Meadow Club - A picture tour of a magical setting in Marin, CA

[Tom Huckaby]

Thomas of Huckaby- That's especially closed minded of you, and, I disagree with you about golfers and what they are meant to see. They see them but just don't appreciate them. But thanks for the compliment.

Adam:  you do just tend to take these things to a degree that is difficult to accept, at times.  I don't think it's closed-minded to call bullshit on you from time to time.  And on this one, I am calling bullshit.

It is mind-stretching though, as most things you post are.

So well done.

[Adam Clayman]

Whatever you say, sir.

I don't know how a feeling can be called bullshit. But you've done it.

I would never question your feelings that you choose to share. No matter how, or why, they are rooted.

[Bill_McBride]

Has the Valley club been restored?

Ralph, lots of work over the past 10 years.  Renaissance did a lot of work bringing bunkers and green size back to early dimensions.  Recently there has been in house work. 

Bill:  I'm not sure you are correct with Renaissance.  I'm almost positive that Mike Devries deserves most most of the credit?

Valley Club is Renaissance.
Meadow Club is Mike DeVries.
[/quote]

My reference to Renaissance was in response to Ralph Livingston's question above, "Has the Valley Club been restored?"  Yes!

[Tom Huckaby]

Adam:

"The look of the approach to 7 green Is Norcal inland golf. Johnny Miller borrowed it a few times at his course in Gilroy....Name, anyone?"

I gave you the name of the course, but I am calling bullshit that Johnny Miller borrowed anything from Meadow Club for his inspiration at the horribly penal and brutal and massively overbunkered torture fest that is Eagle Ridge.

SO... of course your feelings are not bullshit.  But your conclusions based on them, those are fair game, no?

[Jim Briggs]

Thanks Ed...it did seem to be missing that front right to back left tilt.

[Niall Hay]

I was lucky enough to see Meadow Club a few weeks ago with club historian Mike Purvis.  Mike was a fantastic host and wealth of knowledge about all things Mackenzie, especially Mackenzie's first course in America.  Jim O'Neal's staff is first class and I was lucky enough to chat with GCA's own Sean Tully, newly named head super of Meadow Club.

Not many places in the world are as pretty as Northern California, especially once you get over the Golden Gate bridge.  And not many place once you get over the bridge are as special as the remote parts of Marin County.

Meadow Club is nestled in a valley near the small town of Fairfax, CA.  This was Mackenzie first course in the U.S.  It was a collaboration between Hunter and Mackenzie which lead to a very fruitful partnership in the Western U.S.  Recently Mike DeVries has come in a done a fantastic job taking the course back to what it looked like many years ago (minus a few (a lot) of tree growth).  Bunkers and green complexes are simply fantastic.  The 7th hole could be the best hole in the Bay Area.  Certainly the best setting in the Bay Area.

The course sits down in a valley which is pretty flat given the rest of the surrounding terrain and must have been impossible to get to back in Mackenzie's day!

Simply a magical place!

Hole #2


Hole #3

This is one crazy green that I was too busy putting on to snap a good picture :-(


Hole #4
I love the ridge that you have to hit over.  Reminds me of Crystal Downs or Bandon Trails #4


Hole #5
Long one shot hole.


Hole #6
A very small creek/ditch runs up the right side of this landing, which is very hard to see from the tee.



Hole #7
Definitely one of the coolest holes in Northern California.  The second shot really can’t be any more beautiful.  A magical setting.


Hole #7 approach


Hole #8


Hole #9
Space, space, width!



Hole #11
170 yard par 3



Hole #13

Shares a fairway and central hazards with #15.  A new bunker was being added the day we played.  Again, lots of width but trouble if don’t hit your spot.





   
Hole #16
Another fantastic hole.  A diagonal tee shot over a ditch to one of the best green complexes on the course.  


Hole #16 approach


Hole #17
A natural saddle valley off the tee to a double plateau green.  I am sure this green closes out some matches!



Hole #18
Like hole #7, this hole has a pesky little ditch that can grab any misplaced tee shot.

It really is a magical place…..great pics Chip, thanks!

[Jon Spaulding]

Chip, have you mislabeled the length of #11? My scorecard shows 150 yards, it would be a shame if they added length to this hole.

Good golf course, better setting. Best in the bay area?.......Chip, you ever been to Santa Teresa?

The unfortunate sizing of photos on this website does not do the place justice.

The bunkering style is historically accurate, yet confusing at best considering both the architect and the year in which the course was built.

Perhaps Sean can opine on this.

[Mike Benham]

Perhaps Sean can post some old photos of a treeless Meadow Club and clarify the mandate that no trees were to be planted ...

[Chip Gaskins]

#17 green is not a double plateau as in CBM terms, sorry.  It just has two pronounced tiers.

The pictures in the clubhouse really show the course early on with out many trees at all.  Sounds like they have removed many of them, but they have a lot to go if they want to get it back to those early pictures.  I can't imagine how hard it is cut a tree down in Marin County either.  Talk about nighttime tree cutting!

Mike DeVries has done all of work to date, but I will let Sean clarify from here.

Jon-

You are correct, I got the yardage on #11 wrong.  Should be 150.

I don't think Meadow Club is the best in the Bay, that's Cal Club.  But I do think the #7 hole is best hole in the Bay Area.  With that said, I have not played Santa Teresa, actually have never heard over it.  I will google it?!

[Tom Huckaby]

Chip:

Santa Teresa is a fairly non-descript muni in San Jose, at which when I used to play a lot, well that was the site.  Spaulding and others love to throw it in as a humorous reference from time to time. 

No need to google it or give it any further thought. 

Best course in the Bay Area?  One would have to define the boundaries.  But I'd put each of Pasatiempo, Olympic Lake, San Francisco and Cal Club above Meadow Club... if not a few others.  Meadow is very cool.  But those are some very very strong golf courses.

TH

[Kevin_Reilly]

Always enjoy seeing pictures of Meadow Club.  I played the course several times in the early 80's, and the course always played like "Palo Alto Muni" in the Marin hills.  Completely non-descript and bland, though in a serene setting.

Some additional tree management would be a plus, but I understand that is a tough one for the membership, like it is at most clubs.

[Matt_Cohn]

Just some random thoughts after my first 36 at Meadow Club last week.

The greens are really large. Maybe the biggest I've seen on a classic-style course. Not many chip shots, even in 36 holes. And between the size, the surrounding hills, the "flat" meadow, etc., they're very tough to read. A lot of local knowledge involved, too.

The yardage on #7 (466) is wrong. I tried several different routes on Google Earth and 435 is a more realistic number. I knew I didn't hit driver, 9-iron 466!

The setting is really neat. And yes, it's hard to imagine how Mackenzie and company even got there. It's a couple of miles from the nearest anything.

Whoever said #9 was wide - WTF? That's the toughest drive on the course! Left and you're in a deep bunker 200 yards from the green; right and you're in rough or sand behind 80-foot-tall trees.

The 16th was probably my favorite hole, because it turns a lot of the conventions for short par-4's upside down - it has a huge green, and the hole gets wider as you get closer to the green. The subtle downslope in the fairway makes the wedge shot more challenging than one would suspect at first.

It's a bummer that, probably for safety reasons, so many holes still have out-of-character lines of dense trees. You can see some in the pictures above. In particular, 6 and 13 are sort of a shock to the system, but 2, 3, 9, and 17 are also affected significantly.

It's a different kind of place than Cal Club. Cal Club blows you away a bunch of times, where you stand on a tee and go "wow". I don't think you get that as much at Meadow Club, because the feeling is smaller and more intimate. You get it on 7, maybe, and probably 13, but otherwise I think you proceed through the round in more of a sense of comfortable appreciation - different than Cal Club, but a very, very nice feeling to have.

[Jon Spaulding]

Matt, was Octo on his best behavior?

[Bill_McBride]

Chip:

Santa Teresa is a fairly non-descript muni in San Jose, at which when I used to play a lot, well that was the site.  Spaulding and others love to throw it in as a humorous reference from time to time. 

No need to google it or give it any further thought. 

Best course in the Bay Area?  One would have to define the boundaries.  But I'd put each of Pasatiempo, Olympic Lake, San Francisco and Cal Club above Meadow Club... if not a few others.  Meadow is very cool.  But those are some very very strong golf courses.

TH

Tom, if "best" was defined as "where you would most like to play every day," how would you rank those five?

[Tom Huckaby]

That's a fair enough definition of "best."  For me the five would go:

Pasatiempo
Olympic Lake
San Francisco
Cal Club
Meadow

Just remember a lot goes into how I look at things besides "architecture."

[Kevin_Reilly]

I'd agree with your listing, based on "play every day".  I would have pretty strong leg muscles, though, if I played #1 and #2 that regularly.

By the way Tom, Lake course is playing incredibly firm right now.  Like "you won't need to repair a ball mark" and "oh my how did that ball run so far" firm.  The bent greens are rolling very true and fast, and they are firm.

[Tom Huckaby]

I'd take carts more than I'd walk, at each of Pasa and Lake.

And the Lake was playing that way my last time there, just about a year ago.  That's a large reason why I hold it so high, when I used to call it a long wet slog... the long and wet parts are gone... and with the tree removal, so is the slog....

Love that course.

TH

[Bill_McBride]

I'd take carts more than I'd walk, at each of Pasa and Lake.

And the Lake was playing that way my last time there, just about a year ago.  That's a large reason why I hold it so high, when I used to call it a long wet slog... the long and wet parts are gone... and with the tree removal, so is the slog....

Love that course.

TH

The above is part of the reason why I would have Meadow higher - it's a very easy walk.

[Chip Gaskins]

Tom-

After living in San Francisco for a while I am bummed I didn't make the pilgrimage to Santa Teresa...I did play Crystal Spring and Palo Alto Muni many many time, but not Santa Teresa.


Matt-

You and I have the same favorite hole with #16.  Amazing how simple things can be and still be world class!

My "Best of the Bay" would be:

Cal Club
San Francisco
Pasatiempo
Olympic Lake (but getting better with F&F conditions!)
Meadow Club
Mayacama

Just as Tom said, this is not solely on "architectural merit"....hey, the setting means something in the "walk in the park" test, no?  Where is Pat Mucci when you need him.

[Adam Clayman]

Tom, For you to say that no such back drop exists at Eagle Ridge is preposterous.
 My point was; playing approach shots, where the backdrop is one of those typical mounded hills, that comprise most of central california. epitomizes a re-ocurring motif, found (and felt) on many courses in that region. That was it. That's why I used the word, and even capitalized, "Is" in the phrase "Is inland Norcal golf" I don't understand why you felt it necessary to denigrate Eagle Ridge or argue that fact. (Other than it's really central Ca.) 

As for that feeling, which can be felt on any quality level of golf course... Perhaps you've felt it?
 It happens while the golfer is watching their well struck ball sail up through to the sky, and back down, through the spectrum of colors and textures, of those hills. For me, it always elicits a special feeling. Palm Springs has a similar affect on the golfer, only different colors and textures. Perhaps you've felt it there?

IMO, this feeling is part of that awesome feeling found when playing your approach on the 8th at Pebble. Which also has a hill as it's back drop. Coincidence? Wow! Like radical dude.

[Tom Huckaby]

Adam:  I said earlier that such back drops DO exist.  Read closer.
I continue to call bullshit that that Johnny Miller found any inspiration at Meadow Club that he used in designing Eagle Ridge.
As for the feeling you describe, of course, it occurs in many places - even Santa Teresa.  Shame you missed it there.

Bill:  I could give a rat's ass about easy walks.

Chip:  these are all great courses so preferring one over the other is no great shakes to me.  Just Cal Club... the more I think about it the less great it gets.  All those up and back holes on the back nine... at least in the terms of splitting hairs among greats, I think those get a free pass at least a little bit.  Thus it's a bit lower for me.  I'd add Mayacama right where you did too, although calling it "Bay Area" is quite a stretch geographically.

[Bill_McBride]

Adam:  I said earlier that such back drops DO exist.  Read closer.
I continue to call bullshit that that Johnny Miller found any inspiration at Meadow Club that he used in designing Eagle Ridge.
As for the feeling you describe, of course, it occurs in many places - even Santa Teresa.  Shame you missed it there.

Bill:  I could give a rat's ass about easy walks.

Chip:  these are all great courses so preferring one over the other is no great shakes to me.  Just Cal Club... the more I think about it the less great it gets.  All those up and back holes on the back nine... at least in the terms of splitting hairs among greats, I think those get a free pass at least a little bit.  Thus it's a bit lower for me.  I'd add Mayacama right where you did too, although calling it "Bay Area" is quite a stretch geographically.

Well aren't you in a feisty mood this morning!  Go man go!

[Tom Huckaby]

It happens, Bill.   
 
But more on point... to me the quality of walk matters only in the extreme.  I don't think the walk is extreme at any of the courses mentioned - Pasa and OClub are pretty tough, but as described in other discussions, each are "manageable"... and that's good enough for me.  If I am feeling energetic, I walk.  If not, I take a cart.  It doesn't change the experience much either way.  On the plus side, yes Meadow is a nice walk, but no SO great such that it tips the scales to the positive.  Thus I don't factor the walk into the assessment either way at any of these.  Now a place like THE RANCH that could only be walked by Evan Fleischer or Scott Burroughs or those of the "I'll walk even if it kills me" ilk... those get marked down in the assessment.  Not that THE RANCH could get any lower... but I digress.

But did you mention feistiness?