Courses: Rancho Park, Alisal Ranch, PGA West Stadium @ La Quinta, and Sandpiper.

Our host Ian Cross travels to Southern California, the most populous and ethnically diverse state in the United States, which also offers some of the most varied golfing experiences in the country – from parkland to desert to seaside courses.

He starts his journey at the renowned La Quinta resort, a haven for movie stars, in the desert near Palm Springs which was established in the 1920s. Nowadays you can live like a star in one of your own personal casitas and swim in one of the 41 swimming pools. More importantly, La Quinta offers a staggering 90 holes of championship golf. Ian plays the PGA West Stadium Course with Mhairi McKay who has been playing the LPGA Women’s Tour for the last seven years. Designed by Pete Dye to be one of the most difficult courses in the world, the Stadium Course has lots of water, tricky bunkers and undulating greens, but it’s also a very rewarding and beautiful round to play.

Before heading out of the Coachella Valley – the golfing capital of Southern California with over 100 golf courses – Ian stops off at theTwin Palms Estate, an ultra modern house built for Frank and Nancy Sinatra in 1947 and now available to rent for a mere $15,000 per week!

Three hours down the highway, Ian takes a rest in one of LA’s hippest hotels on Sunset Boulevard, The Standard Hollywood, frequented by the likes of Rob Lowe and George Clooney. Up early the next morning, Ian tries to get a tee time at Rancho Park, but finds he hasn’t come early enough for a course that claims to be the busiest in the world! And it’s no wonder, Rancho plays surprisingly long for such an urban course and at $22 a round, it’s eminently more affordable than the neighbouring course Hill Crest, which costs $100,000 just to join.

It’s only about two hours drive up the coast to Santa Barbara. A great way to see this area of coast is to take a leaf out of Ian’s book and go gliding over the Santa Ynez Valley which is blessed with perfect thermals. Known as the “poor man’s Pebble Beach”, Sandpiper Golf Course can certainly give that course up north a run for its money! Ian plays with Dr Joseph Parent, the creator of ‘zen golf’ whose fans include the top rated player in the world, Vijay Singh. Sandpiper has two really outstanding holes, the 10th and the 11th, that take you right down to the sea and despite their beauty they really test your skills. Good job Ian’s got Dr Parent on hand to explain the positive mental tenets of zen golf.

Up over the San Marcos Pass, Ian heads into wine growing country and stops at the Rideau Vineyard where he meets the owner, Iris Rideau, who treats him to some of her award winning wines and fries him some oysters flown in from New Orleans which compliment some of her strains perfectly. Ian stays the night in Solvang, just down the road from the vineyard, an American town with a distinctly Danish feel to it. On the outskirts of town is the Santa Ines Mission, an oasis of tranquility set up in 1804.

Ian’s final golf stop is the Alisal Ranch where you can combine your love of golf with all the activities you’d expect at a working ranch. Ian takes a ride across some beautiful countryside with Tony Thompson, a wrangler at the Alisal for 20 years. Finally, he plays the Ranch Course with Dave Rosenstrauch, the course superintendent, for an old parkland ending to his tour of Southern California.

Credits

Presenter

IAN CROSS

With thanks to

ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS CO. LTD

DR JOSEPH PARENT

LA QUINTA RESORT & CLUB

MHAIRI MCKAY

MISSION SANTA INES

PALM SPRINGS DESERT RESORTS

RANCHO PARK GARDENS

RANCHO PARK GOLF COURSE

RIDEAU VINEYARD

ROYAL SCANDINAVIAN INN

SANDPIPER GOLF COURSE

SANTA BARBARA CONFERENCE & VISITORS COMMISSION

THE ALISAL RANCH

THE STANDARD, HOLLYWOOD

TIME & PLACE HOMES

WINDHAVEN GLIDER RIDES

Titles and Graphics

BIG SQUID

Title Music

MICHAEL CONN

Additional Music

MARK TAYLER

MICHAEL CONN

THE INSECTS

JON WYGENS

WEST INDIA COMPANY

Musical Director

NEVILLE FARMER

Facilities

SUITE

THE VOICE & MUSIC COMPANY

On Line Editor

MATT ROBERTS

Dubbing Mixer

JOEL BALDWIN

Editor

STEVE ELLIS

Production Accountants

RIAZ HOODA

MICHELE LONERGAN

Production Secretary

FAYE WELBORN

Production Assistant

LUKE THOMPSON

Researcher

BOB BAKER

Production Co-ordinator

SOPHIE MITCHELL

Post Production Manager

LIZ RICHARDS

Production Manager

SHAUNA SWIFT

Sound

GETHIN ALDOUS

Camera

ROBERT CALLWAY

Associate Producers

AMY FLANAGAN

KATE GRIFFITHS

Director

PETER WISDOM

Series Producer

NEVILLE FARMER

Executive Producer

IAN CROSS

Produced by

Pilot Film & Television Productions

©MMIV

www.adventuregolftv.com