ROLLING HILLS MAKE GAWKING A BONUS.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

MOORPARK - Location, location, location.

Four-year-old Tierra Rejada Golf Club is steeped in that staple of real- estate success, meandering as it does over rolling hills in western Ventura County. The result is some of the most spectacular vistas in the area.

Play the par-72, Robert E. Cupp-designed course at the super-twilight rate of $45 on a summer afternoon - Monday through Thursday after 3 p.m. - and you'll get in 18 holes and all the spectacular scenery you want, especially on the front nine.

An elevation change of hundreds of feet is most apparent on that opening nine, from the sometimes wind-buffeted peninsula of the fifth green to the elevated ninth tee. The height provides a dramatic overview of the bunker-filled ninth and 10th fairways rising to the highest point on Tierra Rejada's back nine.

Gawking should be part of the game plan during a late-afternoon round at Tierra Rejada. The course provides a clear sightline to the distant Ronald Reagan Library and an up-close and intimidating look from the tee of the par-3 seventh hole - a mere 150 yards of challenge but to a green surrounded by precipice.

If No. 7 is the most intimidating tee shot, it doesn't lack company in that category. The 476-yard, par-4 third hole, rated most difficult on the course, demands a blind shot through a narrow hilltop fairway, then a long and accurate downhill approach to a green with a severe fall-off slope on one side.

No. 6, a canyon-crossing, 412-yard par-4, presents two choices - neither especially comforting to less-than-low-handicap golfers attempting the back tees. Hit a tee shot straight across the canyon and face a long uphill shot to a severely sloped green. Or, hit diagonally across the canyon in hope of getting a shorter approach and risk not clearing that hazard, which is deceptively wide at an angle.

The 426-yard, par-4 18th hole requires another accurate tee shot, which with good distance will find either some of the most narrow fairway on the course or trouble left or right.

But Tierra Rejada's best visual treat/challenge by far takes place on the dramatically elevated No. 8 tee box. It offers a panoramic view of surrounding hills and farmland as well as a good look at the lake-flanked first green.

Get past the gawk alert and you face a tee shot calling for accuracy, distance and considerable guesswork on the line of attack by a first-time Tierra Rejada player. The drive must be hit over a wide wilderness area to an angling fairway that seems extremely narrow from the tee box.

Five par-5s and as many par-3s present a different scoring dynamic on this course, which includes large greens that are good rolling but also challenge with tiers, slope and undulation.

The par-5s are long - the shortest is 516 yards - and three of the par-3s play 186 or longer from the back tees. The shortest par-3 is just 118 yards but downhill and to a tiered green with a severe falloff left of the green.

Pick the best of four sets of tees for your ability - from the 7,015-yard blacks to the 5,148-yard golds - and you could enjoy your score as well as the view. But no matter how you shoot, it's a good chance you'll remember the view longer.

Dave Shelburne, [phone]

dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

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The dramatic view from the eighth tee at 4-year-old Tierra Rejada Golf Club in western Ventura County is just one of many spectacular vistas at the course.

Dave Shelburne/Daily News

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