Sacramento golf

[Jim Franklin]

A good friend of mine is moving to Sacramento. Are there any good public golf options out there?

[TX Golf]

Not sure how the whole renovation went but I have heard nice things about Haggin Oaks in Sac.... I believe it is 36 holes and originally designed by MacKenzie.

[David_Tepper]

Sacramento has the reputation of having some of the best public/muni golf in California. Hopefully, Tim Leahy will see this and chime in.

[Patrick Kiser]

Auburn has Darkhorse if you don't mind homes on the route.  Tough greens.

[Kyle Henderson]

The MacKenzie course at Haggin Oaks is fair, but no great shakes. The other municipal courses in Sacramento proper are mediocre at best. The "Ancil Hoffman" muni in nearby Carmichael is a pleasant track with some good holes for dirt cheap fees.

Morgan Creek may be available for public play now (Roseville).

Other public recommendations within 45 minutes:
Dark Horse (Auburn), Apple Mountain (Camino), Turkey Creek (Lincoln).

[David_Tepper]

Stevinson Ranch (south of Turlock) is also a very good daily fee course.

Dry Creek in Galt used to be a pretty good muni. Has anyone played it in the past few years?

[Jed Peters]

Morgan Creek now allows public play on Tuesdays.

There are a lot of public options in sacramento, most of them you have to drive great distances to, however, and are not very good.

I played public courses here for years, and they all pretty much are overpriced and suck.

[Tim Leahy]

Sacramento has the reputation of having some of the best public/muni golf in California. Hopefully, Tim Leahy will see this and chime in.

I have lived in Sacto half of my life and unfortunately over the years you can now replace "best" with "least expensive for California" for fair golf courses.
First off, do not buy the MacKenzie course at Hagin Oaks garbage, it is Mac in name only and does not do him any justice. The original plans are in the snack bar and what is there now does not compare.

Ancil Hoffman is a very nice muni tree lined layout a pitching wedge away from the American River.
Mather Golf Course(which I learned to play on) is a good Jack Fleming parkland course that is currently in very good shape. Former military and now muni.
Empire Ranch in Folsom is a newer Brad Bell design that has a very good back nine although it is lined with overlooking houses.
Most of the other public within 10 miles of downtown are just fair but are inexpensive and not hard to get on. You can play yearround in Sacto with just occasional weeks of cold rain.
Very good privates that have had financial difficulties and are open to the publc now for limited times Winchester CC and Morgan Creek are nearby.
The best publics in the area within 50 miles that are a little more expensive
are:
Dark Horse in Auburn-Keith Foster design-although course conditions recenly have been spotty, this course made one of last years top 100 publics list.
The Ridge in Auburn is a fun, tough Jones family collaberation that held an LPGA event for a couple of years.
Yoche De He-Cache Creek  in Woodland-just opened this year and may be nominated for best new public-Brad Bell design.
Turkey Creek in Lincoln Hills is also a good Brad Bell design.
Whitney Oaks is a good Johnny Miller design near Lincoln Hills in Roseville.
Apple Mountain in Placerville is a little bit of a drive but is beautiful if you like mountain view-pine tree lined courses.

The good thing about Sacto is it is centrally located and within two to three hours drive you have access to SF Bay area, Monterey, Tahoe/Reno and there are alot of options. Drop me an IM and I will be happy to give your friend the low down or join him for a round.

[Bill_McBride]

Stevinson Ranch (south of Turlock) is also a very good daily fee course.

How long is the drive from Sacramento to Stevinson Ranch?  It was a hell of a long drive from Stanford Golf Club to Stevinson Ranch for that 2005 Kings Putter thingy.

[Tim Leahy]

Stevinson Ranch (south of Turlock) is also a very good daily fee course.

How long is the drive from Sacramento to Stevinson Ranch?  It was a hell of a long drive from Stanford Golf Club to Stevinson Ranch for that 2005 Kings Putter thingy.

It's about two hours, my opinion is its not worth the drive unless you happen to be driving by on your way to LA. I would rather go to Saddle Creek east of Modesto if I were going to drive that far from Sacto.

[Matt_Ward]

Be curious to know how Plumas Lake in Marysville is doing.

GD rated the course years ago as a top public option and in my only visit to the place about 15 years ago I really liked the greens -- truly fast and nicely contoured although the course played quite short.

FYI -- Marysville is about 45 minutes north of Sacramento.

[David_Tepper]

Tim L. -

Is it really a 2-hour drive from Sacto to Stevinson Ranch? After mentioning it on my prior post, I realized it was a healthy drive, but I did not think it took 2 hours to get there.

What about the Spanos public course on the north side of Stockton? Is that worth a look?

DT 

[Kyle Henderson]

Tim L. -

Is it really a 2-hour drive from Sacto to Stevinson Ranch? After mentioning it on my prior post, I realized it was a healthy drive, but I did not think it took 2 hours to get there.

What about the Spanos public course on the north side of Stockton? Is that worth a look?

DT 

Not really. It's decent but in no way worth driving all of the way to Stockton in lieu of the other options Tim and I mentioned.

[Tim Leahy]

Tim L. -

Is it really a 2-hour drive from Sacto to Stevinson Ranch? After mentioning it on my prior post, I realized it was a healthy drive, but I did not think it took 2 hours to get there.

What about the Spanos public course on the north side of Stockton? Is that worth a look?

DT 

Not really. It's decent but in no way worth driving all of the way to Stockton in lieu of the other options Tim and I mentioned.

David, it is a two hour drive to Stevinson, unless you do 80 all the way and get no traffic. I agree with Kyle, Spanos is one of the fair courses that are a good value in the area. Flat with some good water hazard holes and some waste areas but nothing to go out of your way for. Similar to Wildhawk, Wildhorse and Teal Bend in my opinion.
Matt, Plumas Lake got flooded about ten years ago and has never recoverd those great greens and tees they used to have.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Be curious to know how Plumas Lake in Marysville is doing.

GD rated the course years ago as a top public option and in my only visit to the place about 15 years ago I really liked the greens -- truly fast and nicely contoured although the course played quite short.

I last played there 15 years ago.  It appears that the greens were all recently rebuilt:

http://www.plumaslake.com/course.asp?HID=455&ACT=5

[Kevin_Reilly]

More about the Plumas Lake green work:

In the fall of 2006, Plumas Lake underwent a $350,000 renovation project of all 18 putting surfaces. Completed in November 2006, these greens are now 30% larger on average and feature added undulations and contours, along with a premium turf that is pure hybrid bent grass. No more Poa in these greens! Please visit our section “Greens Renovation Project” for a detailed explanation from the architect, Matt Hansen, about all that went in to the redesign of these beautiful greens. In The Spring of 2007, the maintenance of the golf course was contracted out to Greenway Golf, a management company that helped the club to organize the greens renovation project. Plumas Lake is very pleased in this association with Greenway Golf, as their specialty is golf course maintenance practices and techniques that promote superior healthy bent grass greens.

[Matt_Ward]

Guys thanks for the info on Plumas Lake. I liked the course when I played it about 15 years ago because the greens were really in superb shape and they were all nicely contoured and angled well for only solid approach play.

I didn't see how the ciourse could be rated as high as Digest rated it even back then. Still it was a worthy layout to play when in the area.

[JSPayne]

I grew up here just a few minutes north of Sacramento and have played golf here all my life. Between now being a super at one of the Sac publics and playing high school golf, I've been privilege to play quite a few. One thing I can say.....you've got plenty of variety. And as was mentioned before, on the rare occassion you get tired of courses in this area, SF Bay Area, Tahoe/Reno and Monterey are easy trips to make for a "special" round at a number of top ranked courses.

So, quick run down, including many that have been mentioned:

80-Corridor - I highly recommend Roseville/Lincoln area where I currently reside.....Turkey Creek, Diamond Oaks, Whitney Oaks, Sun City Roseville and Sun City Lincoln (Timber Creek) and the Ridge and Darkhorse up farther in Auburn all are above average caliber (Diamond Oaks being on the lower end as a busy muni)

On the US-50 side - Mather, Wildhawk, Castle Oaks, Empire Ranch, and Apple Mountain farther up the hill, will keep you busy

West Sac - Teal Bend, Wildhorse, Cherry Island (and Antelope Greens across the street for a decent short course option) and the Reserve at Spanos Park down towards Stockton round out this group

Downtown - Haggin Oaks, Bing Maloney, William Land Park, Ancil Hoffman are all classic pure publics that usually hold a special place in every native Sacramentans heart

Slightly more out of bounds - Plumas Lake in Marysville, Southridge in Sutter, Stevinson Ranch, Greenhorn Creek and Saddle Creek all farther south off 99 are all worthwhile for a all-day golf outing

There are still many that I've missed, but those would be my preffered playing groups for the different areas of Sac.

"Top" Lists -

Top 5 Publics I Love to Play - Empire Ranch, Turkey Creek, Teal Bend, The Ridge, Darkhorse (all on the higher end of the rate sheet, but you tend to always get what you pay for, better conditioning than most others in the area and great service)

Top Privates that you can and should play - Granite Bay, Morgan Creek, Winchester, Catta Verdera

Other Privates Worth Looking in to if you're thinking about it - Del Paso, Serrano, Sierra View, Northridge (there are GREAT deals right now for joining private courses around here.....if you play enough golf, it might definetely be worth your while)

I could do a write-up on every course here, but I'll suspend judgement day for another time

Good luck, and feel free to PM me if you do want further details or my personal opnions about value, design or someone to round out your foursome!

[Matt_Ward]

JSPayne:

Thanks for the listing ...

I have played a good share of the courses you have mentioned. I ama big time fan of Winchester - the joint effort by both father and son of RTJ fame.

The layout gets little national attention because the Sacramento golf market is not deemed to be in any real spotlight. The land for the course was quite unique and the Jones' did well in not being so obvious in their bunker and / or greens layouts for the round.

If I recall, Winchester did make Digest's top 25 listing for courses in California not too long ago but overall, the layout is worthy of as much attention as Morgan Creek gets from a number of people on this site -- myself included.

[JSPayne]

Matt,

Unfortunately, I haven't had the privilege to play Winchester yet (though a simple phone call would probably get me there, just havent' made the time) but I make the recommendation off reviews from other golfers I respect.

I always hear that the conditioning is superb and the greens can be diabolical. Sounds like a course that does tend to cater somewhat to the better golfer and one, should it have been built either a bit farther up the hill with the Tahoe/Truckee group or in the Bay Area would be one of the premier private courses of California.

The old real estate addage never seems to die......location, location, LOCATION!