The View From Vellano
There are places in the Italian region of Tuscany where it’s possible to get so far away from the beaten tourist path, so deep into the ancient, well-aged native flavor of the place that you want to simply chuck the passport and hang forever in its simple, romantic ether, breathing in its history in great, gleeful gulps and supping on views as rich as the cuisine is delicious. The thing is, we’re not there. We’re a hemisphere away in the low, oaky hills of Southern California, surrounded by, though artfully separated from, urban sprawl and malls and the insistent hum of modern whatever. And golf courses, too. Hundreds of them, which means hundreds more than you’ll find in Tuscany. So why is it that a scant few miles from some of the world’s busiest freeways and fairways, it’s possible to put a Tuscan spin on life, day after day, with more than a few decidedly 21st century, high-tech, well-earned touches stirred into the mix? What kind of place dovetails European style, creature-comfort American living and stop-you-in-your-tracks golf, all rendered onto a pristine suburban site by an Australian superstar? Only one place in the Southland comes to mind, at least if you’re looking on the new-development radar: Vellano, a 600-acre sanctuary of sublime living and, if you choose, full-featured private club membership centered around a Greg Norman-authored golf course that’s even better than advertised. Vellano traverses tree-sprinkled hills and dense creekbed canyons in the northeastern corner of Chino Hills, which is, in turn, on the very southern edge of Riverside County. Only 205 home will ever occupy its gated environs, ensconced as they are between refreshingly unspoiled privately owned real estate and environmentally protected Chino Hills State Park. The lots average a half-acre in size, the Italian-flavored homes on them run between 4,100 and 5,500 square feet, and the air around both is pungent with the scents and sights of all that’s good about the upscale Southern California life. “It’s the highest end project in the area; they call it the Beverly Hills of Chino Hills,” says Lorri Moody, director of sales and marketing. “We’re on the last phase of sales for the real estate, and our high-end prices actually sell better than the lower end — relatively speaking.” One trip through the four Barratt American “luxury estate home” models across the street from Vellano’s sales office — and nestled up against the No. 4 green of Vellano’s incredible golf course — reveals a standard for space, design and features that has attracted buyers from some of SoCal’s most moneyed zip codes. One 5,000-plus-square-foot model is already sold out, and all four styles within three architectural milieus — dubbed “Italianate,” “Tuscan” and “Spanish Eclectic” — are really castles-in-not-so-miniature, with entry courtyards, ornate entryways, oversized kitchens decked out with commercial grade appliances, epic master suites (one of which, in the Tavola floorplan, includes full his and hers bathrooms), optional fourth and fifth bedrooms, separate guest suites, offices, laundry rooms larger than most New York apartments and the kind of tiered and tiled outdoor entertainment areas that would make any serious open-air chef swoon. In fact, another part of the Vellano development, build by Brookfield Homes, is already sold out, and some 53 residents overall had moved in as of early March 2007. This kind of luxury doesn’t come cheap, of course. Of Vellano’s 205 sites, 145 will have luxury estate homes ranging from $1.6 to $2.8 million, while 60 will house huge homes custom built by such contractors as Romani, Cornell and Pinnacle. “For the custom lots, we started selling them a year and a half ago in the high $600s,” Moody says. “The last lot we closed sold at $1.5 million. We have a lot we’ll sell for $1.7 million.” For most, the knowledge that this will forever be a close-knit, almost boutique community (albeit with decidedly non-boutique-sized homes) sealed the deal. And the lure of a golf course that’s anything but run-of-the-mill gave Vellano the instant luster of clubs that might be much deeper in history and reputation, but have nothing on this brand-new masterpiece in terms of routing, variety, hole-to-hole rhythm and emotional engagement level. Faced with a challenging but beautiful site, the Shark got the details right; there’s no let-up in excitement, no visual or strategic cue out of whack, no jarring kink in the flow and no equivocation in what he’s asking the player to do or feel. Nor does he waste any time making a bold statement. The No. 1 tee hangs on a precipice, as almost all do at Vellano, and looks down on an abbreviated fairway backed by a thumb of brushy arroyo, with a two-tiered green beyond. One of the world’s all-time best iron players, Norman demands you drill one of your own right from the get-go, leaving a flip wedge and a tidy shot at bird. The next three holes — a 150-yard par 3, twisting and tumbling 556-yard par 5, and shoot-the-gap then carry-the-canyon 403-yard par 4 — carry downhill and downwind to the course’s lowest point; keep it on the short stuff and Greg gives you a good shot at a hot start. Then, with the four lovely model homes hovering over the No. 5 tee, he takes you quickly back uphill, stair-step style, to the course’s highest point at No. 9, from which a 180-degree view unfolds — the broad inland valleys and Mount Baldy to the east and north, the Chino Hills to the west and south. Already the steep, winding cart trek from the previous green has been dubbed “Lombard Street,” as has a similar ascent on Norman’s acclaimed, public-play Northern California effort, the Course at Wente Vineyards. It could be the most exhilarating non-ocean view in Southern California, depending on how the brutal tee shot at the par-3 No. 8 treated you. At 257 yards from the tips and 227 from the tournament gold tees, even Head Professional Bob Evans had to pull driver during one of his first rounds on the finished course. “It was dead into a breeze on a chilly day, and I got it there, but I had to kill it,” says Evans, a Southern California native who came to Vellano from Yorba Linda Country Club just over the hill. “But the view was so gorgeous and clear that it didn’t seem so tough.” And that’s just one element in what makes Vellano a different kind of private SoCal club. “What sets it apart from other courses is the views,” Evans continues. “You might have the same kind of design, but the elevation changes are different. The oak trees give it kind of a feel of Sherwood Country Club. There are neatly designed holes; the back-nine holes have some raw, natural beauty to them.” Norman doesn’t return his newest track to the clubhouse before heading for that back nine, but over the next 18 months members and guests will get a great gander at Vellano’s huge Tuscan-themed clubhouse as it grows from foundation to finished product. After negotiating the sweeping, mega-bunkered intricacies of No. 10 — including perhaps the longest, narrowest green in California, some 60 yards deep, hanging on a cliff with no margin for error — followed by the broad, more benign down-then-up breather at No. 11 and the pretty-yet-perilous dogleg-left No. 12, it’s time to settle in for what Evans calls the “heart of the golf course” — meaning its power to make or break a scorecard. “No. 13 is a challenging par 3 [of 240 yards from the tips, all carry over a dense ravine], 14 is a real interesting looking [uphill] par 5 with a lot of character,” he says. “And 15 is a 300-yard par 4 that’s got its trouble. You can go for the green, but if you miss it left you have a really tricky shot.” During a recent round with Team FG, Evans had a shot at eagle on both 14 and 15, drilling a 5-iron on the five-par to 15 feet behind the hole and knocking a 3-wood even closer at 15, only to rim out the putt. Even the group’s shortest hitter left his tee shot only 50 yards short of the surface, but the green’s false front ate him up — echoing Norman’s own short game travails at Augusta National, circa 1996. In other words, you’ve got to dial the approach or all manner of recovery hell breaks loose. The Shark mixes up the looks and leaves at Vellano, which puts visual variety in sharp focus and distance control front and center. “You get different shapes of greens here,” Evans says. “You get some really long greens, like 10. On 4 you’ve got a long, skinny green, and if you throw the hole on the back quadrant, you’ve got a little ledge to hit to. It’s not cookie-cutter; he mixes it up. He combines short holes and kick-ass holes that can beat your brains out without even trying.” By the time Vellano dives into its stirring homestretch — a short and sweet par 3, lay-up-or-else par 4 and the final hole, a wonderful par 5 that rides a ridge gently uphill to a big triple-tiered green sequestered beyond two patches of freeform bunkers jigsawed right out of Norman’s Royal Melbourne memories — you realize just how much fun playing this course every day would be. Already, says one agent, “only a handful” of residents haven’t signed up as members. The $50,000 initiation fee (which increases to $55,000 in May) probably got a few to sign the line, too. “There will never be another place like this; it was in the making for 15 years, and nobody else has this much land,” Moody says. “They’re calling us a mini-Shady Canyon [perhaps Orange County’s best private club, a foothill affair designed by Tom Fazio], at a mini-Shady Canyon price.” In fact, this vast and varied Norman invasion puts Vellano on the hot list of West Coast private clubs, with only 450 memberships available. “Members and residents know that even though this is the highest high end for Chino Hills, it’s a value to them because they see what they can get for their money,” Moody says. “And now that golfers are coming out and getting that experience, they realize it’s no longer just a golf club to them, it’s a place they can live. It’s like a little town unto itself. Everybody knows everybody else.” They also know the next time they get the itch for some tucked-away Tuscan solitude, they can just look out their master suite door. It’s right there. FG THE GOLF HOME BUILDERS Shea Homes Barratt American Sovana Custom Homes reader comments
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Classic ClownSpring 2007
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