Traditional design elements also
describe the recent renovation of
the inn and spa, home to the only Chumash
Indian-inspired mud treatment
in the nation. Only fitting, since locals say the
Chumash word “Ojai”
means nest or sanctuary.
Our next stop is 30 miles up the
coast in downtown Santa
Barbara, which is all about laid-back grace, like the
city’s
easiest-swinging local, Fred Couples. Rancho San Marcos Golf Course is
Old California distilled to its essence. Its sand-covered adobe chapel,
visible
from the 17th green to the 18th tee, dates to 1804, when the
ranch was an
outpost of Mission Santa Barbara, with vineyards tended by
Chumash believers. A
dirt cart path along the 17th was a stagecoach
route built by local businessmen
in 1868 to reduce travel time from Los
Angeles to
San Francisco.
The par-5 18th plays through terrain
that is unchanged from when Junipero Serra
hiked through.
Mission La Purisima Concepcion
(and the course a mile east that
takes its name) is another Old California gem,
with gentle breezes
whipping through the ancient mission’s El Cuartel, quarters
of the
leather-vested soldiers who quashed Chumash rebellions.
La Purisima is, as its name
trumpets in Spanish, as “pure” as public
golf gets. Its 15th is the most
evocative par 5 in Santa
Barbara. Any drive hit short and left will likely find
the
sand, and only a pinpoint mid-iron lay-up will leave an opportunity for an
aggressive approach.
With no concrete cart paths, and
poa annua/bluegrass fairways
cutting through native grasses, ancient dunes and
oak woodlands, La
Purisima is gorgeously unspoiled—and humbling, too. But the
lovely
50-minute cruise back to the Inn of the Spanish Garden takes away the sting, as
do the
inn’s homemade cookies.
