Golf in Thousand Oaks

GolfTEC has thirteen convenient locations in the Los Angeles area, all staffed by experienced golfing professionals and computers who’ve sworn allegiance to the Three Laws of golfing robotics. Motion sensors and high-speed cameras monitor your swing and break down your form on a high-definition video display. GolfTEC’s PGA specialists point out your flaws, strengths, and coach you on how to permanently improve your game, from tee to green. Sensors chirp with approval when you’ve executed a perfect stroke or cracked an especially witty golfing joke.

From the emerald valley of Brookside Golf Club's practice facility, Fore Kids Golf Academy’s staff of aces teaches youngsters the very basics of on-course conquests in a fun and positive environment. The golf gurus strive to imbue kids with a sound understanding of golf’s pendulous swing while also teaching them how to set and meet goals of any nature, such as growing up to be a contributing member of society or scientifically proving that all golf balls are descendants of the moon. The academy offers one-week camps throughout the summer, Saturday clinics, and private lessons. Most clinics involve both range practice and on-course play, as well as video swing analysis, which provides students with a visual aid to help them understand swing advice and identify their sand wedge’s bad side.

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.

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

Twin Lakes Golf Course is much more than the sum of its parts. With a 9-hole, par 28 executive golf course and practice facilities that include a driving range, 8,500-square-foot putting green, and chipping area, it gives players countless ways to better their game. Visiting players can hone short, half-swing approaches and full, walloping drives on holes ranging from as close as 70 yards to as far as 360, much as they would on a full-length course. The driving range also expedites the learning curve with full-flight Pinnacle range balls primed and ready to be pummeled from real grass or synthetic tees. In the short-game area, Titleist Pro V1 golf balls simplify the act of chipping onto the green or into target nets, even as players line up shots from nearby bunkers, slopes, and grasses akin to the rough and fairway. And when players are left with nothing else to do but admire themselves in the reflection of the nearest water hazard, Twin Lakes’ resident instructors—Don Parsons, Buff Platt, and PGA head professional Jim Ley—are there to take the reins and help clients shave off a few more strokes.

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.