Catta Verdera

Mondays never seemed so good.

The beginning of the work week is the best time to take a day off and enjoy Catta Verdera Country Club in Lincoln. So it seems natural that Catta Verdera is the perfect place for the beginning of The Reporter's Worth the Drive series for 2006.

The Reporter will periodically take a look at some of the top public access courses within driving distance of Solano County.

Catta Verdera, formerly known as Twelve Bridges, is one of the most beautiful, posh and demanding facilities in the greater Sacramento area. It's also in the process of going private, but the club is committed to allowing public play on Mondays.

Currently, there are other public tee times, including weekday and weekend afternoons. But Monday is all public, all the time.

So take a day off. Just make sure you bring your A game.

Catta Verdera is not for the faint of heart, as LPGA Tour members discovered when the Longs Drugs Challenge was held there during most of its Sacramento-area run. The white (actually, purple) tees measure just 6,017 yards, but still carry a stout 70.4 rating and a 129 slope. If you're really looking for a challenge, the black-tee yards is 7,019, with a 74.9 rating and a 145 slope.

Go easy on yourself. Catta Verdera is tough enough from the shorter tees, with a combination of elevation changes, twists and turns, narrow fairways and thick, punishing rough the major obstacles.

Your day starts with the deceptively hard first hole, which is characteristic of a couse so beautiful and well-maintained that you may be lulled into a false sense of security. The dogleg-left par-4 has a sidehill rough right and a hazard left, along with an approach to a sloping green.

A short, downhill par-4 and a long, straightaway 4 follow, with trouble on either side of both fairways.

No. 4 is a beauty, a short par 3 over a creek to a green protected by a bunker in front and trees in back.

There is just one par-5 on the front side, and it's a monster. No. 8 plays 604 yards from the back tees, a dogleg left across a ravine off the tee with trouble all the way down the left-hand side.

Finish the front nine with another tough, uphill par-4 that crosses a creek twice to an elevated green guarded by trees and bunkers.

The back nine starts back down the hill, a short par-4 to the slickest green on the course. Stay below the hole.

Highlights on the back nine include the three par-5s - an elbow dogleg left with all kinds of trouble at No. 11; a short, downhill hole at No. 14 that may be your best birdie chance all day; and No. 15, another monster that doglegs right around trees and hazards.

Finish your day with a par-4 that finishes with a downhill approach over water to a green just below the spectacular Spanish-style clubhouse.

Positives at Catta Verdera are almost too numerous to mention. This is an upper-end, country club facility with great amenities and conditions.

The course was given 4 1/2 stars by Golf Digest in 2004, and is worth every bit of that rating. There isn't a bad hole on the track, and there are several you'll remember for a long time.

Catta Verdera's biggest challenge is just that. It is a hard, punishing course that may kick your teeth in, especially if you stray from the fairways. Club down where you have to, and bring an extra sleeve of balls ... or two.

Bring money as well. The cost for a public round is $100, regardless of day or time or season. Get you money's worth by taking a cart and warming up on the range, which are included in the price.

And then enjoy your day off.

Directions - Take Interstate 80 east. Take Highway 65 north. Take the Twelve Bridges Drive exit east. Turn right on Catta Verdera Way.