Stevinson Ranch in California turns nine years old

George Kelley always was a dreamer. A golf dreamer.

Raised near the first green at Pebble Beach, he was consumed by the game and eventually played on the Australian and European tours. When his dreams as a pro faded, he turned to real estate management and an updated dream -- to build his own golf course.

The result: Stevinson Ranch, one of the best courses in the valley and one of the most environmentally sensitive golf properties in the nation.

"It's turned out better than my dreams," Kelley said.

Stevinson Ranch celebrates its ninth anniversary this month, an era begun by investment help from former San Francisco Giants owner Bob Lurie and accented by glossy reviews:

A 4 1/2 -star rating for overall golf experience in 2000 and this year by Golf Digest magazine (only Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill ranked higher in California),

Rated among the top 25 courses in California in 1998,

Rated eighth among America's best new public courses in 1996, and

Named only the fourth course in the world to receive Audubon International Signature designation in '96.

But when visitors -- lured by Stevinson Ranch's reputation -- journey into the heart of Merced County dairyland, they sometimes rub their eyes in disbelief. The image is a fancy resort destination stocked with all the requisite bells and whistles. The reality is a linksy golf hideaway on a pancake-flat landscape void of any urban reference point.

In fact, the place is all about golf. Pure golf.

A throwback course

Kelley's family, major landowners in the county since the mid-1850s, didn't know what to do with a 200-acre plot near Stevinson. The natural wetland, useless for farming, stood unoccupied for years until Kelley's idea took shape.

And what an idea it was -- a throwback course to the early days of golf architecture, a planned import of Scottish links character and tradition. Kelley and designer John Harbottle III routed the course in semi-circles to best take advantage of all wind conditions.

Many links courses in this country appear contrived and out of place. But at Stevinson Ranch, the fit is good. It's a supreme golf challenge featuring a look unlike any other course in the area -- wetland and grasses bordering most holes, extended collars mown tight near the greens to allow for all types of chips and pitches.

"When we first opened, I had visions of Turnberry (Scotland), with two-foot-tall native grasses everywhere," Kelley said. "It quickly became apparent we had to change after all those six-hour rounds and slow play, so we mowed some of them down. It looked beautiful, but we had to have a playable course."

Golf-wise, the design and the first-rate maintenance form a special combo. Stevinson Ranch requires crisp shotmaking and careful course management. The theme is unmistakable from start to finish: There are both safe and more risky routes on each hole. It's up to the player to decide.

For example, the par-4 341-yard 14th, one of Stevinson's most talked-about holes, can be played two ways: to the left, bordering a field of tall grass, where the fairway opens for an easy pitch; or, a more simple straightaway tee shot that leads to a blind approach over a mound. The more aggressive shot will lead to a greater reward -- or trouble. That's links golf with a valley touch.

Suberb condition

Stevinson Ranch's other calling card is its first-class condition. Its bentgrass greens, firm and smooth and as fast as course officials wish, are without peer. In recent years, Kelley and Aussie partner Marc Logan started Greenway Golf, which advises about 20 courses -- among them San Francisco Golf Club, Tehama, Pasadera and Monterey Peninsula and Eugene (Ore.) country clubs -- on greens upkeep. Clearly, Stevinson Ranch's successful fight against poa anua, the pesky weed that is the bane of bentgrass greens, has been noticed.

"Poa likes nitrogen, cool temperatures and dampness. In the valley, we can control all three of those elements," Kelley said. "What we do is pour a lot of iron on the greens, which pulls moisture off the plant blade. We reduce chemical dependence and control poa through nutrition. We've never really had a stretch where the turf wasn't pristine."

Kelley envisioned a golf oasis that drew customers from the foothills to the Bay Area. He named his creation the Savannah course, because he planned a second layout. What he couldn't predict, however, was a burst of life in the golf industry.

Starting a trend

Stevinson Ranch was among the first of the upscale daily-fee courses in Central California. Within a few years, the market was filled with competitors -- Saddle Creek, Diablo Grande, Poppy Ridge, San Juan Oaks, Cinnabar, Coyote Creek and others.

After logging a record 46,000 rounds its first year, Stevinson slipped to about 40,000 in 2003. Kelley, eyeing a potential housing development, hopes to raise the number to 50,000 annually.

"It's never really panned out financially the way I wanted," Kelley said. "Too many golf courses and too much competition."

Still, Stevinson Ranch remains a major player with its top-of-the-line practice facilities, friendly staff and, yes, a course strong enough to twice welcome qualifiers for the U.S. Open.

Turlock's Ray Pava, 86, still mows its fairways three times a week and shoots his age regularly. A former friend of the late Tony Lema, Pava has bonded with the place.

"Whoever plays here," he says, "always wants to come back."

Source: Sacramento Bee (Calif.)