BUSINESS BLOWN AWAY\Scholl Canyon makes repairs to wind-damaged driving range.

Byline: TIM BROWN 

Call it a one-club wind.

On New Year's Eve, the area around Scholl Canyon Golf and Tennis Club in Glendale was whipped by gusts approaching 100 mph. So ferocious were the winds that 17 telephone-pole-sized posts that supported nets surrounding the driving range snapped at their bases.

Employees arrived the next morning to find the wreckage, which included range mats scattered in the parking lot from what some called a "mini-hurricane effect." The executive course is situated at the top of Glenoaks Boulevard, overlooking the Rose Bowl and Brookside Golf Course.

Customers at the range were limited to 7-irons or less until Monday, when the range was closed for construction. The rebuilding project will take at least a week, and longer for the lights to be replaced. General manager Vernice Vasquez said that the range would be operational by Tuesday, tentatively.

Owned by the city of Glendale and operated by American Golf Corp., Scholl Canyon opened 14 months ago. Reopened, actually. A course on the same land was closed in the late 1980s when methane emanating from the underlying landfill became dangerous. That problem solved, the result is a 3,300-yard, par-60 course that is creative in its layout and loaded with half- and three-quarter shots. And, for a little while longer, half a driving range.

Kicking around the Big Skins: It may be Super Bowl Sunday to the majority, but to at least four guys, it's Senior Skins Sunday. Though that's not to say they aren't paying attention.

Asked for their predictions, Raymond Floyd (Dallas, 34-22), Jim Colbert (Dallas, 24-14) and Jack Nicklaus (Dallas, 27-21) went with the favorite. To no one's surprise, Latrobe's own Arnold Palmer picked his hometown Steelers by a field goal, 31-28.

Floyd may have insider's information. Former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula and his wife, Mary Anne, will be the guests of Raymond and Maria Floyd at Mauna Lani this weekend.

Add football: One more thing about the Super Bowl, as if there isn't enough about it in the rest of the newspaper: The final round of this week's Phoenix Open at the Tournament Players Club of Scottsdale is Saturday, not Sunday, because the Super Bowl is being played in nearby Tempe.

Organizers have added a post-tournament event for Sunday, called the Charity Cup, in which fivesomes - three corporate executives, a PGA player and a current or former NFL player - will compete in a pro-am. Afterward, helicopters will airlift pro-am participants to Sun Devil Stadium in time for the game.

Trend or foe? The favorite pastime of PGA Tour players cost someone else his job recently, making it two superintendents in less than six months.

Once again griping about spotty, spike-marked, slow, inconsistent, off-colored, too-small, too-large, too-fast, too-flat, too-hilly greens, the pros ran off Starr Pass Golf Club super Rob Sample during the Nortel Open two weeks ago.

There were 13 regular events between the PGA Championship, which led to the resignation of Riviera superintendent Bill Baker, and the firing of Sample.

Speaking of Riviera's greens and those who keep them: Five months later, the folks at Riviera again are optimistic that their greens will be adequate for professional golfers.

We know this because Riviera officials said so in a release issued on Jan. 19.

The release stated that the greens, under the direction of retired USGA agronomist Bill Bengeyfield and new superintendent Danny Vasquez, have benefited from the warm winter and the willingness of Riviera's members to go spikeless since the PGA Championship.

It also reported that the greens will meet PGA standards, following what Bengeyfield termed "the painful growing experiences of last summer."

He added that, "smooth, true, resilient Riviera putting greens are a fact today and well on their way to excellence. Plans are in place for an ongoing improvement for the many tomorrows. But for now, a major step forward has been accomplished and the reality of it all can be seen on the greens."

Power to the public golfer: The public golf forums offered last year by the Los Angeles Country Parks and Recreation commission and department will continue in 1996, and with several positive modifications.

According to Craig Kessler, public affairs chairman for the Southern California Public Links Golf Association, some of the public meetings will be held in conjunction with the commission's regular meetings. The department will also provide follow-up guidelines along with the occasional night-time session.

These forums are valuable and necessary for the welfare of the public golfer. Last year, they were held at Alondra, Mountain Meadows, La Mirada and Knollwood golf courses. The 1996 schedule of meetings has yet to be established.

In other news from Kessler and the SCPLGA:

The new City of Los Angeles Golf Advisory Committee is expected to be in place shortly.

American Golf Corp. has requested a fee increase from the Long Beach Municipal Golf Commission's Fees and Charges Committee.

The Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department recently proposed a three-year golf surcharge plan that would finance a greens reconstruction project at Rancho Park and a new irrigation system at Hansen Dam. The plans will coincide with those for a new clubhouse at Woodley.

Pound for pound: It seems John Daly may have won the British Open a year too soon. The winner of this year's open at Royal Lytham in July will receive $302,000 (200,000 pounds), $113,000 more than Daly won last year at St. Andrews.

The total purse has been increased to $2.12 million, double what it was the last time the British Open was played at Royal Lytham, in 1988. However, it still trails the other three majors. Last year, Ben Crenshaw won $360,000 for his Masters victory, Corey Pavin $350,000 at the U.S. Open and Steve Elkington $360,000 at the PGA Championship.

Notes: Jeff Shaw, a member of USC's golf team from 1985-87 and of Pasadena City College's before that, has a unique teaching philosophy designed for the tall golfer. A PGA golf professional at Scholl Canyon and himself 6-foot-4, Shaw calls it "swinging at your own height." It works. Give him a call at [phone]. . . . A tournament to benefit Tourette Syndrome research will be held April 22 at Braemar Country Club. For information on the Southern California Tourette Syndrome Association National Celebrity Golf Classic, call [phone].