Cycling through Jeff Brauer's Wildhorse

[Garland Bayley]

The reason I titled this cycling through ... is because my only previous visit to Davis, CA was with a friend who went to UC Davis. She told me that Davis was the most bicycle friendly city in the USA.

For a walker like me, this course was a joy to play with the exception of two long green to tee walks. It is certainly a better course than the average course I play and it is about as much fun as you can have for a $26 green fee for 18 holes.

The first two holes open across the street from the clubhouse and are the only two significantly bordered by houses.

Hole 1 383/346/316 Par 4

On the first tee shot the water is not in play, but you immediately see the bold bunkering that Jeff puts around his greens.



A tee shot favoring the right side would have given a better angle into the green.



Hole 2 328/328/309 Par 4

You can risk the water right by trying to reach the green, or you can lay back for a wedge into the green.



Hole 3 460/425/385 Par 4

After a long walk from the second green, you reach the thrid tee.

Here your drive is squeezed between a large, steep faced fairway bunker and an environmental area to the left.



Hole 4 193/171/145 Par 3

With the pin tucked behind the bunker, it is difficult to get close for a birdie.



Hole 5 581/543/514 Par 5

With water all down the left side and the fairway sloping down to it, it is best to stay right. Aiming to hit over the tree next to the fairway on the right brought me to



the fairway after my fade took effect. The green was tempting, but has too much trouble so again lay up right to



wedge in from here for birdie.



Hole 6 160/146/134 Par 3

It's all layed out for you here.



Hole 7 506/487/467 Par 5

A straight away par 5 that



asks you to challenge the water left and bunkers to get home in two.



Hole 8 473/449/417 Par 4

A long par four with environmental hazard all down the right side behind the trees.



Although not visible, the hazard is still out there to the right of the green for the approach.



Hole 9 381/359/327 Par 4

No problem presented by the hazard in front of the tee, but more difficult to get into position to approach the green with a bunker on the right side of the fairway behind the tree seen in the picture.



I did not manage to get the best angle of approach.



Hole 10 338/338/291 Par 4

A simple short hole leads off the back nine.



It would have been best to keep the ball to the right side for the approach.



Hole 11 344/344/307 Par 4

I really like this hole. You are challenged with a very narrow driving area, where accuracy over distance is preferred.



Fortunately as a short hole, you can hit wedge over the bunkers if you did not challenge the enviromental hazard to the right on your drive.



Hole 12 203/181/166 Par 3

After a very long walk you find yourself facing this longish par three.



Hole 13 594/566/546 Par 5

A very straight and simple long par five only complicated by OB left.





Hole 14 185/135/117 Par 3

A short par three that will yield birdies even to the least accomplished of us.



Hole 15 391/367/350 Par 4

Another of my favorites. You must lay back from the environmental hazard beyond the string of trees to the right. The hazard may be as much as 100 yards wide.



And then hit a demanding approach over the hazard and bunkers.



Hole 16 323/305/277 Par 4

I also liked this driveable par four with the heavily bunkered green.



Fortunately, there is a backstop slope on the green behind the hole from this position for my approach. My drive didn't fade as usual



Hole 17 508/487/459 Par 5

They call this one the prettiest hole on the course. I guess they must be right handed. The more I try to avoid the water, the more I slice.







Hole 18 465/433/408 Par 4

The final hole challenges you to drive as close to the hazard just beyond the end of the trees on the right to get



as close a possible to the hazard for your approach. As it was my first time on the course, I misjudged the distance to the hazard and ran out too far ending with my only double bogey.

[jg7236]

The course looks great except for the ugly looking homes.  Who was the home builder on this project?  I am sure the homes will hopefully blend in once all the landscape is done but don't know how well.

[Garland Bayley]

I don't know if the real estate and the golf course are connected. The golf course is a public golf course that I believe is owned by the city of Davis, CA.

[Kyle Henderson]

I used to play there for $18 (walking) as a U.C. Davis Student. That was by far the best bang for my buck I've ever experienced, except for $25 with cart and water at the brand new Mountain House course in the East SF Bay Area. Just about every hole is memorable -- no small feat given the perfectly flat and featureless land that formed the course's foundation. The short par 4's and the par 5's are all excellent.

[Tim Copeland]

Looks like Centex

[Stan Dodd]

Garland,
Thaks for the pics, as a former member at Wildhorse it brought back memories, not all good.
The routing is so awkward with the long walks.  The routing/sequence of holes  was changed acouple of times while I was member.This was probably our of Jeff's hands with the real estate issues.

There are some really fun holes, some short fours.
I think 18 is not a good hole as it offers no real layup option for the shorter hitter, as it usually plays dead into the wind, carrying the hazard is not always possible. (Again due to environmental restricitions that were out of Jeff's hands.
It was having some management ownership issues.  I think it was bought by a local investment group and is not owned by the City of Davis.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Stan is right, a local group has bought it, and it never was owned by Davis, although they put us through hoops on permitting.  And, it had a previous routing which required moving the channel, which was subsequently denied, so we were stuck with some bad holes.

[Michael Dugger]

Ah Wildhorse, sweet sweet Wildhorse.  My first foray into construction.

The houses really change the look of the course.  The routing is positively contrived.  

She looks pretty sweet, though, it's nice to see the bunkers holding up well.  I spent many a hot afternoon digging those things.  Adhering strictly to Jeff's spray painted lines.

It's good to see the long grass and "brown" here and there.  I thought she would be a bit tight in some places but appears and sounds rather playable.

This must be what it is like to watch a child grow up.

[Ron Farris]

Wildhorse looks quite interesting.

Jeff - did you use two different types of sand for the bunkers?
It appears as if the fairway bunkering is darker in the photos.

Also, what do you estimate it takes to maintain bunkers on a course like this?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Ron,

I noticed the same thing in the photos, but we didn't put different sand in. There is no bunker liner, so it may be that they have only refilled certain bunkers with new sand over the years and not gotten to others.

I have no real idea about maintenance time on this course.  I do ask about such things, but it has changed hands.  My courses generally have 65-70 bunkers, and two guys normally get in before lunch from raking with machines.

Michael,

Yes, I recall standing on four green with you.  I did spray all but a few bunkers myself.  A few were rushed because I had to get to the airport and I can still tell the difference.  And I left one bunker in disgust after multiple bee stings....

Ah, those were the days!

[Stan Dodd]

While I was a member there they redid some of the bunkers and replaced the green side bunkers sand with the white sand.    Fairway bunkers were left with the brownish sand.

[Kyle Henderson]

She looks pretty sweet, though, it's nice to see the bunkers holding up well.  

Actually, the last few times I played it they were repairing the collapsing lips of sevral bunkers. Also, the bunkers were almost always hosting some sizable puddles, even in dry times of the year. As I recall, the greenside bunkers tended to drain a little better after the whiter sand was used, although I preferred the look of the browner grains.

The course was definitely a tough walk in places and the houses are a blight. But it was always fun driving a ball 400 yards over a wide environmental hazard with the aid of a 35 mph wind, and then laying up short of trouble with a 6 iron off the same tee the next day when all was calm.