The Sherwood and Stone Eagle Golf Courses in Southern California

​Southern California boasts several storied golf courses, including the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks and the Stone Eagle Golf Club in Palm Springs. Many consider the Stone Eagle one of the most unique golf courses in the desert area.

Opened in 2005, Stone Eagle features a Tom Doak design and occupies a hillside cleft abutting the rugged San Jacinto National Monument. In planning the course in an undisturbed, boulder-strewn desert, Doak chose a design that accented nature and did not include residential developments, unlike other clubs that cater to an affluent clientele who expect amenities and nearby residences. 

Doak took the rocky natural canvas, hard against the red-hued Santa Rosa mountains and a thousand feet above the valley, as a personal challenge. He recalls “hopping from boulder to boulder” during the construction phase to travel between holes. As a course architect, he sought to move as little of the landscape as possible. For example, a mix of desert boulders and plants surround the first hole. Fairways sit within natural creases in the landscape, and many shots play over low ridges before reaching sharply delineated greens.

In many ways, Doak utilized boulder-littered hillsides to their fullest, mimicking how traditional Scottish course designers integrated sand dunes. However, the rocks serve as a hard counterpoint to the softness of sand. Hitting the natural features can cause balls to bounce errantly off course for considerable distances and become wedged in difficult-to-access spots.

Moreover, golfers will face other challenges, such as drop-offs that double as blind spots that they cannot see from the fairway. Thus, golfers must aim the ball well before hitting it. The large greens harbor many undulations that also make hitting the proper spot critical.

Thousand Oaks’ Sherwood Country Club features twin golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus in the late 1980s for Dole owner David Murdock. It inhabits a distinctive river valley, with homesites situated on steeply rising hills above. The private club takes its name from the 1921 silent movie feature “Robin Hood,” which starred leading man Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. The Robin Hood Cabin erected for the film remains intact. Some believe that Fairbanks lived in the registered historic landmark throughout film production.

Each year, the member-guest Bow and Arrow tournament honors the legacy. The generation that watched TV in the 1970s may recall the locale from the opening scene of the television series M*A*S*H and numerous car chases in The Dukes of Hazzard.

Tiger Woods is one of the golfers who has had the most impact at Sherwood Country Club. He hosted the Hero World Challenge from 2000 to 2013, winning five events and finishing second on five occasions. The most memorable Woods performance at the links came in 1999 when he went up against rival David Duval for the “Showdown at Sherwood” television special. His then-close rival lost a hard-fought match, with a tee shot on the 16th hole famously hitting a boulder that Jack Nicklaus had retained for a character in the center of the fairway.

William Martensen

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