Day 143 - Our day at Riv with a rock star

Posted by Jamie on 26 May 2010 | 2 Comments | Tags: Riviera, LA, Robbie Krieger, The Doors, US Open

It�??s not every day you get to play with a rock star.  So when Robbie Krieger �?? a.k.a. guitarist for The Doors �?? called a few days back, asking if we�??d like to come out to �??Riv�?� for a hit, there would only be one answer.  A resounding �??yes, please.�?�  Riviera Country Club is a top track in it�??s own right �?? having held US Opens, PGAs and the like �?? so Day 143 promised to be doubly exciting.

My heart stopped for a moment when Robbie called at lunchtime, saying he�??d had a minor surgery on his back on Friday, and might not be able to swing the club.  �??Don�??t tell me you�??re going to cancel Robbie!�?� I thought in my head.  Argh.  Thankfully he didn�??t, and braved the pain to join us for the front 9.  Phew.

Rolling up to Riv in Dodgy was just as thrilling an experience as it has been recently at the likes of SFGC, Cypress and Bel Air.  No one batted an eyelid �?? maybe all the members used to have one before they retired?  Robbie greeted us in the carpark and took us down to the majestic clubhouse.  What a building.  The pictures you�??ll see below don�??t do it justice �?? particularly because we weren�??t snapping around the corridors and in the bar (well, you wouldn�??t, would you?).  There�??s first rate service too.  A chap in the locker room offered me a guest locker and to polish my shoes while I played.  Naturally I accepted his kind offer.

On the way past the first tee �?? down to the range �?? I glanced up at one of the infamous green Rolex clocks, which I reckon they must have at all the US Open courses.  Correct me if I�??m wrong.  Seeing those clocks, for me, let�??s you know you�??re about to play a tough, quality golf course.  I wasn�??t wrong, on this occasion.

I picked Robbie�??s brains down on the range about life on tour, and what they were up to these days.  Still playing; still touring; and still writing new music.  What a legend.  He plays with the keyboardist from The Doors and a few other lads.  Soon they�??re off for an East Coast tour; then off to Europe.  I said I�??d try to jack him up at Royal County Down for a game, a track he mentioned he�??d love to steal a day off to play while in Nor�??n Ireland.  Hopefully I can help return the favour; with his back in stitches, it was very good of him to bring us down here.

Our 3 became 5 when a couple of young lads joined us on the tee.  Jay and Jerry are the two youngest members at Riv, at 32 and 36.  Both are tech / web guys �?? Jay does internet poker promotion; Jerry is a publisher of various web forums, at the moment for home theatre systems �??  and good golfers too (Jay�??s off 1; Jerry off about 5).  Being late afternoon on a cold Sunday, our 5 wouldn�??t be holding anyone up.  In fact there was hardly anyone out there (although we saw Tom Brady, the 3 time Superbowl winner that�??s married to Gisele Bunchen �?? ba#@ard!).

1 at Riv leads you into a false sense of security.  At about 500 yards, from a raised tee, it�??s a short par 5 without much defence.  I hit 6 iron for my approach, but ended up in the bunker and could do no better than par.  We all had between 10 and 20 feet for birdie, but none dropped.  An opportunity missed.

At Riv you�??ve got to take advantage of the easy holes �?? which are rare than hen�??s teeth �?? because there are plenty gnarly ones to torment you.  It�??s a golf course that messes with you.  Relentlessly.  I love it.

2 was about 460 yards into the wind, and slightly uphill: a brutal par 4.  No pars in the group.  Things didn�??t improve on 3 when a few of us were faced with seemingly straightforward chips / pitches.  Kikuyu grass (that�??s probably not how you spell it) is horrific stuff, and particularly impossible to chip from.  Sometimes it grabs your club; other times the balls jumps out hot.  If your ball lands short of the green, it ain�??t gonna bump up there unless it�??s coming in low and hard.  Velcro, the locals call it.  

Then we came across Ben Hogan�??s favourite par 3 in America, the 4th (see below).  He won the US Open here in 1958 (I think the last time it was held here).  He also shot commercials for his clubs here back in the day; in fact the only commercial ever shot showing his golf swing was shot here on the 4th.  If this was Hogan�??s favourite hole, then he�??s a masochist.  At 240 yards over a huge cross bunker to a tilted green �?? into the prevailing wind 9 times out of 10 �?? it�??s a beast.  My driver (yes, driver) ducked into the bunker, predictably, resulting in another bogey.  Jay was the only one of us to hit the surface from the tee, yielding a treasured par 3.  While the rest of the boys were scrambling �??round for their bogeys I stood and admired the mesmerising maple tree standing on its lonesome behind the green.  I�??ve never seen a tree like that before.  Very striking.

5 might just be my favourite hole in LA (see pic below).  A right to left sloping, doglegging fairway sits in front of you, with OB on the right under a string of mansions (what�??s the correct collective noun here?).  The 5 of us hit blazing drives down the middle, to the top of the hill.  You�??re then looking down over a shoulder and front right bunker to a MacKenzie-like green.  (It looks from the fairway like it slopes towards the tee, but when you get up there it goes front to back).  Robbie stepped up first and crashed a 3 wood to the middle of the green �?? not bad for an old timer.  We all, in turn, knocked it on there, raising the prospect of a few unlikely birdies.   All pars, I�??m afraid.

6 is world famous.  A 220 yard par 3 up the hill, WITH A BUNKER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GREEN!  The pin was behind the bunker too, at the back.  How cruel.  I knocked a 10 footer in for par, which might�??ve won me a few skins had Goldy not snatched a half with his 8 footer.  Drat.  

I�??ll stop describing all the holes now, for otherwise my entry would be more essay than blog.  Forgive me.  I can�??t move on however without mentioning 10 �?? a unique, nigh on impossible short par 4.  From the tee a U shape of massive bunkers splits the fairway with a tongue to the right and the more prudent left side strip.  A bunker at 270 yards at the end of the fairway frames the fairway, giving you a few options.  I went straight at it �?? the wind was blowing into �?? and, thank the Gods, came up just short.  Robbie hit a final tee shot for giggles, then bid us farewell.  The others went left.  Right is dead, by the way.

What makes 10 so deadly is the green.  It�??s about 10 paces wide and runs from 8 o�??clock to 2 o�??clock from the fairway.   Oh, and it slopes hard front right to back left; there�??s a deep pot bunker short of the middle; and severe slopes take anything remotely offline into swails right, left and centre.  George Thomas, you�??ve had a blinder.

With 60 yards to the pin, coming from the perfect angle, you�??d think birdie would be on my mind.  Wrong.  I was so nervous I shanked my lob wedge...to the worst possible spot, behind the pot bunker...!  A flop shot from the cucuya, over the bunker, onto the downslope �?? no problem.  Ha!  Mike, who was coming from way out left, probably had a better angle �?? and didn�??t shank his approach.  Rather he left it in the fringe and 2 putted for a magnificent par.  I took 6.  Just goes to show a par 4 doesn�??t need to be 460 yards to do you damage.

It was a shame Robbie couldn�??t hang out for longer; I enjoyed hearing about his music and life as a member of The Doors.  Truth be told I�??d love to have had longer to draw out a few juicy tales of acidic adventures, but on the flipside I�??m sure he�??s probably sick of recounting stories of yesteryear.  Anyway, as I said before, not every day you get to hang out with a rock star.  (You�??ll be pleased to know I managed to avoid humming the tune to his songs while zipping round in the cart with him �?? surely nothing could be more annoying than some punk trying to built a rapport �?? on the golf course �?? by openly rejoicing in your music?).  The fact that there was a Lakers game on not long after he left might�??ve had something to do with his departure too...although I didn�??t put that to him, of course.

The back 9�??s as strong as the front, if not stronger.  11 is the longest par 4 I�??ve ever seen.  We walked back to the back back back tee block, just to check out how the hole might play if the Superintendent woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Long, I can tell you.  500 yards into the wind, with a watery ravine just short of the small green (which is also guarded on the left by a maple tree - see pic below).   You get the picture.  If I�??d flushed driver from the back, my approach would�??ve been a mere 230 yards into the wind to said postage stamp.  Yeah, right.  Goldy hit a memorable punch 6 iron to 15 feet, straight at the stick.  Had he rolled the putt in it would�??ve been one of the best birdies of 2010, no doubt.  But Scott, our caddy, was giving bum reads match fixing styles.  After about 12 holes I stopped listening to him, but asked his opinion anyway out of politeness.

It doesn�??t get any easier, along the back 9, either.  More monster par 4s, and a par 3 surrounded by a desert worth of sand (16 - see pic below).  By the 18th green we were washed, after being tormented again by the kikuyu rough for one last time.  Take my advice: don�??t try flopshots out of the stuff unless you are better than Tiger Woods.  It just won�??t work.

 

Jerry kindly shouted us a roadie in the bar afterwards.  I could spend a lifetime in that clubhouse, and might�??ve spent an hour or two in the jacuzzi had they not closed the locker room up before I had time to drop my breeks.  

Riv is a special place; a purist golfer�??s dream.  The course is tough as nails; the mansions perched atop the cliffs surrounding the course are something to behold; the members �?? or at least the ones we met �?? are gentlemen; and the clubhouse, as I said, is a palace.  God I�??d love to play there again tomorrow!

Thanks again Robbie for bringing us down �?? another memorable experience among what have been an amazing few days in LA.  Jerry and Jay, thank you too for your hospitality �?? look forward to catching up down under when you boys pluck up the courage to (convince your girlfriends / wives to let you) jump on an Air New Zealand plane.  

Off to Mountain Gate tomorrow, for a Kiwi gathering.  Sweeeeet.

JP