Signature Grille. Sunday Brunch is supposedly excellent. In the shopping center that is basically connected to Talega's parking lot, there is a great little restaurant and bar called Sundried Tomato Cafe. They offer a buy one, get one free on beer if you bring a Talega Golf Club scorecard. I enjoyed calamari with curry aioli, and I think Nick had some sausage penne, which were both delicious. Stop in for a nice place to relax, settle your bets, and unwind after your round.
I have a feeling I may be seeing more of Talega this summer. Ahhhhh Talegahhhh.
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