About Town: Pacific Palisades
By Ceri Mobley, PGATOUR.com Associate Site Producer
While you might think nothing can equal the scenic wonder of Pebble Beach Golf Links, host to last week's tournament, don't forget that California is one of America's top tourist destinations for a reason: It's beautiful everywhere.
This week, the PGA TOUR remains in the Golden State for the Northern Trust Open in Pacific Palisades. Riviera Country Club plays host to the tournament, which is taking place in a perfect travel location. Whether you want big city entertainment, sand between your toes or a taste of West coast nature, this region of California has you set. Not to mention the golf...
SOMEWHERE TO SNOOZE
Shut yourself away: Pacific Palisades and the Riviera Country Club lie only a few miles outside of Santa Monica, one of Cali's hottest beach resort towns, so look no further for accommodation during your stay. For only the best in beachside life, make your reservation at Shutters Hotel on the Beach. The rooms and suites, decorated like individual beach cottages, have views of the pool, the ocean and the hotel decks and gardens to keep you happy as you drink that morning cup of coffee. The exterior of the resort has a fresh look to it that you could only expect at the beach, and, since Shutters is only two blocks from the Santa Monica pier, entertainment sits within your reach (if you should even want it).
Prepare to pay: Not only is this a four-and-a-half-star resort, it's a four-and-a-half-star resort in Santa Monica, so don't expect to get a sweet deal here. You'll pay from $670 a night to enjoy the area with Shutters as your home base. But, on the plus side, the golf course is less than 15 minutes away.
Other options
Huntley Santa Monica Beach: You only drop half a star with this four-star resort, but you drop in price dramatically. With rates starting at $279 a night, this hotel (only 10 minutes from the Riviera Country Club) has "better deal" written all over it.
Best Western Gateway -- Santa Monica: If you really want to get value for your money -- or at least the best you can out here -- then book a room at the Best Western. A three-star hotel less than 10-minutes from the course that doesn't make your skin crawl? Priceless. (But in case you wanted to know the price, nightly rates start at $180.)
SOMETHING TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT
You'd be hard pressed to visit the Pacific Palisades area and have nothing to do, unless of course that's what you were hoping for, beach bum. But if you'd like to take some time to explore, make sure the Santa Monica Pier fits into your travel plans. Open all year long and free of admission fees, the pier offers entertainment you can get on board with after paying that hotel bill. Coming up on a 100-year celebration, the Santa Monica Pier opened in 1909 and has remained a popular local destination as well as tourist attraction for most of those 100 years. Today at the pier, you can keep yourself busy with a ride on the carousel, a stop in at the aquarium, a meal at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, shopping in Pacific Park and plain old sightseeing of the Pacific Ocean from the world-famous boardwalk at the end of the equally famous Route 66. You'll love it.
More things to keep you busy
• If visiting the pier and booking a beachside hotel appear on your vacation to-do list, then make sure you add an extra bullet for Malibu Beach. Free of smoking, drinking, fire pits and dog walking, Malibu's beaches stay clean and eco-friendly despite the amount of visitors they draw. Of course you might just want to get a glimpse of Hollywood A-listers' homes, and that's fine, too.
• Part of what makes the southern California coast so attractive, besides its beaches, is its mountains. Something about a rocky backdrop to a sandy beach packages the entire vacation in a completely different way. Temescal Gateway Park in the Pacific Palisades stretches across 141 acres of sycamore groves, mountainside views and lush, green canyons. Whether you want a serious hike or a not-so-serious picnic, pay the park a visit.
• Lastly, you can't really come this close to glitz-and-glamor-ville and not make a pit stop. Head to L.A. for a fun afternoon of star spotting or an exciting night on the town. If you made the daytrip I suggested up from San Diego around the Buick Invitational, then you might have had enough of Hollywood ... but probably not.
THE MAIN EVENT
And the big kahuna, the reason you came all this way, the reason you practiced your swing on the local driving range for days before you hit the road: The course. Riviera Country Club, open since 1927, has been graced by the footsteps, and divot marks, of some of golf's greatest players. From legends like Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan to modern superstars like Ernie Els and Nick Faldo, this club has as much history as it does green blades of grass. But history is far from the only reason to visit Riviera.
Made famous by holes like No. 15, a par 4 that forces you to hit directly into the powerful Pacific breeze, this club offers the kind of challenging golf that would be more frustrating if the course weren't so darn beautiful. With its classic California backdrop -- mountain shadows in the distance, Palm and Cypress trees in the foreground and a Tuscan-villa-style clubhouse perched somewhere in between -- this course might just make you forget that you're not a pro. That is, until you double bogey the all-uphill, 578-yard, par-5 17th hole. Oh well, we can't all be part human, part Tiger.
STICKING AROUND?
This part of California has attractions for hours in all directions, so a well-planned quick road trip would most certainly yield some good times. If you don't spend all your time envisioning your life as a top-10 TOUR golfer on the Riviera Golf Course, then try to add one (or both) of these items to your itinerary:
• Livin' la vida Laguna: Even if you can't stand the reality trash about spoiled kids and their spoiled lifestyles that came out of Laguna Beach, you have no doubt heard of it. And if that's the case, then you've heard of how spectacularly striking the landscape is. Come on, you know you want to visit.
• Another National Park: Is it me, or does the West seem to have the monopoly on state parks? It almost makes an East-coast resident feel inferior. Almost. Anyway, take some time to visit another one of these natural beauties: Channel Island National Park. Just off the mainland coast, this park gives wandering eyes a taste of California as it once was before the hustle and bustle of America's largest state population arrived. That's right people, California pre-everything you associate it with today.
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
Play a TPC near you
Play one of the PGA TOUR's premier daily-fee or destination properties by clicking here
Take off to Scotland
A golf trip to Scotland in 2009 costs far less than in past years, but deals won't last forever. Story
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network