Having done some research into all but the Gleneagles course I think it is safe to say that from almost the beginning in each case the course suffered from a lack of maintenance. I have numerous articles that speak of the poor conditions at Lincoln and with the growth of golf in the 1920's it saw its first decline as most of its regulars moved to the country clubs.
To speak of which course needs the most work and in some cases cost prohibitive would be Sharp Park. I for one would love to see the holes that are now lost to the sea wall restored, but knowing the past history it is not a logical idea. The sea wall in its current eyesore state is necessary for the welfare of the course. Orignally that lake was a salt water inlet that was turned into a fresh water lake by Supt. of Parks McClaren before the property became a golf course. That should give you an idea as to how often the ocean made its way inland there. Technically, all the holes except for the old 3rd could be restored. The old third was basically on the beach and I have been told by an old timer that during low tides one can still see some of the old irrigation pipe. The old 7th was shifted inland and the old 8th is still intact with the greensite hugging the sea wall near the current 12th green. There is not much to define the old 4th hole but its general location is still there. The 6th was abandoned after the 1983 storms and replaced with the current short hole in the old 14th's location. The holes across the road were added by Fleming when Hwy 1 was enlarged in the 1940's.
Lincoln has seen a number of routing changes most notably when Fowler and Watson developed two seperate routings when the city decided to build the Legion of Honor. They went with Watson's plan and made some changes to the routing. I still have to look deeper into the changes so I can't go into detail just yet. I am a big fan of Lincoln for the simple reason that it is probably playing very similar to the way it did in the 1920's. Some fo the same complaints we have are similar to theirs. The setting is one of a kind and makes it a special place. My favorite hole is the 11th with the Legion just over your shoulder and a hogback fwy to contend with on a hole that is driveable. The old third hole must have been pretty cool as well instead of it s current par three form. At one point there was 10 par threes out there, so we should feel lucky.
Gleneagles, all I can say is restore the first green. Man that hole is bad and in need of some attention. I love the old greensite for its own merits and not simply because the current green is just plain bad. Yeah they have other issues, but lets cut to the chase.
Just by looking at the history of the courses the maintenance was never really there. They have been looked after more like a park. With more emphasis given towards conditioning the courses would benefit greatly and no doubt, more golf would be played. It will be a tough sell after Harding, but we owe it to ourselves, the coming generations, and to the future of golf in the Bay area to get back to the true game of golf at these courses.
As to what course to play I would have to go with Lincoln. As usual, I am biased towards the history of the course. If there is one course that brings tears to my eyes it is Sharp. The front nine routing was amazing and its too bad it was so short lived!
Tully