Sherwood Country Club
Played Sherwood Country Club in 2013 with my buddies Ronnie and Mike. I forget how we got on. Sherwood gets its name from the fact that the property the course sits on starred as Sherwood Forest in the 1950’s Robin Hood movie. They even incorporate Robin Hood into the logo. The area was also used for other TV shows and movies, As you look about the mountains they look familiar. After reading up on it, I discovered why…
Yup the mountain backdrop from the opening M*A*S*H* sequence used the Santa Monica mountains as the backdrop. So, when did M*A*S*H* jump the shark? Unlike Happy Days where you can pinpoint it to Fonzie jumping the shark, M*A*S*H* had a slow steady decline. BTW for a dialogue I had with an early Happy Days writer/producer on jumping the shark you can see it in my Pelican Hill write-up. For M*A*S*H*, as each good character left and you got more and more of the preachy and annoying Hawkeye, the show got progressively worse. Henry leaves for Harry, a little worse. Frank leaves for Charles, a lot worse. Trapper for BJ, probably the last straw or Klinger and the stupid dress getting a bigger role, as bad as BJ. But I digress.
Sherwood really has the chops to be in anyone’s Top 100. Elevation changes, variety, resistance to scoring, fun, beautiful vistas, conditioning, exclusivity, and PGA history with the Tiger World’s Challenge. It hasn’t been on the Golf Digest list though since the 90’s. They have their own tough stretch of holes (their Amen Corner) in holes 11, 12 and 13.
If you’ve played English Turn outside of New Orleans, the par-five 11th here is a better version of the 15th there with water right and an island green set parallel to the fairway. This is a great template hole for Nicklaus. Seventeen is the par three you’ll remember for its eye candy, but is a tough carry to a green sitting on a rocky ledge. The course has a top finisher as well, in fact Nicklaus called it his best finishing hole he ever designed. For the most part, there are very few houses to break the view and one of those is designed to look like a castle only adding to the Sherwood theme. I posted a picture below. While LA has the troika of prime courses on the other side of the mountain from Sherwood (LACC, Bel Air and Riviera), do not sell this course short, while modern it is comfortably in the same general category as those.
Golf Scrapbook 