[Jonathan McCord]

    Well, after finally settling into good ol' Nor Cal, I have been able to get around and play some absolutely amazing facilities and Peninsula didn't disappoint.  Peninsula G&CC is located in San Mateo, and is the only course on the West Coast designed by Donald Ross.

    The course underwent an extensive renovation in 2003, which included adding 8 inches of sand to most of the playing areas.  Not having played the course before the restoration, done by Ron Forse, I can't imagine a much better outcome.  The fairways were beautiful, some of the best I've played, and the greens were very true.

    The most impressive items I noticed were the greens.  Mr. Forse did a remarkable job of adding undulations and interest to the green complexes.  Being my first "Ross" course, I was pleasantly surprised by the greens and the course layout.  The 17th has got to be one of the best short par 4's I've played.  At 285 yards from the back, it is very reachable for anyone, and just begs you to go for the green where four bunkers await within 50 yards of the pin.

    Other great holes are the par 4 sixth, the par 4 eight, and the par 3 12th, which has a green that when the hole is cut in the back of the green you can just see the top of the flagstick.  The greens are definately the strong point of the course and worth seeing.  My playing partners and I commented on how great of tournament course it would be due to the precision it would take to get good looks at birdie throughout your round.

    This was a course I was not familiar with before I came out here, however, it is one that certainly deserves a look.  What an outstanding facility!

Plaque next to the clubhouse and 1st tee.


345 yd. Par 4 8th


Great Par 3 7th


Par 4 6th Great Bunkering


Par 4 5th Green Great Movement in the Green


Teeshot on Par 4 5th Spectacular Panorama


Par 3 15th Great Green Setting


285 yard Par 4 17th


Green at the Par 4 13th, Note the back corners AWESOME

[Jeff_Mingay]

I hate to point this out, 'cause the club has done well with the plaque, but "Oakhill" is incorrect. If they're referring to the Rochester, NY Oak Hill. Yeah, it's Oak Hill.

[Mike Benham]

You were in my backyard and you didn't stop in to say hi?

I agree that they did a wonderful job on the renovation at Peninsula.  Much like Green Hills in Millbrae, it is a challenging piece of property to build a course on and it is a much improve facility.  However, in all the times that I have played it, it has never been firm and fast, even in a moderate degree.  If maintained this way, approach shots and greenside play would be much more challenging.

Mike

[Jon Spaulding]

I would question the "pure ross" status of this course. Understand that they lost some holes due to property sales in the 30s/40s. The plaque is a marketing campaign to keep the membership pricing at the $175K level......the course is just not that good when you get past the drainage they spent $6m on, and the new pro shop.

I have played it many times, before and after the renovation...if this is all Ross has to offer then I would rather drive down to Passy or run over to Menlo!

[tonyt]

The thing I like about Australia is that only a small few modern courses have cart paths. Ross or not, great or not, it is utterly tragic to see a course built in 1922 that has that horrible looking ribbon of cart paths!

[Tom Huckaby]

Now I haven't played The Course in Benham's Backyard since it was renovated... but I did many times in the past.. and well.... I must agree with Jon.  It was pretty good, but nothing to get all excited about.  It does look better now.  But calling it Ross now also strikes me as marketing more than anything... We've discussed this before on here and I could be wrong but isn't the current routing completely different from what Ross did with Beresford?  And if so, isn't this about the same as Sharp Park selling itself as a Mackenzie course?

That kinda thing bugs me....

This plaque is bugging me more - and that's before I noticed the spelling error Jeff correctly pointed out.

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

I would bet that Donald Ross did not plan on a tree being planted in the middle of the eighth fairway.

[ed_getka]

Jonathan,
   Thanks for sharing the pix. It was a pleasure to meet you on Tuesday.
   
Too bad about the Oakhill thing, how embarassing.

[Jordan Wall]

I would bet that Donald Ross did not plan on a tree being planted in the middle of the eighth fairway.

Dick,

Perhaps I am wrong but the tree seems to be behind the green of the 8th hole.

A flag is hidden (I think) in the right greensdie bunker.

Great pictures, btw.

[Jonathan McCord]

Jordan, you are correct.  That tree is between the two greens.  The eighth green is located just below the tree.

[Tom Roewer]

#7 green looks very square, is it?
and #13 green is a beauty - rather "Raynoresque"

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

Jordan:
I stand corrected, I guess I had better get glasses, but I think it is understandable that I would think the tree is in the fairway. It seems to me that Ross would not design those two holes (greens) so that the one in the background conflicted with the design of the other. In these cases, such as at Essex in Windsor, Ontario, Ross would build mounds etc. to block off the view from one green to the other. In my limited knowledge of Ross courses, he always made efforts not to let this kind of thing happen, even on parallel fairways and their bunkers.

[Jon Spaulding]

Now I haven't played The Course in Benham's Backyard since it was renovated... but I did many times in the past.. and well.... I must agree with Jon.  It was pretty good, but nothing to get all excited about.  It does look better now.  But calling it Ross now also strikes me as marketing more than anything... We've discussed this before on here and I could be wrong but isn't the current routing completely different from what Ross did with Beresford?  And if so, isn't this about the same as Sharp Park selling itself as a Mackenzie course?

That kinda thing bugs me....

This plaque is bugging me more - and that's before I noticed the spelling error Jeff correctly pointed out.

Tom, I believe there are some good records of the original course and routing. I was "told" that there are only a few holes that are true to the original (#2 being one of them), and that the restoration person did so in the "spirit" of Ross, with what they had.

For some reason I can't picture DR walking up to the site, and saying "hey, let's make the first hole a 90 degree dogleg left, turn it hard at 180 yards, with future tennis facilities on the left"

Of course, after you torch $8M on a fancy pro shop and a sand layer so the members can play a few more times a year, who gives a hoot about routing and history?

[JNagle]

     Hello Ron Forse here.  Just thought we would respond about PG & CC.  While it is true that routing changes have been made due to land sales decades ago, the structure of the golf course is essentially intact since 1922 when Ross rebuilt an old fashioned home-made layout called the Beresford Club.  Land over the hill from the 6th green was sold 60 years ago +/- and the par 4 5th used to be a par 5.  The current par 3 7th used to play as a par 4 up and over the hill where the present tees are situated.  Tees on holes 1 & 10 were close to side-by-side, but both holes became sharper doglegs when the driving range was expanded from a practice field to what it is now.  The tennis courts between 1 and 2 have been there since 1913, which is the opening year of Beresford.  Hole 1 was a virtually blind approach shot when R.T. Jones Sr. rebuilt and relocated the green further right.  The “Retro-rebuild” that was done at PG & CC reinstated DJR’s original hillside green location.  #3 green is further back making the hole longer than original.  Everything else on the course is in its original routing.  In this regard the course is structurally very close to the 1922 version. (Even the situation of the 4th green being directly behind the 8th green). The entire course was reconstructed with 25 miles of drainage tile under the nine inches capping sand.  Capping was done, along with the continuous concrete cart path system, because PG & CC was one of the only clubs in the 1990’s around San Fran that was not playable during the winter months.  The native soil is a “fat clay”, very hard to get water into and hard to get water out.  Grass on fairways would often be eight inches high in February due to how wet and unmowable the hilly ground would become.

   The basis for our design was a photocopy of Ross’ general plan of 1922, found by Geoff Shackelford at the Ralph Miller Library in LA.  We copied and reinstated the shapes and undulations in the putting greens found on that plan.  In the current parking lots Ross had a short par 3 (9th hole) that was replaced by RTJ in 1960 with the current par 3 15th in the canyon.  Not a bad hole at all!  

   Hopefully this clears up any haziness or uncertainty about the Ross course or the reconstruction.  

   Thank you for the positive comments about the course.  Jim Nagle and I felt really good about the final product when it was all done.  

[Mike Benham]

Ron -

Thanks for your comments, and living nearby, and as I stated, you guys did a commendable job on this project.

What amazes me (in a negative way) is how wet the course stays, even during the summer/fall months.  I'm not sure if this is the maintenance plan or the fact that even though you installed 25 miles of drainage and tons of sand, there is a lot of water coming off this hillside or from underground.

I would be a very fun course with greens and approaches ...

mike

[Tom Huckaby]

Ron - let me also thank you for those comments, and I too have to echo what my friend Mike said - the course is WAY better now than it ever has been in my 25+ years living here.

BUT... it is likely me, but I remain hazy on whether one really should call this a Ross course.  As you detail it here - and correct me if I'm wrong - there are 5-7 holes that are pretty much completely different from the Beresford design.  Of course it's not YOUR fault - the land being sold, driving range expanded, etc. - and I have zero doubt you did the best you could to match the 1922 plans in all ways possible - but with that many holes different, is it really fair to call it Ross?

I'm not trying to be difficult, I swear.  And I have no axe to grind - hell I live in San Jose and I'm a public course player.  I just want to believe this is a Ross, because it would be really cool to have such in the Bay Area... and whereas your descriptions have me believing it a lot more than I did before I read your words, well... I still can't completely get behind the idea.

What am I missing?

TH

[Jon Spaulding]

Ron; thanks for the clarifications. You and your team did a great job on this. There is no comparison between the before and after versions.....every hole has been improved.

I think the talk going on here is the identity crisis this course suffers from....certainly marketed as a Ross, we all "want" to believe this is a Ross course....would Ross have run up and down the hillside in that manner? If so they should have brought Watson/Whiting/Reid down there in 1922!

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