San Francisco Golf Club w/o sunset direction (pics)

[Chip Gaskins]

Here are a few pics of San Francisco Golf Club

What a joy to play.  This may be the most old school club house and locker room I have been in.

These greens were as smooth, true and fast I have ever played in California.  They were perfect.

The course in many spots felt like Augusta National with its course-wide vistas, perfect white sand yawning fairway bunkers and wide playing corridors.

I really enjoyed the way Tillinghast routed these first few holes.  He got ever ounce of natural contour out of each one of the first 8 holes.

Hole #2 into a natural valley.  One of the hardest holes on the course due to the second shot being semi blind and very uphill.


Hole #3 back out of that same valley with a risk reward inside bunker. 


Hole #7 Obvioulsy the most famous hole on the course.  They just renovated the right bunker so it would wrap around the entire right front of the green.


Hole #8  Similar to # 2 where the player has a great framed tee shot to a very up hill green


Hole #11
Great par 3 with a green almost completely surrounded by deep yawning bunkers.


Hole #12


Hole #12
Look how cool this bunkering looks.  Looks like #13 at Cypress Point where the bunkers run up on to the framing hillside


Hole #13
Fantastic par 3.  One of the best bunkered holes I have ever played.  Green slopes front to back with gaping bunkers all around.


Hole #14
A complete addition to the back side of the green.  There is a weird fairway bunker about 75 yards from the green I would love to know why either Tillinghast or Doak put it there.


Hole #7  Back to the most famous hole.  Very good two tiered green set in a natural valley.


Hole #10
Looking back toward the club house (note clubhouse minus any shrubbery, can't be bothered )


This is a course I could play everyday and never get tired of...great tee ball strategy with fantastic fairway bunkering and greens just slick enough to make you think over every chip and putt. 

Very much like Wild Horse and Baltimore Country Club....understated, challenging, yet fun and joy to play. 

Why can't all courses hit this perfect mix.

[David Stamm]

Awesome pics, Chip. Another possibilty on the bunker you describe on 14 could be Bell, since he's the one who was responsible for SFGC's striking bunker work.

[John Kirk]

Chip,

Great pictures.  Thanks very much.

[Bob Jenkins]

Chip,

I agree with you that this is one of those courses you could play every day and never tire of. No 2 and No 7 come to mind in particular. I got to play it in about 1989 and we put in 36 on a quiet day, must have been a Monday. I recall that our nourishment was macaroon cookies on a tray in the clubhouse (no food service otherwise) and I also have a great recollection of the old skylights and wooden lockers in the men's locker room. Absolutely old school!

The Tom Doak restoration has obviously added to the experience since I was there.

Thanks for posting the pics.

[Bruce Leland]

Chip or Tom D., what would you say the size of 13 green is and what length does the hole play from the back and regular mens tees.  That green looks very small, perhaps it's the shade and lighting of the photo.

[Jordan Caron]

Chip,

Thanks for pics, always wanted to see more of this course. 

PS.  Do you enjoy your life or what???  It seems you have played some of the best courses in the world just this summer!!  Anyways, I would love to do whatever it is yo do

[Chip Gaskins]

Chip or Tom D., what would you say the size of 13 green is and what length does the hole play from the back and regular mens tees.  That green looks very small, perhaps it's the shade and lighting of the photo.

I will certainly let Tom talk more about the hole, but from the back tee I hit a hard pitching wedge.  The greens were playing pretty hard.  Balls hitting pin high (especially on this hole) were going to the back fringe, which is fun.  I wish I would have taken better pictures of this green complex.  It instantly one of my best short holes anywhere in the world.

[Chip Gaskins]

PS.  Do you enjoy your life or what???  It seems you have played some of the best courses in the world just this summer!!  Anyways, I would love to do whatever it is yo do

I work at a wireless start-up, but i do have a very understanding wife that supports my GCA addiction.  Paying for a spa day (plus babysiter, it ain't cheap!) last Wednesday in Napa while I was down in S.F. playing golf helps too    I never play weekly golf...its on a golf trips only really....maybe 20 rounds a year.  But to your point, I am very very lucky on many fronts.

[Ben Stephens]

Chip,

Any chance of an image of the newly restored Tarantula bunker on Hole 15?

Cheers

Ben

[Carl Nichols]

Chip:
If PV, CPC, and RCD are your top 3, where do you put SFGC?  How about Olympic Lake, which I believe you were also going to play on this trip?
I love Olympic, and have never played SFGC, but from these pictures SFGC seems much more interesting to me. 

[Deucie Bies]

I have had the opportunity to play SFGC twice (once with the old holes 13-15 and this past summer with the new holes 13-15).  I like both versions.  The new 13th is a short, but very challenging par 3.  I also like the 15th hole with a slightly uphill 2nd shot and well guarded green.  The overall experience of playing the course and the old style clubhouse/locker room is one of the best there is.  I agree that I could play this course everyday.  The first time was great, and the second was even better.      

[SPDB]

Would you want to play this course everyday, knowing that the front gate shuts at 7:00pm come hell or high water?

[Ash Towe]

This is a superb course and a great golfing experience.  You go there to play.  The staff are superb and friendly.  Everything is very under-stated.
Other people with greater knowledge than I have written of the qualities of the course.  I will add that there is a seemless flow and the distance from greens to tee mean a prompt round.

[TX Golf]

An absolutely incredible golfing experience if every aspect of the word.

Chip,

How was the conditioning?? Looking at your pictures it seems to be nice but not as perfect as I have seen it at other times. Considering the time of year (SF has its best weather in September) I would expect it to be flawless. Maybe the photos were a tad misleading.

P.S. I don't know if I have played a set of greens anywhere that are kept a such a consistently perfect level.

Robert

[Matt_Cohn]

Would you want to play this course everyday, knowing that the front gate shuts at 7:00pm come hell or high water?

Really?

BTW, does anyone else think the bunker on #7 looks out of place? Does it look better in person? Was it there before?

[Jed Peters]

How was the conditioning?? Looking at your pictures it seems to be nice but not as perfect as I have seen it at other times. Considering the time of year (SF has its best weather in September) I would expect it to be flawless. Maybe the photos were a tad misleading.

P.S. I don't know if I have played a set of greens anywhere that are kept a such a consistently perfect level.

Robert

Conditioning in SF with weather ain't too hard.

I'll betcha fairways, greens, tees, etc. were perfect.

No doubt rough was a bit patchy.

[SPDB]

Would you want to play this course everyday, knowing that the front gate shuts at 7:00pm come hell or high water?

Really?

BTW, does anyone else think the bunker on #7 looks out of place? Does it look better in person? Was it there before?

Really. A terrific experience nevertheless.

The bunker as it appears in Chip's picture is a little deceiving, it stays pretty close to the green's dimensions (for some reason Chip's picture makes it look like it extends well in front of the green). The bunker previously only flanked the back right half of the green. It makes for a much more difficult tee shot. I naturally favor a draw, so I found this tee very intimidating.

[Carl Nichols]

Would you want to play this course everyday, knowing that the front gate shuts at 7:00pm come hell or high water?

Really?

BTW, does anyone else think the bunker on #7 looks out of place? Does it look better in person? Was it there before?

I've never been to SFGC, and am looking only at this one picture, but it seems as if breaking the bunker into two smaller bunkers would've fit more with the rest of the course. 

[Deucie Bies]

I hadn't heard that before, but who cares if the gates shut at 7 pm?  It is a golf club with a great golf course.  An absolute gem.  I played it in June and the greens were fantastic.   

[Jon Spaulding]

Thanks for the photos. On my short list of favorites.

Do you have any additional photos of #3.....or the tee shot on #10.

[Paul Jones]

Does anyone have any pictures of the inside of the clubhouse?  Thanks for the pictures of the course.

[Deucie Bies]

The locker room is old school and awesome.  One of the best there is.

[Steve Pozaric]

Great pictures.  I played both SFGC and CPC two falls ago and your pictures reinforce the fantastic memories of that trip. 

[JNC Lyon]

Is this Tillinghast's best??? It seems like it is probably his most pure from the photos.  I LOVE the look of that little par three 13th, kudos for the restoration of that hole.

[Tom Huckaby]

SPDB asked:

Would you want to play this course everyday, knowing that the front gate shuts at 7:00pm come hell or high water?

So the question is NOT about whether the golf experience there is great - it surely is.
The question is, would you want that experiece EVERY DAY.

And I think it's a valid question.  If daily golf were my reality, well... I'd want to play in the late afternoon in summer time.. and more importantly, would love to linger at a 19th Hole... especially a great one like they have at SFGC... closing the gates at 7pm seems like a dealbreaker to me.

Not that I'd turn down the free membership.