Well, after spending seven awesome months in the Bay Area, I have concluded that there are plenty of courses to keep one busy for atleast a year. The people I've meet, the places I've seen, and the variety of designs and layouts is spectacular.
I must take a moment to thank the head professionals of these various courses and clubs who have allowed me to play, and my own head pro, for helping a student of architecture in his pursuit to play and study some of the best courses NorCal has to offer. Thank You All!
It has been a pleasure meeting fellow members in the area, Sean Tully, Mike Benham, Tom Huckaby, Ed Getka, Josh Smith, and Emmy Moore-Demerntz
So in conclusion, I have ranked the 23 courses that I had the distinct pleasure of playing and made remarks about them that are both honest and hopefully humorous. Some remarks are candid, but that is what this site is all about. Please, take offense to none, but enjoy them all!
1. San Francisco Golf Club
This is the epitome of golf architecture in the Bay Area. The course provides an absolutely awesome feel. The shear size and scale of the course make it one of a kind. The bunkering has to be some of the most creative in the world. I’m struggling with adjectives here. SPECTACULAR! If you’re invited on your wedding day, reschedule the wedding!
2. Monterey Peninsula Country Club – Shore
Now I haven’t played at Bandon or in Scotland, but this course had the firmest, fastest conditions throughout the entire golf course that I have experienced. If you short sided yourself, you were absolutely screwed. Strantz did a wonderful job adding spectacular movement and bunkering to this golf course, and this is truly one of the best in the area, and that’s saying something considering its neighbors.
3. Pasatiempo Golf Club
This is the epitome of public golf. For the public to be able to play this Mackenzie gem any day they choose, this is one of the treasures of the state. These are probably the fastest greens on a public course I’ve ever played. The course gets off to a great start with 900 yards of par fours in two holes, and certainly doesn’t let up on number three. The course is jam packed with GREAT, and I mean GREAT holes. While I’m typing this I am considering moving it to #2.
4. Spyglass Hill Golf Course
One of the finest public golf courses the United States has to offer, of course, it follows a better designed public course. The first five holes are the best on the course. I could play these five all day long. The greens are fantastic and always provide a stiff challenge. If you get a chance to play Spyglass, remember Luke Donald and Phil Mickelson have both shot 62 in tournament conditions on this monster. WOW!
5. The Olympic Club – Lake
I was not as impressed with the course as I thought I would be, however my expectations were set quite high. The course is fairly straight forward and can certainly test the best. The greens roll amazingly well, as anything headed towards Lake Merced doesn’t stop rolling. The Lake course is a stern test to say the least, but not a model in architecture like the first three. I will say the tree removal has been extraordinary. I’ve seen pictures where I didn’t recognize any of the holes! It will be fun to watch the Amateurs navigate this great test.
6. Meadow Club
My home course for seven months! Maybe I’m a bit prejudice but the course has some of the best greens in NorCal. The 3rd green is one of the BEST any where. Mike DeVries did a fantastic job restoring the course to a better representation of its former self. The greens are massive and this makes for interesting pin positions and shot making opportunities day after day.
7. Mayacama Golf Club
This course is an extraordinary test of ones golfing ability. Built in Snoopy’s backyard, it is one Nicklaus’ best designs to date. The greens are perched along creeks and ravines which make for some very intimate settings. Mayacama is an absolutely wonderful golfers club, with a great professional caddie program. Greens were fast even after aerification! This is a tough, tough course.
8. CordeValle Golf Club
This was a BIG surprise. A great modern course designed by the RTJ Jr. Group. The course is maintained extremely well, and the greens are quite slick. The bunkering is on a grand scale. There are some interesting classical features as there are representations of both a redan and reverse redan, and a horseshoe feature in the second green. This is a great course and is one of the sleepers in the Bay Area. It’s quite expensive as well, but well worth it.
9. The Peninsula Golf and Country Club
Whether there is much Donald Ross left here or not, Ron Forse did a great job restoring this amazing layout. This was another big surprise as I hadn’t heard of it before arriving in the area. The greens have some magnificent features! One of the best sets in the Bay Area. I don’t know what the course was like prior to the restoration, but it is certainly something to check out now.
10. California Golf Club
It will be interesting to see what Kyle Phillips does with this Mackenzie gem. This course has a very old school, parkland feel. It is a delightful walk if nothing else. The clubhouse looks over the 18th, 11th and 12th holes and makes for an awesome panorama. This course has some distinctive Mackenzie type holes, and like I said, it will be interesting to see what comes of the course post-restoration, or is it going to be a renovation? We shall see!
11. Cinnabar Hills Golf Club
This is an awesome public golf facility just west of San Jose. The Canyon and Lake Nines are the strongest two nines. This course is very well maintained and there are some very neat holes. The greens have some good movement and there are some neat features such as a tree in the middle of the fairway, extreme uphill and downhill holes, and absolutely stunning views of the region. The Brandenburg Golf Museum is an amazing collection of vintage golf memorabilia.
12. Lake Merced Golf Club
This Mackenzie course is far from what it used to be. It has a very Medinah-esque feel to it. Rees Jones, added some toughness, but that’s about it. The third and forth holes are rather interesting. There are some good holes but all and all it’s a fairly average course. I did like holes fifteen through eighteen as they provided some interesting variety and elevation changes at the end of the round.
13. Sonoma Golf Club
This course is home to the season ending Champions Tour event and the Charles Schwab Cup. This course contains the good, bad and the ugly. The seventh hole is one of the neatest par threes I have played. It is tucked in a small, intimate valley, with a creek running to the right of the hole. However, there was far too much containment mounding added at some point and this is very distracting to what could be a classic test of golf.
14. Dark Horse Golf Club
This is an affordable public course in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s. The course isn’t maintained very well, but they routing and variety of holes, more then make up for lack of conditioning. The greens and the surrounds have some very interesting contours. There are also two great short par fours that make the golfer think. This is a fun course, and could be really, really good if it was maintained a bit better.
15. Harding Park Golf Course
This course will be home to four big Tour events in the coming years. Having held the AMEX in 2005, Harding Park is rumored to get the Presidents Cup in 2009. The course will continue to be a great test for the pros, but doesn’t offer much in the way of great architecture. The short par fours are the best holes and the back nine is far stronger, then the front. Play this course to see where you hit it compared to the PGA Tour guys. “Th-o-se Guys are Good.” Well, LONG is more like it!