But he truly earned the nickname thanks to the greens at San Luis Obispo CC. While the par-72 course tops out at a manageable 6,710 yards (73.8 rat- ing, 129 slope), the greens at San Luis Obispo CC are as good as they get. They’re so good that former Masters champ Fred Couples, who also plays in the Straight Down Classic, once told the San Luis Obispo CC membership, “Augusta National doesn’t have anything on you guys.” “The greens are very slopey.
NCGA President John Ronca spearheaded the renovation of the club’s Mediterranean clubhouse during his tenure as president of the club.
Eight-time PGA Tour winner Loren Roberts
Eventually, Roberts began working at the club. “I started working in the bag room,
picking the range and stuff like that,” Roberts said. “After my days at Cal Poly, the assistant pro left and I took the job. That is when my game really took off.” As an assistant at
San Luis Obispo CC, he forged a strong
bond with golf legend Olin Dutra. The native of
Monterey and winner of the 1932 PGA Championship and 1934 U.S. Open was the golf pro emeritus at nearby San Luis Bay Club, now known as
Avila Beach Golf Resort. “Olin Dutra really took a liking
to me. He’d call me over in the shop and say, ‘I’m going to play nine, want to come?’ I’d run to my car,” Roberts said. It was under Dutra’s tutelage that
Roberts took his fi rst steps toward becoming the “Boss of the Moss.”
You have to be under the hole. That helped me visualize what to do on slopey, tough putts,” said Roberts, who also routinely played with Dodgers legend and club member Sandy Koufax. “You really have to use your imagination, and you really have to control your speed. Growing up on those greens had a lot to me getting the nickname ‘Boss of the Moss.’ ” But it’s not just the greens that shaped Roberts’ game. The all-kikuyu grass layout, which was touched up by architect Robert Muir Graves in 1984, also forces you to think from the tees and fairways. “You have holes that go a lot
of different directions, and a lot of uneven lies. They didn’t move a lot of dirt in designing it. They really took what they had,” Roberts said. “You have every shot you’ll ever see in golf. You have to hit the ball really well. If not, you really have to work with your putter.” Two of Roberts’ favorite holes are
the par-4 No. 12 and par-3 No. 14. The 392-yard No. 12 is a slight
dogleg left with a massive bunker protecting the right side of the green. “Usually the wind is in your face,
and you’ve got bunkers running up the left side of the fairway. The green almost has a false front. You’ve got to hit it really solid there,” Roberts said. Among the perils of the downhill
182-yard No. 14 is a carry over a creek, with a pond across the front of the green. “If you miss the green to the
left side there’s a really steep slope. It’s a very tough up-and-down,” Roberts said.
WINTER 2016 /
NCGA.ORG / 39
LOREN ROBERTS PHOTO: CHRISTIAN PETERSON/PGA TOUR GETTY IMAGES
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