A swinging start to the great outdoor game

BRYCE ALDERTON

This is the best time of year for golf in Southern California.

While residents in other parts of the country need to put three

layers of clothes on before going outside to shovel the snow from

their driveways, we walk into 70-degree, sunny weather that

occasionally requires a windbreaker to keep warm.

The sun is mellower in February than it is in June and the golf

courses seem to benefit.

At no other time are they as bright green as they are now.

I guess all that rain has sparked new growth.

We are lucky in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, along with the rest

of Southern California, that the new year brings forth a renewed

interest in golf.

And area courses are seeing the interest rise with each sunny day.

In only the fifth full week of 2005, Costa Mesa head golf

professional Brad Booth said he has received five times as many

requests for lessons.

“People are enthused about golf,” Booth said. “It almost seems

like [the interest is greater than in prior years. There are a

combination of things, with the [PGA Tour’s] merchandising show

[which ended Sunday in Orlando, Fla.,] featured on the Golf Channel.

People are buying more equipment, which leads to more demand, which

in turn leads to more lessons.”

January’s torrential rains dampened the golfing community, but a

rebound is in the works, Booth said.

“People almost forgot about golf, but now there is a resurgence of

the [PGA] Tour at Torrey Pines [site of Tiger Woods’ first tour

victory in 15 months Jan. 23 at the Buick Invitational]. The Bob Hope

[Chrysler Classic, which concluded Sunday] was a great event. People

relate to those so much and that has a huge impact on game.”

It’s only natural and it’s right in our face.

Competitive, high-drama professional golf hits us from all sides

these first few months of the year, dumbing our senses until we

helplessly succumb to the sport’s allure.

We have chances to see the world’s greatest players when the PGA

Tour converges on Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades for the

Nissan Open and the match-play championships at La Costa Resort and

Spa in Carlsbad later this month.

March brings the Champions Tour’s Toshiba Senior Classic at

Newport Beach Country Club and the LPGA’s first major, the Kraft

Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

John Leonard, head professional at Newport Beach Golf Course, said

the amount of golfers increases, though slowly, with each passing

week once the new year begins.

“People get anxious, they have cabin fever,” Leonard said. “[Golf]

is competing with the [NFL] playoffs, so as a business, this is

traditionally a slower month, but it kicks in in the spring and

summer, when the days are longer.”

One could argue spring has already sprouted in Southern California

as far as golf goes. The days are also getting a little longer.

“The [pro] tournaments in San Diego and Los Angeles stir interest

and lessons pick up,” Leonard said.