Renovation Work At the Presidio, San Francisco

[Kevin_Reilly]

Funny, that is the second mention of Delasin that I have seen in the last week.  This previous mention wasn't favorable:


https://forums.golfwrx.com/topic/1938042-lpga-pro-am/?do=findComment&comment=24814005

[David_Tepper]

At the risk of taking this thread further off topic, I feel obliged to respond to Roody's WRX post linked above.

I have never met Dorothy Delasin. I have absolutely no idea what she was or is like as a person. As I golfer, I do know she won the USGA Junior Girls and the Women's Amateur. I know she won 4 times on the LPGA tour. I know she won the Women's World Cup of Golf with Jennifer Rosales representing the Philippines in 2008. That is a very impressive golfing resume. 

Maybe she is shy. Maybe she is moody at times. Regardless, I find Roody's comments, that denigrate Ms. Delasin both as a golfer and a person, to be uncalled for. The fact that they were made 20 years after the fact is shameful.   

[Jeff Segol]

Agree with you David. It's probably too much of a stereotype, but from what I've observed and read, some of the Asian women golfers had a tough row to hoe, given what appears to be the pressure put on them by their parents. Se Ri Pak, Wie, Dorothy D. and there are other examples. I would cut them some slack.

[Jim O’Kane]

Presidio is enjoyable to play.  Nothing great/nothing bad.  I'd choose it over TPC Harding 10-1.


Fun to think about its prior history as an army course/private club as you play it.


If in the City, play the nine hole Gleneagles also.  Take an uber to the course so you can enjoy the 10th hole (aka 19th hole) which is very cool.

Ibid.

Do NOT pass over the chance to play Gleneagles. It is an amazing and difficult 9 holer. Everything breaks toward the airport.

[Mark Kiely]

Wanted to report back after my round at Presidio one week ago today. I had the second tee time of the day (6:30) and caught an absolutely gorgeous morning for my round. Making matters even better, I loved the course and it exceeded my expectations. Then to round out a fantastic morning, David Tepper graciously came over to the course to meet me beside the 18th green and share some local history and knowledge with me. Thank you so much to David and everyone who contributed to this thread.


My take on Presidio is it has just about everything I want in a golf course, except it isn't bouncy. It has tons of elevation changes, interesting greens, a good variety of par 3 lengths, strong bunkering, some cool city views, an unusual feature or two (the patch of tall grass in front of 5 green was interesting to me), and pure beauty everywhere you look. While I don't typically pay $117 to play golf, the visitor rates are not too bad and the San Francisco resident rate is a steal for the quality of course, imo.


When I got to the 17th tee and saw what seemed like the most shoehorned hole so far in the routing, I thought possibly the last two holes would be a letdown. But then to find out the 17th hole actually moves right a bit was a relief and I really enjoyed that hole. The finisher also provides a similarly one-dimensional look from the tee, but has sufficient width to not feel too severe.


Maybe I'm naive because I haven't played the number of super high quality courses many here have, but I assume Presidio would be much more well known if its neighboring clubs weren't among some of the most well-regarded courses in the world. It very much had a "private club" vibe to it that I really enjoyed.


Here's my photo album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24952137@N00/albums/72177720309368148

[MCirba]

Mark,


Thanks for sharing your pics.


To these east coast eyes they seem to show more character in one photo than I've ever seen on television or pics at Harding Park. 


Am I wrong, west coasters?

[JLahrman]

Fun pics Mark! And David is definitely your guy if you want to know more about the course and its history.


I played it a few times when I lived in the Bay Area, even pre-restoration it was fun though it looks better now. And it's definitely a city experience, too bad you didn't get some of the fog! And there are views of the local neighborhoods from some of the holes, which will remind you that you're playing golf right in the middle of San Francisco.

[Sam Kestin]

To these east coast eyes they seem to show more character in one photo than I've ever seen on television or pics at Harding Park. 

I just played both of these courses in like a three-day window a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't agree more with this assessment. I thought the property at Presidio was far more engaging (way more elevation change and ground contour), I thought there was far more variety in the holes (like half the holes at Harding Park feel exactly the same to me) and I thought the green complexes (and hole locations) were dramatically more interesting at Presidio.


I also loved the relatively new bunkering at Presidio...it looked beautiful with the shaggy edges and the odd shaped fingers that carve into each of these hazards. TPC Harding Park still feels like it has municipal course bunkering with very little shape/character.


If they ever did a Bethpage at Presidio whereby a large organization like the USGA or the PGA helped fund another major renovation of the golf course, they could really do a number out there and make the course the crown jewel of San Francisco public golf. I came away from playing it a raving fan of the place.

[MCirba]

Thanks for your insight, Sam.   I'm hoping to visit in October and part of me wants to see Harding Park as it was one of the first "restored/renovated" munis in recent years and being involved in the project at Cobb's Creek back here in Philly I'd love to see first hand what they did right as well as what could have been improved.


However, Presidio looks so compelling by contrast that I may have to skip Harding this trip.

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

I've been playing these two courses off-n-on for the past 25 years, and both are much better than they used to be... that's for sure. Having just recently play both, I'd much rather give my $115 or so to Presidio.


Conditioning aside, Harding is definitely a good course and is worthy of hosting tournaments like he PGA Championship, etc. In fact, it looks like they haven't mown the fairway widths since it was there in 2020, and that definitely makes it more challenging and less playable for the retail golfer.


As mentioned in previous posts, Presidio is way more quirky with interesting green complexes, bunkering, and elevation changes throughout. And a summer afternoon brings out the full SF experience with the fog filling in amongst the trees, giving it an even better "sense of place" than Harding.


Both are worth playing and [size=78%]a 10 round split would be 7-3 for Presidio.[/size]