As the clock ticks down on the final hours of 2022, our final column of the year will feature a review of the Lake County golf scene. The county is home to just three golf courses these days, the 18-hole Hidden Valley Lake Golf Course designed by Billy Bell as well as a pair of nine-holers, namely Buckingham Golf and Country Club and the Jack Fleming-designed Adams Springs Golf Course. Plans had been afoot for two new courses in the county, but one project remains a work in progress while the other one is now dead on arrival. Nonetheless Lake County features an active golf scene with competition on the scratch, senior and junior levels as well as active golfing clubs, each of which has its own varied culture.
This past year marked the 29th season of the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit. The local circuit hosts nine open tournaments, a senior event and two junior tourneys. For the second consecutive year, Hidden Valley Lake superintendent Billy Witt finished atop the standings as the On the Links golfer of the year as well as senior golfer of the year. Witt won team events in the Partners Scramble and the Three Man and captured a tightly contested Lake County Amateur. Witt is one of three local golfer who has won recognition as golfer of the year as well as senior golfer of the year in the circuit’s history, and he is the only linkster to do so in the very same season let alone back-to-back years. Witt had some quality competition as Wyatt Ferrell won the One Man, Juan Lopez won the Lake County Open and the Match Play, and Cal State San Bernardino golfer Matt Wotherspoon captured the season-ending Tournament of Champions. Yet when the dust finally settled, Billy was in a class all his own … for the second straight year.
Mason Smith of Kelseyville had a great season in winning the net division with victories in the One Man, the Partners Scramble, the Open, the Partners, and the Alternate Shot. It was a breakthrough year for the 28-year-old Smith, who continues to improve. Rick Easter of Lakeport was the senior net golfer of the year. Easter has been a regular on the Lake County Circuit for close to 25 years and had numerous high finishes in his division this year. Next year will mark the 30th season of the local circuit co-founded by Buckingham professional Mark Wotherspoon and this columnist.
High school golf is played in the spring and 2022 marked the return of the North Coast Section playoffs following two years of cancellations because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clear Lake High School won the north division of the Coastal Mountain Conference and St. Helena High School was atop the standing in the south division. Clear Lake and St. Helena qualified for the North Coast Section playoffs as did Middletown High School as an at-large team. NCS was played at the Valley of the Moon (Oakmont West) Golf Course in Santa Rosa on May 9. The spring-like weather stayed away as the 136 high school golfers battled cold, rain, hale and then sunshine during the course of their 18-hole round. The NCS tournament at the Valley of the Moon marked the 14th time that Clearlake resident Jack Lucich has served as head rules official.
Individually, Nathon Lopez and Miles Mattina of Clear Lake High School were recognized as All-Conference golfers in the CMC as were Bodhi Moore, Cooper Johnson, and Luke Hoogendoorn of Middletown. Lander Hockett and Lizzy Malaspina of Kelseyville High School received second-team recognition as did Middletown’s Dom Williams. As an aside, Hoogendoorn was also a top-notch pitcher on the baseball team at MHS this past spring.
Cooper Johnson, heading to his junior year at Middletown High School, won the Lake County Junior at Adams Springs in July. Brooke Hinchcliff of Clear Lake High School won the girls division of the Junior. Earlier in the week Max Stine captured the boys flight in the Buckingham Summer Junior while Hinchcliff prevailed in the girls division.
Lake County has a multitude of golfing clubs. Kane Lack was this year’s club champion at Hidden Valley Lake while John Sherman was the senior club champ. Tim Stegelvik took home super senior honors. Wayne Kelley was the HVL men’s club player of the year while Paul Silva was the most improved. Cooper Johnson, who was the Lake County Junior titlist this summer, was the HVL junior champion. Dorey Pendleton won the HVL women’s club championship while Melanie Walker was the Hidden Valley Lake nine-holers club champ. Rick Hand was their nine-hole club champ while Jeff Mann was the nine-hole player of the year.
Jerry Pendleton won a second consecutive club championship at Adams Springs. Jim DeCristofaro was the senior club champ. He also serves as Adams Springs’ superintendent. Dennis Layton won the super senior club championship and Rick Gabehart was the net club champ. Diane Henderson won a second consecutive women’s club championship while Denyse McCracken was the net club champion.
Juan Lopez won the Buckingham club championship and the senior one as well. Manny Mendoza was the super senior champ. Terri Miller was the women’s club champion while Becky Allan was the ladies cup titlist.
Twelve months ago two area golf courses were in the incubation stage in Lake County. The Brambles Golf Club just north of Middletown is coming along nicely with six of the course’s holes becoming finalized. It is being designed by the famed duo of Bill Coore and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw.
The Maha Resort project on Butts Canyon Road east of Middletown is most probably dead. It was supposed to be an 18-hole course designed by highly acclaimed architect Tom Doak. Last January the local courts found the resort course, hotel complex and retail space complex to be in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act because of the area’s local geography. That region of Lake County has been victimized by a handful of serious wildfires during the course of the last decade. The feeling was that it would be close to impossible to safely evacuate the area in the event of another catastrophic wildfire because of the area’s remoteness and limited-escape roadways.
If this current month of December is any indication, the five-year drought in Northern California is being impacted by a series of big rainstorms, including snow in the higher elevations. Hopefully the rains can sustain well into the rest of the winter and early spring. In the meantime, best wishes to you and yours for a very Happy New Year and a 2023 with lots of birdies on your scorecard and not as many bogeys.
