Cal Club -- Pics

[Jeff_Stettner]

The California Golf Club recently reopened after an extensive renovation by Kyle Philips. The course was already fantastic... however, issues with putting surfaces dictated that the greens would need to be redone and, after extensive discussions, the club went full-bore. The result is spectacular (for me anyway). Greens are bent and the course is bent on keeping them poa-free. Fairways are a mix of fescue and bent and you can already see the potential for a fast course, ideal for the windy location.

The first thing you notice on the course is the width -- fairways are wide. While some of the old trees remain, they frame holes rather than impact play -- much like San Francisco Golf Club. The second thing you notice are the bunkers -- wild, jagged affairs that frame every hole and force the golfer to carefully think about angles. The two lakes that were added in the 1960's are gone and the routing has been reworked to include a golf hole (number 7) on a hillside that was previously unused. The driving range was also moved away from the clubhouse to the location of the old 8th hole (I think) to allow the aforementioned width back into the golf course on the first and second holes. 

The most striking element of the course is the open-feel. For example, the area near clubhouse that houses the 10th tee, 11th green, 12th tee and 18th green appears as one seamlessly mowed section of firm turf. It's really cool. Pictures (I started on the back nine). Sorry if I get any hole numbers wrong...

View from 10th tee of 11 green (right), entire 12th hole (the par 3 in the middle) and 18 green (left)


Another view of 11 and 18 from 13 tee


Approach to 10 green (putting surface falls away)


11th green (with 18th green in background)


12th hole (long uphill par 3)


Approach to 13th


14th hole from in front of the tee (note the carry bunker and cross bunker... cool)


Tee shot on par 5 15th


The awesome 15th green with some of the most movement on the course


Short par 3 16th


Downhill approach to the par 5 17th (carry the left bunker for a kick toward the green)


Approach to 18


On to the front nine...

Approach to the reachable par 5 opener (the two mounds in front of the green send balls in all directions)



Tee shot on 2 (did I say width?)


Approach to 2


Tee shot on 3 (this used to be where a silly par 3 over water existed... now it's a hard par 4)


Three green with long par 5 4th in the distance


Tee shot on 4 (the bunker draped in the hilsside on the left is very cool)


Tee shot on the short, uphill par 4 5th


The exposed par 3 6th hole -- green is very difficult to hold


Bunkers left of 6 green


The all new 7th hole -- a cape-style par 4 on a ridge that used to be covered with brush and trees


The par 3 8th hole viewed from the walking path above the tee


Uphill tee shot on the tough 9th hole


Approach to 9 green

[Wayne_Freedman]

In a word...

Wow.

When did you take those?

[Jeff_Stettner]

Yesterday... 7-30.

[Kyle Henderson]

That really looks tremendous. Kyle Phillips did a talk about the redesign at the GCA Morgan Creek outing last November. The aerial views from before/after were very cool.

I'm continually amazed by the variety of aesthetics that Kyle instills from 1 course to the next.

Hopefully Josh Smith will pipe in with some details of the construction process.

[Ari Techner]

Great pics!  I am going to be down there next week I might have to make a side trip and see the work here.

[Steve Curry]

Jeff,

Awesome, reminds me of the many greats I have visited of late.  Like the sparse amounts of over sized vegetation especially.  Great photos!

Thanks,
Steve

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Wow!!!

Send me a membership application.

[Jon Wiggett]

Jeff,

looks increadible!!! Thanks for sharing the great photos

[Jon Spaulding]

Awesome.

A very good course before; one of my favorites, but this is a major improvement. The clearing is impressive (#2, wow!), as is the removal of that God-awful lake on 18. Bunkering detail looks good.

My only question for those in the know might be if many of the bunkers are "restored" versus entirely new. I don't recall 1/3 of those, or skeletons in that quantity. Did they have photos to work from, etc.....perhaps Josh can chime in with the details.

Jeff; did you get the tour or play. If the latter, I'm impressed .

[John Foley]

WOW - That looks very impresive.

Our crazy Armenian friend said it came out great, but that an understatment.

I recall seeing some tree lined bowling alley's previously and now this??

Has anyone got pictures taken before the renovation to compare?

[Matt Bosela]

Man alive, that looks tremendous.

[Jed Peters]

Kyle seemed to think that this course was his finest work yet with regards to a restoration--

He really went above and beyond when getting back as much of the original routing/bunker plan/greens--he  and mark thawley told us at the GCA event at Morgan Creek that they POURED over old photographs trying to get the bunkers right.

I'm excited to get out there and see it.

[Dale_McCallon]

I know nothing about this course and I'm sure I'll get booed by the masses, but these photos don't really get my blood flowing.

Maybe if I was a master of the sand wedge I would be excited.  Maybe I getting too much like S Arble, but are all those bunkers necessary? I like the jagged looks, but my goodness how many bunkers does a green site require?

[Jimmy Muratt]

Wow, the course looks fantastic.  It definitely has an expansive look to it and I love the way the greens just blend in with the surrounding terrain.  Many sit gently on hillsides and ridges.  

Thanks for posting these pictures, very impressive looking golf course.....

[JLahrman]

I know nothing about this course and I'm sure I'll get booed by the masses, but these photos don't really get my blood flowing.

Maybe if I was a master of the sand wedge I would be excited.  Maybe I getting too much like S Arble, but are all those bunkers necessary? I like the jagged looks, but my goodness how many bunkers does a green site require?

I don't know what the course looked like before, but I do think these pictures look fantastic.  The large number of bunkers was the one thing I was noticing as well.  Maybe it just looks like a lot of sand because you can see out over so much of the course?

[John Kirk]

Wow.

I've never been to Cal Club.  It looks great, and it looks very Californian.  The course may be quite hilly, compared to the other greats in the area.

The community may be tiring of the jagged bunker look, but I think these bunkers look very authentic, and fit right in with the other classic California golf courses.

Dale, I appreciate your dissenting opinion, as I think the vast majority do.

[PThomas]

i liked the course before, and those pictures make me think i'd like it even more now

thanks for posting

[Kalen Braley]

While I've never played it, I have seen the old Cal Club while traveling past it on either 280 or side streets.  Based on what I've seen from "peering" over the fence and now in these pics looks fantastic.

While it may be an early call, looks like there is a new kid on the block to go with its stately neighbors on the otherside of the hill.

[David Stamm]

Outstanding! The work by KP looks wonderful! And I agree w/ Kirk, it looks very classic California.

[Jed Peters]

Maybe if I was a master of the sand wedge I would be excited.  Maybe I getting too much like S Arble, but are all those bunkers necessary? I like the jagged looks, but my goodness how many bunkers does a green site require?

Ask Dr. Mackenzie, he designed them.

[Mike Benham]

A very good course before; one of my favorites, but this is a major improvement. The clearing is impressive (#2, wow!), as is the removal of that God-awful lake on 18. Bunkering detail looks good.

Much like many courses in the upper Peninsula (LM, SFGC, OC) the greatness of the Cal Club was many many years ago and through the years, the original features of the course gave way to compromises in maintenance and financial investment.

The early reports, as Jeff's pictures suggest, are two thumbs up.  The course is quite young right now and the conditions are not the best according to a few members I have spoken too.


The tree clearing work is quite impressive and for those octogenarians (or historians),  the hillsides at Olympic, Lake Merced and SFGC were almost treeless.  Returning to that former glory, as Cal Club has done, would greatly enhance each of those courses.

[Brett Hochstein]

This looks great and very authentic to the old style of the region's bunkering.  Congrats to Kyle Phillips on good work.

I tried my hand in creating a few visuals that may help show how classic of a look seems to have been achieved here.  My goal was to take one of Jeff's great photos and edit it to look as though it may have been taken in the 20s or 30s--a look one might see in the Spirit of St. Andrews or Shackelford's Golden Age of Golf Design.  I like doing this to see how modern designs stack up aesthetically with the Golden Age.

A moderate edit



A little more extreme



Then adding a little more



Comments?

[Jeff_Stettner]

Thanks for all the nice comments.

It's funny, when I played the golf course I never once felt that the bunkering was extreme. A lot of the pictures don't show just how open many of the greens are, as much of the bunker work is deceptively set in front of the greens. Here are a few more photos...

Note how the green flows into the tee box...


The chase is the preferred approach on 14


2 green asks for a running cut -- the bunkers here actually help the golfer visualize the shot


I also forgot to mention how impressive the conditions were for such a recent seeding. The greens were lovely.

[Adam Clayman]

It's nice to see a membership appreciate what they could have. I'm concerned some future chair will decide Augusta like white sand is called for.
 
Kalen, The membership has known for a long time they have had a special course lying under the mistakes of past alterations. While each has their own favorites the Cal Club is a top notch GC.

Jeff, You said they're serious about keeping the poa out. Do they get their hands on visitors shoes first thing to get the poa seeds out before play? 

[Joe Hancock]

I thought there would be a picture(or a painting) of Josh Smith in this thread. Maybe he couldn't find his visor or was having a bad hair day so he stayed behind the scenes.

Great looking work, BTW.

Joe