Top 10: El Rivino heads list of 10 Inland golf…
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Top 10: El Rivino heads list of 10 Inland golf courses that are no longer here
The front gate remains at the former El Rivino Country Club, but not much more. The 18-hole course, known for its opening par-6, 626-yard hole, closed in 2005 and has since been completely razed. (Brian Goff / Staff photographer)
By Landon Negri | preps@pe.com |
PUBLISHED: August 8, 2017 at 8:30 pm | UPDATED: August 9, 2017 at 8:16 pm
El Rivino Country Club was actually maintained for some time after it closed in 2005, as this file photo was shot in 2006. (File photo)
A look at El Rancho Verde, in Rialto, prior to its closing in 2011. (File photo)
What is left of El Rancho Verde Golf Course in Rialto sits behind a locked gate. (Landon Negri / Staff photographer)
Hoang Dinh of Irvine hits the ball out of the bunker/sand trap at Empire Lakes Golf Club in Rancho Cucamonga on the seventh hole. (File photo)
A look at one of the fairways at Empire Lakes in Rancho Cucamonga, which closed last year. (Landon Negri/Staff photographer)
Moreno Valley Ranch Golf Club's Mountain Course, Hole #7 has a view of the city and mountains Tuesday in Moreno Valley, July 21, 2015.
There is still some greenery at Moreno Valley Ranch, but much of the course has turned brown. (Landon Negri / Staff photographer)
The green to the par-4, No. 9 at Quail Ranch. (File photo)
John L. Brown, 32, and Dimitra Kelly, 41, had planned to get married in this 2009 photo at the Riverside Golf Club this Saturday but just found out it has filed for bankruptcy and shut its doors. (The Press-Enterprise/Silvia Flores)
The 1935 movie, "Come and Get It," with Edward Arnold, right, was filmed in front of the once-posh Lake Norconian Resort. A lawsuit has been filed to protect the club, now owned by the California Department of Corrections.
In the shadow of the historic Norconian Hotel and former Corona Naval Hospital, members of Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 374 from Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., set up camp at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach (NWSSB) Detachment Norco, home of Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Corona Division. The group conducted a field exercise, applying a dust reduction product at a helicopter landing zone in the Cleveland National Forest, the following day. (U.S. Navy photo by Greg Vojtko/Released)
Golfers putt around in front of the clubhouse at the short-lived Southern California Athletic & Country Club in the mid-1920s. (Photo courtesy of the Lake Elsinore Historical Society)
8-7-13)–RIALRO-METRO–Resident Joe Ayala, who lives on the former golf course.place a golf ball where the 18th hole was at Wednesday August 7, 2013 at the former El Rancho Verde Golf Course in Rialto. LaFonzo Carter/ Staff Photographer
Here is a ball from El Rivino Country Club, which closed in 2005. (Brian Goff / Staff photographer)
The words aren't synonyms, but they could be.
El Rivino. Par-6.
"I had never seen a par-6 before," said longtime San Bernardino Golf Club pro Frank Hillpot, who worked at El Rivino from 2000 to 2002. "So it was definitely interesting."
Perhaps still one of the more well-known holes in the Inland Empire, the No. 1 hole at El Rivino Country Club and the entire course itself ranks as the top defunct course in the Inland area. As the game and Southern California courses struggle to survive in a downturn in popularity and lack of water resources, it's a good time to look back at the top 10 defunct golf courses in the region.
To make the list, a course had to be regulation distance and a full 18 holes. Criteria considered included longevity and local relevance.
Eleven such courses were considered, with Corona National — the former track near Corona's Butterfield Park — surveying as the odd course out. Nine-hole layouts, such as the old Orange Show Road course, and short tracks, like Sun City's North Course, also were not considered.
Most have closed in the last 15 years, though two call to another era
1. El Rivino Country Club, Bloomington (1956-2005): El Rivino was not glamorous, but generations grew up playing the venerable track.
A challenging back nine contained back-to-back par-5s on the 15th and 16th holes. The par-4, 420-yard fourth-hole and its peninsula green was one of the best holes in the Inland area, overshadowed only by that par-6, 626-yard first hole.
"That hole truly played like a par-6 when the Santa Anas were blowing," Hillpot said. "It was right into the teeth of that 30-40 mph Santa Ana, because it really blew hard there, too."
After almost 50 years, the par-73, 6,437-yard course closed in favor of a yet-to-be built redevelopment project. The courses' trees and clubhouse have been razed. In fact, the only proof remaining of a golf course is the presence of a couple of concrete cart paths.
Mike Savage was a Colton High School product who now lives in Kingman, Ariz. and once aced No. 7 at El Rivino. His stepfather, Bill Creavy, was a club pro there in the early 1960s, and remembers the first hole well.
"It was just a par-5 then," Savage said, "but it was a long son of a gun."
2. El Rancho Verde Golf Club, Rialto (1957-2011): A staple in Rialto for more than a half-century died due to a development dispute. The course, which essentially reared LPGA standout and Eisenhower grad Brandie Burton, was a favorite.
But a developer who owned the golf course — which played to more than 7,000 yards from the black trees — and a proposed adjacent development could not continue taking losses while fighting opposition for the development.
Citizens in the surrounding area fought to keep El Rancho Verde alive but it closed in late 2011. The land there was never developed, so it sits, with gates locked and weeds covering what was once tree-lined fairways.
3. Moreno Valley Ranch (1988-2015): The only course on the list that could conceivably come back, Moreno Valley Ranch is/was a 27-hole layout that hosted the Nike Tour's Inland Empire Open between 1994 and 1999.
Having been sold twice in recent years, should Moreno Valley Ranch come back, it would likely be as an 18-hole layout as part of a redevelopment project. The Pete Dye-designed track has some beautiful holes, including the elevated par-3, 166-yard No. 7 on the Mountain course. Stay tuned on this one.
4. Empire Lakes, Rancho Cucamonga (1996-2016): Apparently, the Inland Empire Open was a bit of a curse. The tournament left Moreno Valley Ranch for Empire Lakes in 2000, and though it was quite successful there during its seven-year run on the Web.Com Tour, its 160 acres became more and more valuable for development — even with being designed by the late Arnold Palmer.
At par-72 and 6,923 yards, it was a solid and consistently challenging from hole to hole.
5. Quail Ranch Golf Club (1965-2008), Moreno Valley: Even farther east than Moreno Valley Ranch was Quail Ranch, the longtime course that graced the side of Gilman Springs Road on the way to San Jacinto. It was a challenging course in which the locals would tell you that all the putts would break toward one certain hill to the west — and they were right.
Though the course drew players from both Hemet-San Jacinto and Moreno Valley, it's rural home also may have played a role in its closure in the late 2000s. The property is still there, with the palm trees still visible hovering over the growth and weeds behind chain-link fencing.
We've played the first 6 on this list. Sad they're gone. Quail Ranch is the sentimental favorite, but great memories all around. https://t.co/KEruMzZuqG
— HolsteinTaylor&Unitt (@HtuLawyers) August 9, 2017
Which defunct Inland golf course do you miss most?
6. Riverside Golf Club (1954-2009): Also known at times as Springbrook Golf Club, this staple on Riverside's north side was not the toughest, nor most challenging. It did have a number of fun holes, including the closing par-5 that challenged hitters when the well-placed creek was added in front of the green.
Nevertheless, the course operator filed for bankruptcy and the course closed abruptly in September, 2009. Much debate ensued about what to do with property, and it eventually became the Riverside city cross country course, which has been home to CIF-Southern Section postseason meets the last two years.
7. Norconian (1929-1941): As part of the sprawling and impressive Norconian resort built in the late 1920s, the accompanying golf course, designed by John Duncan Dunn, opened with much fanfare in early 1929. Movie stars and celebrities came to play there, including, reportedly, Babe Ruth. Several movies were shot here, with parts of the course serving as a backdrop for the 1930 movie "Love in the Rough."
Problem was, Norconian opened just before the stock market crashed in 1929. It didn't make money and the property was eventually bought by the Navy in the fall of 1941. Good thing, too, as the resort was turned into a hospital and pressed into service by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The property, including the lake, is still there but closed to the public.
8. Southern California Athletic & Country Club, Wildomar (1924-1925): Yes, this really existed.
Several years before Norconian's opening, Dunn designed an 18-hole course long forgotten on the southwest side of Lake Elsinore. The course was along Grand Ave, just north of Corydon Ave., with perhaps some of Rome Hill used.
It was part of a more expansive athletic club at a time when Lake Elsinore was a well-known resort area. It was so long ago, in fact, one newspaper report talked of a group of men who left San Juan Capistrano by horseback to survey the mountains for the feasibility of a Capistrano-to-Elsinore highway. The group had dinner that night at the clubhouse.
The roadway — Ortega Highway — was eventually built in the 1930s. But Grand Ave. wasn't all that easy for golfers to get to in the 1920s, and the course lasted about 18 months before closing.
9. Palm Meadows Golf Course, San Bernardino (1959-2005): Long the on-site course for Norton Air Force Base, Palm Meadows became a full public course in 1994 and was a favorite.
"I liked the front nine," Hillpot said. "A tree line and a big, giant (eucalyptuses). Back, not so much. I think the two nines were night and day, but it was a fun course to play, and it was usually in pretty nice shape. The greens always rolled good.
"I think everybody hated to see it go."
10. Mountain View Country Club/Serfas Club, Corona (1963-2009): It was narrow and it was challenging, but for years Corona-area golfers enjoyed this track in southwest Corona.
However, a struggling late 2000s economy and rising costs led to its closure. As recently as last year, former Mountain View homeowners were fighting plans for redevelopment.
Landon Negri
Landon Negri is a freelancer. Previously, he covered local sports in the Inland Empire since 1996, primarily in the Temecula-Murrieta area, but also throughout the I.E. and into eastern Los Angeles County. He is a native to the I.E., having been born in Redlands, raised in Calimesa and having graduated from Yucaipa High School. He also attended Cal State Fullerton. While he covers all sports, he does concentrate on basketball, golf and football.
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