Not Water but Wind Bedevils Green River

This is the best of times and the worst of times at Green River Golf Club.

First, the good news: The air is crisp and clean, the views of the surrounding hills are lordly, there is that appealing autumn/winter look and feel to the course with brown dappling along the green fairways, and a nice early morning starting time only enhances it all.

Now, the bad news: Wind.

Go figure. The very thing that makes Green River aesthetically desirable--knocking the ball around in a verdant pass in the picturesque foothills at the edge of Orange County--also makes it, at this time of year, the golfing equivalent of the Straits of Magellan. When the Santa Ana winds are funneling through the pass, a 150-yard drive can be considered a real clout.

In fact, on a blustery day, golfers who sky their drives off the raised tee of the first hole on the Riverside Course might swear the ball hits a kind of atmospheric wall at about 125 yards out and begins to reverse direction back toward the tee. Of course, golfers facing the other way on the first hole of the Orange Course (the second of two 18-hole layouts at Green River) have a better-than-good chance of getting home in two on the 497-yard par 5 hole. Win a few, lose a few.

But the wind is seasonal, and no reason to ignore a pair of courses that just about everyone seems to enjoy playing.

“For being a wind tunnel, we get a tremendous amount of play,” said pro and general manager Howard Smith. “We’ll have over 10,000 players a month, about 500 more on the Orange Course than the Riverside Course.”

You’ll find a certain division of opinion among Green River fans about which is the better of the two 18-hole layouts. The Riverside Course, in Riverside County, is more wide open, with fewer mature trees to get in the way of errant shots. In fact, said Smith, “the nine holes across the railroad tracks are on 90 acres. Some courses only have 90 acres for 18 holes.”

The slightly longer Orange Course is more lush but holds more terrors. The trees are mature and accentuate the more narrow fairways.

The greens on both courses are more forgiving at this time of year. Their grass, said Smith, is cut to three-sixteenths of an inch in winter, allowing for a bolder stroke. In summer, however, the greens are trimmed shorter, “and that makes them a lot faster then,” he said.

Bunkers on both courses, said Smith, usually aren’t considered fearsome and are raked daily. The river itself seldom comes into play.

On one hole, however--the short par-4 14th on the Riverside Course--the river has a reputation for collecting short approach shots, particularly when the wind is up.

Green River, a workhorse of a golf layout, is about to get a face lift that will turn it into a kind of resort, said Smith. The foundation has just been laid for a new 42,000-square-foot clubhouse that is scheduled to open in September, and a new automatic sprinkling system is being installed. The system, said Smith, should be operational in about a year and is expected to turn Green River even greener.

The Good: Views of surrounding hills.

The Bad: Seasonal winds.

The Ugly: The Riverside (91) Freeway borders the course immediately to the south.

A Matter of Course

* Green River Golf Club, 5215 Green River Drive, Corona, 91720. (714) 737-7393 or (714) 970-8411.

* Distance: Orange Course, 6,167 yards. Riverside Course, 6,013 yards.

* Par: Orange Course, 71. Riverside Course, 71.

* Greens fees: Monday through Thursday, $16. Friday through Sunday, $21.

* Carts: $10 per person.

* Driving range: $2 bucket.

* Lessons: $25 per hour, $45 per hour. Playing lesson (on course), $50 per hour (includes greens fees and motorized cart).

Los Angeles Times