LOST HOLES OF OJAI RETURN COURSE REVERTS TO PRE-WWII HOLES WITH PAINSTAKING RENOVATION.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

OJAI - Maybe it was Mark Greenslit's fascination with Roaring 20s course architecture. Or Ben Crenshaw's love of golf history.

Factor in a since-retired uphill test that used to be as punishing on adjacent structures as it was on handicaps, consider a resort in need of elbow space, and you've got most of the reasons for the discovery of the lost holes of Ojai.

They reopened for play in December for the first time in more than a half-century - the visually spectacular par-3 seventh hole and the spectacularly difficult par-4 eighth at Ojai Valley Inn and Spa. But that's getting ahead of a story that really started when the U.S. Army took over the course and used the front nine as a camp during World War II.

Greenslit, now in his 12th year as head pro at Ojai, gives this account of the history that ultimately led him, Crenshaw, former course superintendent Sam Williamson and golf architect Carter Morris to forage through the fallow northwest quadrant of the course in search of a Thomas masterpiece.

``The course was built in 1923,'' Greenslit opened his one-upon-a-time tale, which began with community leader Edward Libby hiring fellow Pennsylvanian Thomas ``to build the best golf course on the West Coast.''

Thomas, who also designed Riviera and Bel Air country clubs in the hills west of Los Angeles, found similar raw material to his liking in Libby's hillside property in Ojai.

``He had a true vision of a very quality golf course,'' Greenslit said. ``He fell in love with the project as soon as he saw the terrain.''

The centerpiece of Thomas' work at Ojai was his No. 7 hole, as a downhill par-3 modeled after the famed third hole at New Jersey's Pine Valley Country Club. It challenged golfers with a canyon hazard left of the green, out-oounds to the right and required a tee shot from the back tees to fly nearly 200 yards to clear a fronting vanguard of seven bunkers.

Thomas and others so prized the seventh hole that photographs of it appear in each of the three biographies written about him.

More than 70 years after he built that hole and more than 50 years after it disappeared during the World War II occupation of the course by the Army, those photographs were the only clue to where the hole had been.

``Until 1942, this was a private course,'' Greenslit said. ``Then it was turned into a camp during the war - we've got pictures of the tents and huts the Army had on the front nine.

``Soon, the front nine ceased to exist and the back nine remained the course. After the war, the Corps of Engineers came in and redid the course but didn't bring it back the way it was.

``I'm speculating the new people that bought the course from the government were going to turn it into a resort and they might have said they needed to create some other activities.''

Whatever the reason, the seventh and eighth holes ceased to exist and horse stables were erected in the area, then abandoned. For years, that edge of the property stayed wild, well away from the resort lodging and untouched except in the musings of golf buff Greenslit. He often thought of both the missing Thomas masterpiece and the resort's need for more space.

One day, he put the two thoughts together and went hoofing through the unused quadrant, thinking Thomas' original design could solve two problems at once: The resort could reclaim unused property and also shut down an existing hole that was too close to lodgers and windows.

Greenslit had first mentioned the lost holes to Crenshaw during a 1990 visit by the Texan and felt almost energized by Crenshaw's enthusiasm at the possibility of bringing them back.

Two years ago, after the original site of the holes had been laboriously discovered by matching old photographs with existing terrain, the Ojai head pro told Crenshaw the project was a go during a Skills Challenge at the resort.

``His eyes lit up,'' Greenslit said.

So, eventually, did the course, which beefed up considerably with the old No. 7 and an old No. 8 that could be located only after the seventh had been found.

The resort took on a 203-yard par-3 and a 403-yard par-4, jettisoned a 175-yard par-3 and turned a troublesome 360-yard par-4 into resort-front green space, a putting green and no-fire zone.

The course is tougher - up from a slope of 123 to 125 and now rated 70.7 instead of 70.2 - and a hit with regulars and visitors.

``The holes they put in are much more challenging and difficult than the ones they replaced,'' said Nordhoff High golf coach Dick Sebek, whose team practices frequently at the resort.

Chan Bush, a Los Angeles-area freelance photographer who played his first round at the course last month, called No. 7 a treat for the eyes and test for the faint-hearted.

``It's definitely photogenic,'' Bush said. ``It kind of takes your breath away, and then you have to focus of golf. Because if you lose that focus, it won't be pretty.''

Greenslit also likes the changes, and not just for the relief from the occasional incoming shots toward his golf shop near the resort-fronting retired par-4.

He thinks Ojai now has one of the toughest three-hole stretches around with 7, 8 and the 442-yard ninth hole.

And, Thomas fan that he is, Greenslit is happy see one of the architect's favorite holes brought back to life. The restoration of No. 7 turned out the way Crenshaw predicted when he first heard of the project.

``He said this hole is going to be one of the best shots in golf,'' Greenslit said. ``And now we can appreciate it.''

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Photo: Several bunkers front Ojai Valley's seventh green had been lost in the 1940s to a World War II Army camp.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer