Top 10: El Rivino heads list of 10 Inland golf courses that are no longer here

Traditionally; Golf Courses surround Country Clubs. County Clubs are clicks; the theory that if you build it they will come is incorrect. Building golf courses in the desert where there is neither a water supply or a customer base is just silly.

Written by LANDON NEGRI , Reprinted by the Press Enterprise

To make the list, a course had to be regulation distance and a full 18 holes. Criteria considered included longevity and local relevance.

Eleven such courses were considered, with Corona National — the former track near Corona’s Butterfield Park — surveying as the odd course out. Nine-hole layouts, such as the old Orange Show Road course, and short tracks, like Sun City’s North Course, also were not considered.

Most have closed in the last 15 years, though two call to another era.

1. El Rivino Country Club, Bloomington (1956-2005): El Rivino was not glamorous, but generations grew up playing the venerable track.

A challenging back nine contained back-to-back par-5s on the 15th and 16th holes. The par-4, 420-yard fourth-hole and its peninsula green was one of the best holes in the Inland area, overshadowed only by that par-6, 626-yard first hole.

“That hole truly played like a par-6 when the Santa Anas were blowing,” Hillpot said. “It was right into the teeth of that 30-40 mph Santa Ana, because it really blew hard there, too.”

After almost 50 years, the par-73, 6,437-yard course closed in favor of a yet-to-be built redevelopment project. The courses’ trees and clubhouse have been razed. In fact, the only proof remaining of a golf course is the presence of a couple of concrete cart paths.

Mike Savage was a Colton High School product who now lives in Kingman, Ariz. and once aced No. 7 at El Rivino. His stepfather, Bill Creavy, was a club pro there in the early 1960s, and remembers the first hole well.
“It was just a par-5 then,” Savage said, “but it was a long son of a gun.”

2. El Rancho Verde Golf Club, Rialto (1957-2011): A staple in Rialto for more than a half-century died due to a development dispute. The course, which essentially reared LPGA standout and Eisenhower grad Brandie Burton, was a favorite.

But a developer who owned the golf course — which played to more than 7,000 yards from the black trees — and a proposed adjacent development could not continue taking losses while fighting opposition for the development.

Citizens in the surrounding area fought to keep El Rancho Verde alive but it closed in late 2011. The land there was never developed, so it sits, with gates locked and weeds covering what was once tree-lined fairways.

3. Moreno Valley Ranch (1988-2015): The only course on the list that could conceivably come back, Moreno Valley Ranch is/was a 27-hole layout that hosted the Nike Tour’s Inland Empire Open between 1994 and 1999.

Having been sold twice in recent years, should Moreno Valley Ranch come back, it would likely be as an 18-hole layout as part of a redevelopment project. The Pete Dye-designed track has some beautiful holes, including the elevated par-3, 166-yard No. 7 on the Mountain course. Stay tuned on this one.

4. Empire Lakes, Rancho Cucamonga (1996-2016): Apparently, the Inland Empire Open was a bit of a curse. The tournament left Moreno Valley Ranch for Empire Lakes in 2000, and though it was quite successful there during its seven-year run on the Web.Com Tour, its 160 acres became more and more valuable for development — even with being designed by the late Arnold Palmer.

At par-72 and 6,923 yards, it was a solid and consistently challenging from hole to hole.

5. Quail Ranch Golf Club (1965-2008), Moreno Valley: Even farther east than Moreno Valley Ranch was Quail Ranch, the longtime course that graced the side of Gilman Springs Road on the way to San Jacinto. It was a challenging course in which the locals would tell you that all the putts would break toward one certain hill to the west — and they were right.

Though the course drew players from both Hemet-San Jacinto and Moreno Valley, it’s rural home also may have played a role in its closure in the late 2000s. The property is still there, with the palm trees still visible hovering over the growth and weeds behind chain-link fencing.

6. Riverside Golf Club (1954-2009): Also known at times as Springbrook Golf Club, this staple on Riverside’s north side was not the toughest, nor most challenging. It did have a number of fun holes, including the closing par-5 that challenged hitters when the well-placed creek was added in front of the green.

Nevertheless, the course operator filed for bankruptcy and the course closed abruptly in September, 2009. Much debate ensued about what to do with property, and it eventually became the Riverside city cross country course, which has been home to CIF-Southern Section postseason meets the last two years.

7. Norconian (1929-1941): As part of the sprawling and impressive Norconian resort built in the late 1920s, the accompanying golf course, designed by John Duncan Dunn, opened with much fanfare in early 1929. Movie stars and celebrities came to play there, including, reportedly, Babe Ruth. Several movies were shot here, with parts of the course serving as a backdrop for the 1930 movie “Love in the Rough.”

Problem was, Norconian opened just before the stock market crashed in 1929. It didn’t make money and the property was eventually bought by the Navy in the fall of 1941. Good thing, too, as the resort was turned into a hospital and pressed into service by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The property, including the lake, is still there but closed to the public.

8. Southern California Athletic & Country Club, Wildomar (1924-1925): Yes, this really existed.
Several years before Norconian’s opening, Dunn designed an 18-hole course long forgotten on the southwest side of Lake Elsinore. The course was along Grand Ave, just north of Corydon Ave., with perhaps some of Rome Hill used.

It was part of a more expansive athletic club at a time when Lake Elsinore was a well-known resort area. It was so long ago, in fact, one newspaper report talked of a group of men who left San Juan Capistrano by horseback to survey the mountains for the feasibility of a Capistrano-to-Elsinore highway. The group had dinner that night at the clubhouse.

The roadway — Ortega Highway — was eventually built in the 1930s. But Grand Ave. wasn’t all that easy for golfers to get to in the 1920s, and the course lasted about 18 months before closing.

9. Palm Meadows Golf Course, San Bernardino (1959-2005): Long the on-site course for Norton Air Force Base, Palm Meadows became a full public course in 1994 and was a favorite.

“I liked the front nine,” Hillpot said. “A tree line and a big, giant (eucalyptuses). Back, not so much. I think the two nines were night and day, but it was a fun course to play, and it was usually in pretty nice shape. The greens always rolled good.

“I think everybody hated to see it go.”

10. Mountain View Country Club/Serfas Club, Corona (1963-2009): It was narrow and it was challenging, but for years Corona-area golfers enjoyed this track in southwest Corona.
However, a struggling late 2000s economy and rising costs led to its closure. As recently as last year, former Mountain View homeowners were fighting plans for redevelopment.