So says Donald Trump of his new L.A. blockbuster
by David Weiss
The Trump National Golf Club in south Los Angeles County
is the Waterworld of golf, a seaside disaster picture with a happy
Hollywood ending.
The story began in 1999 when, just before the club (then named Ocean
Trails Golf Club) opened, a sewage pipe under the eighteenth fairway
ruptured. The resulting landslide caused the closing of three holes
of Pete Dye's spectacular Pacific Coast design and turned the course
into what more than one writer dubbed the best fifteen-hole layout
in the world.
A landslide of lawsuits followed the physical collapse: The original
developers claimed the county's pipe was to blame; the county countered
that it was the parade of heavy, earth-laden trucks that did the damage.
As Dye told me, "The only fortunate thing is they didn't come after
me." A settlement was eventually reached, but all told, the original
$53 million price tag for Ocean Trails had soared. The seaside track
had become a money-munching albatross.
Enter Donald Trump, owner of three courses under the Trump National
banner and a man with deep enough pockets to finance the massive reconstruction
project that is just now being completed. The Donald did his thing,
buying the course for $27 million out of bankruptcy, renaming it in
his honor—and bankrolling more than $180 million in reclamation
and improvements in the ambitious hope that this Trump National would
outshine Pebble Beach. "The truth is," Trump told T+L GOLF—and
many others reporting the story—"Pebble has six great holes,
six pretty good holes and six bad holes. My course has eighteen great
holes. "Pebble has, what, nine holes along the water? This course
has eighteen."
Fans of Pebble may counter that the topography of the Palos Verdes
Peninsula is no match for the stunning cliffs of Monterey, but no
matter: Clearly, the sea breeze and limitless vistas were ample inspiration
for Dye, who bermed and buttressed this slanting bluff into a tough
little test. "Little," as in there wasn't much land to work with (all
of 215 acres), thus many adjacent fairways beckon to unfortunate fades.
But with plenty of native brush areas and fearsome forced carries,
Trump National more than compensates in strategic difficulty.
Dye, the sometime sadist, brings the pain on the very first hole,
a 410-yard par four whose green sports water front and back. This
sets the tone for a front nine of stingy, well-bunkered landing areas
and undulating greens that demand shot-making ability. The back nine
is even tougher, exemplified by the thirteenth, a 444-yard par four
with a gaping canyon to traverse before reaching a bent-grass green
that staggers and hiccups like a drunk. Like any good disaster flick,
Trump National saves the fireworks for the finish: The eighteenth
is a doglegleft, 509-yard par four that plays into a prevailing wind
to a devilishly bunkered green some 120 feet from front to back.
In other words, Dye's 7,153-yard design will challenge even the
most masochistic golfer. All that and an enchanting sensory experience—the
salt air, the gentle humidity, the cry of gulls—make for a memorable
experience. Indeed, it would have been hard to build a common course
on this sublime stretch of seashore.
Is it, as Trump claims, "the best course in the West"? Not quite.
But it is finally, at the very least, eighteen delightful holes
of golf.
Greens Fees: $150-$250. Tee Times: 310-265-5525
