Golf Courses

County supervisors voted Tuesday to increase a number of fees, including greens fees at public golf courses. Outrageous? No. Smart. And appropriate. Few but avid golfers ? the enthusiasts of more typical means, not the rich ones who can join private country clubs ? may be aware that Los Angeles County provides public courses for modest greens fees. It's one of those things that, for golfers, enhances the region's quality of life. Like tennis courts and other public sports facilities, the county Department of Parks and Recreation's 17 public golf courses provide recreation, not in more developed and more expensive urban areas but generally in smaller, less built-up cities and unincorporated areas.

Several San Clemente homeowners filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that the owners of a nearby golf course failed to maintain hillside slopes where heavy rains caused disastrous mudflows in December. The 11 homeowners, whose residences were damaged during the torrential downpours, are seeking more than $10 million in damages, according to the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court. Attorney Serge Tomassian, who represents the homeowners, said that the slope near the Shorecliffs Golf Course was still moving and that the expected rainfall over the next several days may cause additional mudslides that could affect the homes on Via Ballena.

As a thank you to returning World War II veterans, the Jewish members of Hillcrest Country Club created a nine-hole golf course on seven acres of former rancho land between Wilshire and Sunset boulevards. For more than six decades, the rolling, par-3 links at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus have drawn a loyal clientele of veteran duffers who roam beneath pepper and eucalyptus trees and tee off at holes named for legendary WWII commanders such as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adm. William F. Halsey.

Four houses overlooking a golf course in south Orange County were red-tagged Friday after the hillside behind them collapsed the previous night amid what residents described as "crackling and popping and snapping. " The slide created a 25- to 50-foot vertical drop beneath backyard patios and fences along the 200 block of Via Ballena in San Clemente. Residents hurried to move books, clothing, sofas and other belongings to driveways and frontyards or into hastily rented moving trucks.

Fox Music president and Chief Executive Robert Kraft has his vacation getaway in La Quinta listed for sale at $949,000. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home, with a swimming pool, a spa and a detached guesthouse/casita, backs up to the 17th fairway of the Mountain Course at La Quinta Resort. The more than 3,100-square-foot house, built in 1989, has an open floor plan, a stone fireplace and an island breakfast bar off the newly remodeled kitchen. There are views of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

Long Beach has joined more than 140 other California municipalities that have banned or partially banned smoking in city parks. The move further shrinks the locations where smokers can legally light up in the city, with smoking already banned in restaurants, bars, beaches and bus stops. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to pass the ordinance, which covers all city parks, sports fields and hiking trails, among other sites. The issue initially came before the council when Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal sought to prohibit smoking at smaller parks because it's more difficult for nonsmokers and children to avoid smoke in confined spaces.

Once you start thinking in Top 10 terms, it's hard to stop. And so, to paraphrase Nigel Tufnel in the "This Is Spinal Tap" screenplay, these lists go to 11. Behold 10 more sources likely to inspire your next trip, or refine your itinerary, or just warn you where there be dragons. Travel & Leisure magazine's readers' poll results showing top 10 hotels in the world (and 90 runners-up): http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-best-hotels-2010/1; Ten best hotels in the U.S., as judged this year by readers of Tripadvisor.

When it ended, the scene was like something out of Mardi Gras. It was a Lakers victory celebration, only a continent away. Europe doesn't have a Super Bowl, but this will do, at least until the next big soccer extravaganza. On a Monday afternoon, on a wonderful Twenty Ten course that had been turned into a giant mud pie by days of rain and now was basking in sunshine, Europe won the Ryder Cup. In a competition of golf, with an overwhelming aroma of nationalism, it had defeated the big 'ol, rich USA, which is always special for Europe.

Taking what could be the first step toward a far wider ban, Los Angeles County supervisors voted this week to restrict foam food containers from most county offices and concessions. The ban approved Tuesday will cover restaurants, catering trucks and snack shops from the county's massive public hospital system to beach concessions, golf courses and even food delivery to senior citizens. At the same time, supervisors requested a study examining a more extensive ban. Department of Public Works officials and the county counsel will report back in a year on the potential implications of banning foam food containers in private restaurants and other businesses in L.A. County's vast unincorporated areas, which cover 2,600 square miles and more than a million residents.

Forget the Scots. Golf was invented in America. There's a petroglyph at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico showing Kokopelli, a mystical Anasazi figure, holding a 9-iron. The descendants of the ancestral Puebloans now have run amok with the sport, and tribal golf is about as good as it gets in California. Here's a look at some favorite courses. Barona Creek Golf Club The green you play: Several years ago a wildfire threatened the Barona Resort & Casino in Lakeside, burning the margins of the golf course.