AS USUAL, NICKLAUS ON COURSE.

Byline: Jill Painter GOLF

THOUSAND OAKS - With a hillside to the left, lush greenery all around, blue sky overhead and a brand-new green 78 yards away, Jack Nicklaus took a wedge and stretched with it.

He entertained a crowd of Sherwood Country Club members as he cautioned a group of photographers just to the right of the tee box to move, in case he hit an errant shot. No one moved.

Nicklaus said he hadn't hit a ball in weeks. He's been doggedly busy with his other day job, designing golf courses.

He hadn't practiced since retiring after the British Open last July and played just six rounds since then. Just as he stepped up to the tee, the wind swirled. Nicklaus joked that he'd been playing into the wind for about 15 years. His shot landed about 15 feet from the hole.

With a pump of his right arm and an ``Oh yeah!'', Nicklaus opened the Lake Club at Sherwood. Nicklaus Design has done just about everything in golf course architecture, but this par-3 course is special to him. It's the first 18-hole par-3 course Nicklaus has designed.

Every hole has meaning.

``These are inspirations from holes that I played around the world or that I've done myself,'' Nicklaus said.

Nicklaus will pen a book about the course and describe the inspirations behind each hole. The tough, 169-yard 10th hole, for example, is a miniature version of the third hole at Las Campanas in Santa Fe. The fifth hole was inspired by hole No. 12 at the TPC of Michigan. Others are based on holes at the Pasadera Country Club in Monterey, The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., and the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

Nicklaus and Murdock partnered to form the Sherwood Country Club, which opened in 1989. Murdock asked Nicklaus about building another full course on the property after that. Nicklaus said the property was too beautiful. But he figured a full par-3 course would do just the trick. He had no idea of the vast clubhouse that would accompany the course.

``It's a great place for kids and women to play golf, and for men who don't know how to play golf,'' Nicklaus said. ```Little did I know that David was going to do this, too. This is the most unbelievable clubhouse I've ever seen for a facility like this. There isn't another par-3 facility, at least in the U.S., that would even come close to what we have here.''

The clubhouse, designed in Georgian architecture, is a 14,000-square foot facility that includes a grille room, fitness center, private dining room, swimming pool and other bells and whistles.

The Lake Club will include approximately 90 new homes, starting at $3.5 million.

The course is 1,965 yards with the longest hole at 169 yards. The shortest - No. 15 - is just 65 yards with an island green. Nicklaus, known for his environmentally-friendly designs, said no trees were destroyed in the construction of the golf course. However, a few had to be moved.

``I couldn't tell you how proud I am to have the club finished and looking the way it does,'' Murdock said. ``I couldn't have done it without my good friend Jack Nicklaus. You know as well as I do the talent and abilities he has with golf courses.''

And then there's his ability to make a few junior golfers feel comfortable when they had the daunting task of following Nicklaus on the 10th tee.

Nicklaus graciously awarded most a mulligan - he said it was an important part of beginner golf - and three earned a box of new golf balls for putting their tee shot inside of his.

Northridge resident Brandon Jacobs, 8 years old, was every bit a cool customer as he drove the green on the 10th hole.

``It was awesome,'' said Jacobs, who normally plays at Sherwood Country Club.

And then Nicklaus was off to christen another golf course. His company will open his 250th course this season. He has another 52 under construction and 26 more in his plans.

And one happy golf developer in Thousand Oaks.

Around the green: Riley Marshall of College of the Canyons won the individual title at the Southern California Community College Regional Championships at the Santa Maria Country Club. He shot 72-69-141 to win by one shot. ... Can you shoot your age? That's what ``The Villages Shoot Your Age Championships'' is all about. It gets underway this week at Arnold Palmer Legends Country Club in Florida. Eighty finalists will play with Palmer and Gary Player on live television in the final on Saturday. ... Calabasas Country Club opened a new Dave Pelz short game academy facility last week. ... Donna Duke of Camarillo, who's played golf for 26 years, recorded her 69th career hole-in-one at Westlake Golf Course last week. She aced the 13th hole with a 7-iron.

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com

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