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VARIETY THE DRAW AT AZUSA LOW-KEY AMBIENCE COMPLEMENTS SPACIOUS GREENS.


Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

AZUSA - Good atmosphere, fair rates, fairways firm enough to yield plenty of roll to accurate drives, and an ample practice facility make Azusa Greens Country Club worth the excursion of less than an hour from the eastern rim of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley

Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills.
.

Once famous for its speed-play emphasis that included loudspeaker loudspeaker or speaker, device used to convert electrical energy into sound. It consists essentially of a thin flexible sheet called a diaphragm that is made to vibrate by an electric signal from an amplifier.  instructions to hit away and protective fenced areas behind greens to allow following players to hit up, this public-access course south of the San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Mountains, S Calif., E and NE of Los Angeles, running c.50 mi (80 km) westward from Cajon Pass. San Antonio Peak (10,080 ft/3,072 m) is the highest of the range. Citrus fruits are raised on the southern foothills.  has adopted a less-hurried approach to the game in recent years and is more memorable now for its low-key ambience.

The combination of plentiful palm and pine trees gives the course an old-style look enhanced by a clubhouse big enough to accommodate dancing room for a large wedding party. It also affords Azusa Greens diners Diners can mean:
  • Diners Club International, a credit card company
  • plural of "diner", see Diner (disambiguation)
 a tee-through-green view of golfers playing the short but troublesome 10th hole.

Variety is another part of the appeal of this meandering 6,193-yard, par- 70 San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire.  layout, where fairways infrequently adjoin and length is less of a scoring deterrent than the trees that flank nearly every hole.

Course designer Bob Baldock put in a nice mix of long and short holes, challenging golfers on the 285-yard par-4 10th and 276-yard par-4 12th with sloping greens that make par more difficult than it seems from the tee.

He also has some good tests for the boomers - notably the straightaway straight·a·way  
adj.
1. Extending in a straight line or course without a curve or turn.

2. Unhesitating; immediate: a straightaway denial.

n.
 445-yard, par-4 seventh and the dogleg-left 441-yard, par-4 16th - rated only the second-toughest hole on the course but probably one of the most difficult public-course par-4s in the San Gabriel Valley.

The Azusa Greens course-raters picked No. 7 as toughest hole on the course, and it requires two well-aimed, well-struck shots to reach a large green that cants steeply left to right.

But No. 16 is a visual and physical challenge on every swing - starting with what can be a claustrophobic claus·tro·pho·bic  
adj.
1.
a. Relating to or suffering from claustrophobia.

b. Uncomfortably closed or hemmed in.

2.
 tee shot from out of a chute. Hit that shot into or near left-side trees short of the turn, and it will take serious scrambling to save par. Any tee shot that goes right can go out of bounds near the turn. Succeed on the tee, and the subsequent approach must be hit to a green flanked right and rear by trees and left by OB.

Par-3 holes are another strength at Azusa Greens, especially the front- nine trio of the 217-yard third, the 211-yard sixth and the short ninth, which plays just 130 yards but has a severely sloped green - as does the 124-yard 13th, the only par-3 on the back nine.

Wide fairways help big hitters swing freely off the tee on holes 14 and 15, the 382-yard and 385-yard par-4s that play toward and away from the nearby mountain range. No. 18 is another wide launching pad for boomers with a 368-yard straightaway to a green Steve Renaud of Oak Park nearly drove in a recent tournament.

Placement enthusiasts will get all the test they can handle on the short but tight fourth hole, a 362-yard par-4 flanked by trees and out of bounds and featuring a green guarded by a large fronting bunker. They also should appreciate the subtleties of any second shot hit from short of the left-turning dogleg dog·leg  
n.
1.
a. Something that has a sharp bend, especially a road or route that bends abruptly.

b. A sharp bend or turn: Make a dogleg at the fire station and continue south.
 on the par-5 11th hole, a 498-yarder ending with yet another severely sloped green.

Putting and chipping greens, a practice bunker and a grass hitting area on the driving range are other pluses on a course that has lots of character, $23 weekday greens fees after 1 p.m. (including cart), consistently good greens and a really good 18-hole record - 61, set by longtime area teaching professional and 1998 Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region,  PGA (1) (Professional Graphics Adapter) An early IBM PC display standard for 3D processing with 640x480x256 resolution. It was not widely used.

(2) (Programmable Gate Array) See gate array and FPGA.
 Section Player of the Year Paul Holtby.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Moorpark resident John Cummings For other persons named John Cummings, see John Cummings (disambiguation).
John Scott Cummings (born July 6, 1943) is a British politician. He is the Labour Member of Parliament for Easington.
 takes advantage of the firm fairways at Azusa Greens Country Club. Cummings won the Southern Section boys golf championship nearly 20 years ago for Crespi High of Encino.

Dave Shelburne/Daily News

Box:

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Copyright 2004, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Article Details
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Title Annotation:Sports
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Article Type:Review
Date:Jul 28, 2004
Words:667
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