I just returned from a long weekend in San Francisco, where I had the great privilege to play SFGC, Olympic Lake, and Cal Club on 3 successive days. The weather all 3 days was unseasonably good...bright sun, deep blue skies, no fog/marine layer, and a brisk wind. As a group, these 3 courses would have hold their own against the top 3 courses in any other city in the U.S. My less than average playing ability (17 index) made Olympic a real grind, although the recent tree clearing has made the course play much firmer than before and gave me more roll than I expected on my tee shots. Because Olympic plays up against the side of a giant hill, every hole seems to slope either left to right or right to left, requiring the player to constantly try to work the ball in order to hold the narrow fairways. The green speeds were manageable the day we played (probably around 10), and the rough was very difficult...a shot from the primary rough more often than not required a wedge back to the fairway. No question that of the 3 courses, Olympic is a bona fide champioship test that's worthy of a U.S. Open. For someone of my modest ability, however, it's just too hard. I managed to make 4 pars in my round, but all of them came from getting up and down from off the green and I had more triples than I care to remember. One more thing on Olympic - the nine hole par 3 Cliffs Course is a hidden gem. Several of the holes play on the cliffs above the ocean with stunning views. What a great time to take a handful of clubs and play this little course in the late afternoon...it only took 3 of us only an hour to play 9 holes.
I expected SFGC to be great and it was. Everything about it is perfect. Low key atmosphere that's all about golf. Best locker room in America in my book, which is saying a lot since I'd always given that distinction to Merion. How can you beat a roaring wood burning fire in the middle of the locker room with a portrait of the great amateur player Harvie Ward hanging above the fireplace. The clubhouse, both interior and exterior, appear unchanged from decades past. The golf course is simply magnificent. The dramatic bunkering really frames the holes and adds strategy to the tee shots and approach shots. There are beautiful views throughout the course thanks to the reduction of trees. The recent renovations by Tom Doak really complement the course and seem to be a major improvement over what was there before. From looking at photos in the locker room, the course has been returned to the original vision of Tillinghast and the new holes are excellent. They flow seemlessly with the rest of the course. Words I would use to describe SFGC - classic, timeless, strategic, and majestic. We played with a former club champion who is obviously a very fine player, and it was great fun seeing how the course is intended to be play. It was really impressive watching him work the ball off slopes in the fairways and greens to put his ball in the proper position.
The final course was Cal Club, and I must confess that in all my reading about GCA I had never really taken notice of this course. That all changed when Ran posted his sublime review of the course earlier this year. The photos of the course really captured my attention, as did the acclaim that Kyle Phillips received for the renovation effort. Expectations always play a role in how I react to seeing a course for the first time. I was expecting SFGC and Olympic to be great and they were. With Cal Club, I really didn't know what to expect and was frankly prepared to be underwhelmed...big mistake. To say I was completely blown away by Cal Club would be an understatement. It's a great piece of property with the front nine playing around a giant ridge and the back nine playing across a relatively flat valley area. The look of the course, especially the bunkers and greens, is immediately brings to mind MacKenize. Although MacKenzie didn't do the original design, he was brought in at some point in the 20's to do a "course reconstruction" and unfortunately the club doesn't have a historical record of how extensive MacKenzie's work was. Over time, I understand that the course fell vicitm to tweaks, greens committees, and modern architectural revisions.
I loved absolutely everything about the Cal Club - due to the extensive tree removal, the vistas of the course and surrounding mountains and city are spectacular. The bunker work is among the best restoration of MacKenzie style bunkering I've ever seen (and I've seen MacKenzie style bunkers at Cypress Point, Pasatiempo, Jockey Club, and New South Wales). Both the asthetics and strategic value of the bunkers is amazing. The greens at Cal Club (bent grass - it will be very interesting to see if they can keep the poa out) were the best I've played in a long, long time...VERY firm, wonderful internal contours, and extremely true and consistent. The fairways (combination of bent and fine fescue) also were VERY firm, with a lot of run out on tee shots. The roughs are still growing in, but the native fescue (if they can get it to thrive and stay healty) really does a great job of framing the holes. The thing I like most about the Cal Club course are the greens surrounds. Every green had shaved areas extending around the greens complexes that allowed for creative recovery shots (i.e., putting the ball, bump and run, pitches, etc.). In fact, our host told me that the fairways 20 yards short of the greeens are maintained just like greens, with the same top dressing, and aerification treatment. The areas fronting the greens just blend into the front of the green and play almost exactly like the putting surface, just a bit slower.
The Cal Club has a diverse and varied set of holes - short par 3, check (125 yd 16th), medium par 3, check (180 yd 6th), long par 3, check (200 yard uphill 12th), short par 4, check (325 yd 5th), medium par 4, check (400 yd 9th), long par 4 (445 yd 14th), short par 4, check (510 yd 1st), long par 5, check (560 yd 17th), risk/reward hole, check (405 yd par 4 7th...a great cape hole that dares you to bite off the fairway). I hit pretty much every club in my bag in the round, unlike Olympic where I seemed to only hit driver, fairway woods, and wedges. The Cal Club is a very pleasant walk, with the tees and greens located close together. The atmosphere at Cal Club is the icing on the cake....a great bunch of guys from very diverse walks of life that all love the game. Laughter flowed throughout the bar when we had a beer after the round, and the place was full of characters. Our host, a past president and past club champion, was gracious and hospitable, and it was thoroughly enjoyable spending time with him.
So, how would I sum it all up? Well, a lot of it depends on what you like...some people like strawberry and some like chocolate. It also depends on your playing ability, and mine is mediocre at best. With that said, here's what I would say. If you want to see what a major championship course feels like, go to Olympic. If you want to experience a classic and know what golf felt like 90 years ago, go to SFGC. And if you want to know which of the 3 clubs I'd most like to be a member of and which I'd most like to play every day, the answer is surprisingly easy - Cal Club.