Golf in Agoura Hills

As the inventor of the Swing Thing training aid, PGA professional Dennis Dawson often uses the device during lessons to correct imbalanced swing mechanics and develop consistent, successful swings. Drawing on 35 years of instruction, Dennis focuses on the fundamentals of a fluid swinging motion, particularly the importance of spinal angle, balance, and a follow-through that includes a seamless pirouette. While students hit shots during a lesson, Dennis diagnoses particular maladies responsible for undesirable flight patterns. Students first practice swinging without the ball or a caddy on their shoulders to get a feel for correct mechanics and then repeat the motion until proper form is built into muscle memory.

Perched amid the Santa Monica Mountains since 1977, Malibu Golf Club welcomes players to its hilly hideaway with a William Francis Bell layout that hearkens back to course design of the early 20th century. Golfers sling their tee shots down slender fairways wedged into the bottoms of tight, heavily wooded ravines, leaving little room for error when hitting off the tee or using the ravine as a golf-cart halfpipe. Treacherous though it is, only twice does the course's difficulty arise from water hazards: the par-3 seventh hole's 194-yard tee shot runs entirely over water, and the par-4 ninth calls for a heroic, aqua-laden approach.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-72 course
• Total length of 6,614 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 72.6 from the back tees
• Course slope of 132 from the back tees
• Three sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard

Golf Equation Swing Academy founder and PGA Teaching Professional Robb Nunn helps his students fix their swings, reduce their scores, and hit balls more accurately during private lessons. His teaching approach is to focus on the fundamentals in order to help people improve their games.

Since 1970, golfers have been traversing the 3,039 yards of Scholl Canyon Golf Course, beating back bogies with clubs a combination of and cunning. The William P. Bell design escorts them across fairways of high bermuda and large bentgrass greens, adding up to a par 60 course comprised of six par 4s and 12 par 3s. With just one hole extending to more than 300 yards, the course emphasizes the short game and confers success on those who can dial in their iron play and keep their putts from rolling into a time warp.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 60 course
• Total length of 3,039 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 54.7 from the back tees
• Course slope of 88 from the back tees
• Two sets of tees per hole

The Golf Academy/LA's savvy instructors impart tee-to-green golf wisdom to help duffers improve all aspects of their golf games and golf-specific fitness goals. Lessons harness the latest teaching aids and technology, which allow golf aces to analyze each of their client's swings with verifiable data gleaned from 3-D sensors, slow-motion video feedback, and caddies returning from a mulligan-free future. Instructors advocate the importance of physical fitness and custom-fitted clubs to the development of a well-rounded game, which can be achieved and attained within the academy's three locations.

Within Bogey Bob's Golf Center's indoor studio, golfers improve their skill sets with indoor practice, instruction, and merchandise to pair improved swings with the latest clubs and equipment. Once a decorated player on the junior circuit, resident ace and owner John Cummings imparts hard-won golf wisdom to clients in lessons conducted within the center's indoor driving range, practice green, and rabid-turtle-infested water hazard.

The center boasts video swing-analysis technology, which allows pupil and pedagogue alike to study the science of their swings as computers provide data such as swing tempo, launch angle, distance, and club-head path. With a slew of clubs from the game's top brands, clients can find a much-improved replacement for the rusting short irons and oversize bananas currently populating their golf bags.