THE MAKING OF THE


LEGENDARY PUTTER LOREN ROBERTS HONED HIS CRAFT ON THE IMMACULATE GREENS OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTRY CLUB BY JERRY STEWART


E


ach November, you can count on 13-time Champions Tour win- ner Loren Roberts to play in the Straight Down Fall Classic at San Luis Obispo Country Club. “I’m getting older, but it’s on my


can’t-miss-it list,” said Roberts, also an eight-time PGA Tour winner. One of the reasons Roberts has been a 15-year regular is his close friendship with Straight Down Clothing CEO Mike Rowley. But it also has to do with the


venue, which is the home course of 2016 NCGA President John Ronca. For Roberts, San Luis Obispo CC is the place where his golf journey all began. “That place started my golf life,”


said Roberts, a native of San Luis Obispo. “It was my only access to quality golf.” Nestled in the Eden Valley


between rolling hills and vineyards, San Luis Obispo CC was built on a garbanzo fi eld in 1957 by Bert Stamp.


Roberts fi rst played the course as


a sophomore in high school, when he “wasn’t very good.” But by his senior year, Roberts was a fi xture at the club, and members took notice. One of those was member Jim


Swagerty, who was head pro at Oak- mont Country Club in Glendale. “Jim really took me under his wing and helped me,” said Roberts, now 60. Roberts took his game to Cal


Poly-San Luis Obispo, and the golf team regularly played the course.


The par-3 third hole 38 / NCGA.ORG / WINTER 2016


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