Mayacama, Jim Lipe my hat is off to you

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I had the best of weekends. I spent Friday at the Meadow Club looking at Mike Devries wonderful restoration work on this Mac masterpeice in Marin County, California. We have discussed this course at length on here, but I must say what a great job Jim O'Neal and the Super are doing there. Saturday was Mayacama. I had heard good things but still had my doubts because so many Jack courses had been major letdowns. This is a very good golf course. Jim Lipe and the rest of the organization have a standing ovation from me. The short par 4s are outstanding, the strong 4's are very good, the 3's are very strong and the 5's are creative, fun and good. The routing through difficult land is excellant. I do not think there is a weak hole anywhere. It goes without saying the golf experience is in the rarified air club. It is not an easy walk and will be a tough walk for an older person, yet I am still thinking of the holes and the shot values this course offered. The green complexes were so far above a normal Jack course, that one should question whether he is aware of what Jim did there. Jim Lipe has done a masterful job that will make Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus and their creator Charles Schultz proud.

[Tom Huckaby]

Mayacama is one hell of a course, isn't it?

And re the walking, what impressed me was all the cut-throughs and walking-only paths they did provide... That is, the walker is very much kept in mind there.  That seems like a small thing, but some courses don't even try - so many new ones it seems - so the ones that do, like Mayacama, do stand out.

It is a very neat enclave up there.  Anyone who gets the chance to play it really ought to.  Just remember it is quite far north from SF.

TH

[Scott_Burroughs]

JB,

You might want to check the tyop in the title.  

I'm missing something with the Peanuts references.  

[Tom Huckaby]

I'm missing something with the Peanuts references.  

Schultz lived for a long time in Petaluma/Santa Rosa area, and monuments to him and Peanuts characters are all over the place in these cities.

TH

[Alan Carter]

I had the chance to play at Mayacama just over a month ago at the end of the twenty some days of rain.  The course held up very well for all of the moisture it had received.

I thought the course was very enjoyable with the most impressive part being just how playable a course was built considering the difficult terrain.  A very nice mix of holes, lengths and considering the amount of elevation change possible, the holes don't make you feel like a mountain goat.  There are a couple of good hikes, but far less than I expected.

A great, great place and a rather nice club house to say the least!!!

ac

[Bill_McBride]

Looking at the aerial, it would have been very easy (and formulaic) for JN Golf Design to recreate the 9th and 18th at Grand Cypress.  Not sure if that is #9 or #18 curving right around the pond, but its counterpart is to the right of the 1st or 10th off to one side.  It appears it would have been pretty easy to redo the Grand Cypress finish of both nines with the double green on the lake.  This looks a lot better........

[Michael Robin]

Bill - The hole curving around the lake is the terrific 18th and the hole to its left is the equally terrific 12th. On the right, across the lake is #1. The 9th FYI is a beast of a 3 shot par 5. 4 great par 5s on this first rate Nicklaus course. This is an outstanding club at every level.

On the hillyness front, I thought it brought cardio-conditioning into play as a factor in how well you were able to finish your round. Not many courses force you to walk with these kind of hiking challenges and it really makes your stamina an element in how well you play. It got high
walkability marks from me.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

My understanding is the site was owned by Charles Shultz creater of Peanuts.

[Tim Leahy]

Ditto.  Were all JWN works that good.    I, too was pleasantly surprized, Tiger.
Par 5's are indeed very good and #11 has backwards redan-y (nader) features.  The last par 5  - 15? can be driver wedge if you get lucky or a nightmareish 8 if not!
Gooogle aerial LINK

I don't see any houses along the course, is that possible in California? Does the course allow reciprocal play?

[Tom Huckaby]

Tim - there are houses, they're just pretty well hidden... You can see some incredible mansions fairly near the course.

As for reciprocal play, well... I doubt it, but you never know.  Can't hurt to ask.

 

[Joel_Stewart]

Tiger:

I've been unavailable for a while but saw this post.  Glad you liked Mayacama although I would agree with you on saying the par 3's are strong, only #3 and #11 are really memorable.  It was fairly obvious that on 14 and 17 they had virtually nothing to work with and the end result on those holes is nothing special.  I thought a few of the par 4's where just OK (others are very good) and the par 5's, #2 and # 15 are very similar.  Throw in the usual Nicklaus water hole like #18 and you have a course with 1/3 of the holes being just OK.

I may be over picky and when I met Jack in November he talked about giving the members what they want and the members I know really like the place.  I believe he and Jim are very proud of the course and its definitly not your usual Nicklaus/Lipe course but I wonder if thats is at the direction of the owners or with Nicklaus.

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