CAN YOU PICTURE IT? DELUXE GOLF COURSES ARE SPRINGING UP AROUND THE VALLEY, CATERING TO PLAYERS WHO ARE WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR A QUICK ROUND.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Real Deals

Studio City resident John Blake is one of the regulars at Robinson Ranch, a 36-hole, high-end golf course that tumbles over hills and winds through an oak-studded valley near the Santa Susana mountains above Canyon Country.

It's an accomplishment of some economic note.

Blake has played the Mountain Course, which opened in February, about 15 times despite greens fees that can reach $130 on weekends and holidays.

And he doesn't mind forking over that kind of cash because he can play 18 holes in about four hours at a top-notch facility.

``It's worth spending a little more money,'' he said one recent Sunday on his way to play the back nine at Robinson Ranch.

Some developers are betting millions of dollars that there are a lot more golfers like Blake in the Greater San Fernando Valley area.

Five new golf courses have been built recently or are under construction in the Greater San Fernando Valley area and all are a step up from the typical public course.

Besides Robinson Ranch, they are Cascades in Sylmar, Tierra Rejada in Moorpark and Sterling Hills in Camarillo. A 36-hole Pete Dye-designed complex being built in Simi Valley should open late this year.

They are more expensive and less crowded and are marketed as a country club experience for a day.

The unanswered question at this point is whether there are enough well-heeled golfers to keep all the operators in the black.

Robinson Ranch Golf, based in Laguna Niguel, will end up spending about $40 million on its Santa Clarita Valley complex. The Valley Course is set to open Memorial Day, and a 25,000-square-foot club house should be ready next April. There are also 72 home sites scattered around Robinson's holdings, which are big enough to accommodate a third championship course.

``We didn't see a lot of facilities being planned for Los Angeles,'' said Ted Robinson Jr., the company's managing partner and part of the design team along his father, noted course architect Ted Robinson.

``We felt that Los Angeles was significantly under-golfed.''

An equally ambitious project is under way at the north end of Tapo Canyon Road in Simi Valley, where a $36 million golf course complex is under way on what once was Big Sky Ranch. The partners are Landmark National, Hillwood Golf and Hirasawa Corp. of Japan.

They believe that Simi Valley could become a golfing destination, since the plans could eventually include a luxury hotel.

The partners don't have any preconceived opinions about Simi Valley. All they know is that they have a great piece of property for golf.

And Landmark knows golf.

The company has developed 25 courses and five of them made Golf Digest's list of the top 100 courses in the country.

Chris Cole, Landmark's director of golf, notes that the project is just a short drive from a huge population base that is underserved when it comes to these types of facilities.

``We're 45 minutes from LAX. If you build an outstanding golf course, people will drive for an hour to play it,'' he said.

Designer Dye, who calls Lost Canyons the best piece of property he's ever worked with, notes it is freeway close to a huge market.

``We have a golf course only 40 minutes from 20 million people and I'm sure there are enough of them that want this kind of experience.''

Everything at Lost Canyons will revolve around golf and scenic vistas. While some home sites are part of the project, they are on the other side of a ridge and will not be visible from the course.

Plans now call for the club's greens fees to top out at $135. The fee includes a forecaddie, who will meet golfers in the parking lot then shepherd them around the course, taking care of chores like fixing fairway divots, raking sand traps and repairing ball marks on the greens.

(At Robinson Ranch, practice balls are included in the green fees.)

Cascades, the first course built in the city of Los Angeles in at least 20 years, is taking a similar approach to attract players.

Tom Clark, general partner of the course's owner, Royal Clark Development, said that play is starting to pick up and tournaments are now being booked. His market is every golfer in the area.

``The public courses are running at capacity so there is demand.''

Indeed, the Los Angeles area is a paradox of numbers when it comes to golf, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The region, which includes Long Beach, has about 9.3 million people and ranks 316 out of 317 metropolitan areas in terms of supply of public and private golf holes. There are 20 holes per 100,000 of population vs. the national average of 80.

But in terms of number of courses, Los Angeles County ranks fourth in the nation with 123.

The problem is one of supply and demand. Sure, there are a lot of courses here. But there are a lot of golfers trying to get tee times, too.

It's these kinds of numbers that make developers like Landmark and Robinson bullish on this market.

And then there are the golfers like Studio City resident Chris Ames, a regional director for the California Pizza Kitchen restaurant chain.

Triple-digit greens fees on the weekend are not a big deal.

``I love it. It's great,'' he said while taking a break at Robinson Ranch. ``I actually like the price. You can come out here on a Sunday and play in four hours, so I'd rather pay the extra money. And the hospitality is great.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) no caption (golf club and ball)

(2 -- color) The Sky Course at Los Canyons is part of 36-hole complex under construction in the Simi Valley. It's the latest of several high-end public golf courses built in or near the San Fernando Valley

(3) Golf course designer Pete Dye's Lost Canyon project in Simi Valley is set to open as a top-quality venue in October.

Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News