Presidio: a pleasant surprise

[PThomas]

got to play this last week for the first time and found it to be a pretty darn good golf course....some good elevation change and greens, along with holes like the par 4 3rd and par 3 13th, make this a course worth playing...

pls note that they are using 3 temporary greens for awhile

[Tom Huckaby]

Presidio is a very good course - can play very tough, greens are sloped to bejesus.  I've always enjoyed playing there.  Issues have been glacial slow play... did you get around in less than 6 hours?

 

The world also wants to know about certain other courses you played out here, of course.

 

[PThomas]

Huck, the bad weather helped the place of play/kept away the crowds at Presidio.....I got there at 8, paired up with two other singles - 1 of whom* walked along with me - and we got done in four hours!

* I must give special kudos to my fellow walker, an Asian woman who looked to be about 65 years old...she carried her own bag and walked the entire round on that course made even tougher to walk due to the wet turf..I hope I can do that at her age!

also played SFGC for the first time, which of course was a real treat...as reported on another thread, the bunkers there are pieces of art...reminded me of CPC's in that regard....

the course is one of great scale....Mr. Doak's work looked very seemless to me...i.e., it seemed to blend in perfectly with the existing holes....many cool holes such as the Duel Hole,7,  little Tilly, 18...I also love how you park SO CLOSE to the first tee, get your clubs and go, also just like CPC....

also got to play Mayacama for the first time, and think that is a very good course as well....a great setting - I'd love to play there at twilight sometime when all the animals start to come out  - I haven't played all that many of Jack's courses, but this was probably the best of his that I have....some holes to note:  1, 3, 4, 9, 18..a very natural looking course

[Tom Huckaby]

Very cool - sounds like you had a great trip - and I hadn't seen a separate thread about SFGC.

Mayacama is very fun also - very tough....

TH

[Glenn Spencer]

Great sounding trip Paul!! Presidio is a tough golf course. I felt like I hit it pretty good and tucked my tail between my legs after an 83. A guy I played with had one of his career rounds though. I think this is one of the signs of a great golf course.

TH,

Is Presidio known for long rounds? We played at 3 in the afternoon, had plenty to drink and walked in about 4.5. I like the glacial reference, one of my friends is so slow, he earned the nickname Glacier.

BTW, Paul. Was it really a surprise? I got the sense that our group was the only set of dummies that didn't know that we would love it. We were sent there by a guy who barely even played golf.

[Kevin_Reilly]

FWIW, I haven't had any slow play experiences at Presidio.

Paul, are the greens closed for nematode work?

[Tom Huckaby]

Glenn - I haven't been to Presidio in two years, I think... but in the years from my last play going back to the opening to the public, oh yes play could be glacial there.  That's not to say you couldn't catch it on a good day and get around quickly.... but my play was limited to weekends and it was very, very slow.

But hell, it's no different than any other Bay Area public course in that respect.

I suppose I just needed to play it on a weekday.  

[David_Tepper]

In the past, the Presidio has been notorious for its slow pace of play.  The large number of visitors, tourists and 1st time players (of the course) combined with the somewhat quirky nature of the course (sloped fairways, blind shots, sharp elevation changes, etc.) is a deadly pace of play combination.

[PThomas]

FWIW, I haven't had any slow play experiences at Presidio.

Paul, are the greens closed for nematode work?

I believe that is the reason Kevin

the three had sand (?) on them, so perhaps the next step is seeding??

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

Talk about a course that needs some tree clearing!!!

[Kyle Henderson]

Huck, the bad weather helped the place of play/kept away the crowds at Presidio.....I got there at 8, paired up with two other singles - 1 of whom* walked along with me - and we got done in four hours!

* I must give special kudos to my fellow walker, an Asian woman who looked to be about 65 years old...she carried her own bag and walked the entire round on that course made even tougher to walk due to the wet turf..I hope I can do that at her age!

also played SFGC for the first time, which of course was a real treat...as reported on another thread, the bunkers there are pieces of art...reminded me of CPC's in that regard....

the course is one of great scale....Mr. Doak's work looked very seemless to me...i.e., it seemed to blend in perfectly with the existing holes....many cool holes such as the Duel Hole,7,  little Tilly, 18...I also love how you park SO CLOSE to the first tee, get your clubs and go, also just like CPC....

also got to play Mayacama for the first time, and think that is a very good course as well....a great setting - I'd love to play there at twilight sometime when all the animals start to come out  - I haven't played all that many of Jack's courses, but this was probably the best of his that I have....some holes to note:  1, 3, 4, 9, 18..a very natural looking course

The Presidio is a fun track to be sure. I found about half of the holes to be memorable. A little tree trimming would go along way to improving the turf conditions IMHO, but I'm no agronomist.

CPC, SFGC, and Mayacama, eh? I need to start making some friends in the private club world.

[Mitch St. Peter]

Paul--

glad you enjoyed Presidio.  I'm not sure what the other locals think, but I think Presidio is a restoration/renovation away from being on par with the rest of the classic courses in the city.

The course also has a very rich tradition with it being the site of the original SFGC and also co-run by the Presidio GC and the 6th United States Army up until the Army left in around '94.  The Presidio GC survives (although it is struggling) but stands there to remind us that it is a club started in 1895!

[Matt_Cohn]

Paul,

Which 3 greens?

[PThomas]

Paul,

Which 3 greens?

2, 14 and 15

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

Paul--

glad you enjoyed Presidio.  I'm not sure what the other locals think, but I think Presidio is a restoration/renovation away from being on par with the rest of the classic courses in the city.

The course also has a very rich tradition with it being the site of the original SFGC and also co-run by the Presidio GC and the 6th United States Army up until the Army left in around '94.  The Presidio GC survives (although it is struggling) but stands there to remind us that it is a club started in 1895!

What are the limitations that the course is under when it comes to maintenance, restoration, etc.  Since it's in the Golden Gate Rec. Area (part of the Nat'l Park Service), I'm sure there is much more red-tape that must be broken through to get anything accomplished.  

This has probably been covered here, but can they thin out some of the trees within the course?  The most obvious being around the 4th green.  Looking at old pictures in the clubhouse(s), and elsewhere in the Presidio, it seems that most of those trees aren't native to the landscape so the "tree huggers" should have no issue in felling a few.

[John Kavanaugh]

I'm surprised (not really) that the course is not touted as a value.  The web site currently is offering $42 rounds.  Given the location it seems to fair favorably with Rustic.

[Tom Huckaby]

John - if you can get it for $42, it's a pretty darn good value.  But you'll notice those rates are specials, done via golfnow.com... many of our courses around here participate in that and they do give great deals if one can work out the times.

Normal weekend rates are a lot more than that, or at least used to be when I played.

TH