SWINGIN' SPOT; GOLFERS HOOKED ON NEW COURSE.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

MOORPARK - A couple of hundred golfers a day are teeing off at the newly opened Tierra Rejada Golf Club, delighting managers of the 18-hole public course.

``We've been very pleased,'' course manager Dan Donovan said Monday. ``It's exceeded our expectations in the beginning.

``The community has been very responsive to the golf course, saying things like, we really need things like that out here. People are very happy to have it,'' he said.

Designed by Robert Cupp, the $12.5 million course opened Dec. 17 with a pro shop, 5,000-square-foot bar and restaurant and a practice facility that includes a 30-tee driving range and chipping and putting greens.

The 180-acre course is in unincorporated Ventura County, east of the Moorpark Freeway and north of Tierra Rejada Road. It forms part of a greenbelt joining the cities of Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Camarillo.

The course is managed by Donovan Bros., a business owned by two of Dan Donovan's siblings. They, in turn, are working on behalf of Crumpler & Kruger Commercial Real Estate Inc. of Malibu, which leases the land from prominent local landowner Ralph Mahan.

``It's absolutely wonderful and a tremendous asset to the communities of Moorpark and Simi Valley,'' said Mahan, who owns a 460-acre parcel in the area.

``From some of the fairways, you can see the (Channel) Islands off the coast and the San Gabriel Mountains to the east.''

Mahan said credit for the course should go to Crumpler & Kruger and Donovan Bros., which also manages Willowick Golf Club in Santa Ana and the Western Hill Country Club in Chino Hills.

As part of an agreement between the developer and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the course includes 55 acres of open space and a wildlife-friendly picket fence along Tierra Rejada Road. The pickets are spaced three feet apart to allow wild animals to pass through the area, said Donovan. In addition, the developer agreed to plant only native trees on the site, including oak, sycamore, cottonwood and alders.

The county approved the project over the objections of Moorpark officials, who maintained the course would erode the area's rural character, lead to further commercial development and sprawl and increase vehicle traffic.

The city is also opposed to a proposal by Mahan to open a nine-hole golf course, called Glen Arie, in July, just east of the Tierra Rejada Golf Club.

In addition, Mahan said he plans to plant avocado orchards on the remaining 240 acres of the parcel and build three ranch homes, each on 80 acres. That land lies to the north of the existing and proposed golf courses, said Mahan.

In a letter to the county Planning Division in September, the city objected to the nine-hole course, saying it would increase traffic, harm air quality and result in fertilizer chemicals migrating to the underlying aquifer. The city also claims the environmental impact report for the project is deficient.

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Photo: (color) The new 18-hole Tierra Rejada public course, located east of the Moorpark Freeway, appears to be a hit with area golfers.

Lilly Barrett/Special to the Daily News