[Carl Nichols]

I'm in Palo Alto for work, and thought I'd tee up the question I've always wondered about -- why aren't there better courses here?  It's obviously not about money or weather, and it seems like there would be some terrific sites.  Is it a lack of available land?  Something else?

[John Kavanaugh]

As I have traveled this great country I have come to the conclusion that people get the courses they deserve.  It is no different than you will find with food, music or beautiful women. Have you ever went out to a fine dinner and seen the women of silicon valley?  Case closed.

Note:  I have not played The institute, but neither have you. 

[Jason Walker]

check out the price per acre and report back to the group...

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I think Pasa and Stanford are pretty good courses. I heard San Jose CC and Los Altos CC are ok but have played them. 

[Carl Nichols]

check out the price per acre and report back to the group...

I get that it's ridiculously expensive here.  It's also expensive on Long Island [though not as expensive], but both Sebonack and Friar's Head were built recently.  Plus, the fact that it's really expensive here now doesn't explain why a great course wasn't built before.  

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

The resort areas near there have Pebble, Cypress Point and MPCC. try to balance populations etc during the 20's in both places.

[Garland Bayley]

check out the price per acre and report back to the group...

Also, check out the percentage of nerds that play golf, and report back to the group.

[Kyle Henderson]

check out the price per acre and report back to the group...

Also, check out the percentage of nerds that play golf, and report back to the group.

99% percent of the nerds that post here (comprising 100% of the discussion board members) play golf.

[Mike Benham]

Plus, the fact that it's really expensive here now doesn't explain why a great course wasn't built before.  

Dr. Mac had numerous courses in the area, you have SFGC, Olympic, Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, Cal Club, MPCC and Pasatiempo all within 1 1/2 hours from Silicon Valley. 

But back in the day, when those great courses were being built, Silicon Valley was farm land, the wealth was primarily in San Francisco.

And finally, an argument can be made that the land of Silicon Valley isn't all that noble for golf courses, lacking many of the great features found in great golf courses ...



 

[astavrides]

.

[Matt_Cohn]

Well what courses around Silicon Valley have great sites? I would say there are a lot of good ones but not that really great ones, from what I've seen. And of those which ones really aspire to be great as opposed to nice country clubs or that sort of thing?

[Kalen Braley]

If you want something pretty good but not great, head to Cinnabar Hills.  That's an interesting course.

Assuming were limiting this to just the San Jose area and not including Santa Cruz, the peninsula (san fran), or the east bay...it pretty much ends there I think.

[Jim Eder]

I really enjoyed Cordevalle. Beautiful setting, fun course, good challenge.  Pretty strategic, each time I played it I learned a bit more. 

[Garland Bayley]

check out the price per acre and report back to the group...

Also, check out the percentage of nerds that play golf, and report back to the group.

check out the percentage of Koreans that play golf.

The nerds I was referring to were the hardware and software geeks of silicon valley. Perhaps you can enlighten me about the Koreans you refer to. Are they software and hardware types, or business types? The Koreans that I know at my club are typically small business owners.

Software Geek

EDIT: I thought of tacking this on to my last post. My fellow software geeks at work are most likely to discuss frisbee sports including frisbee golf, and killer frisbee golf courses with drop shot par threes, and cool doglegs you have to curve the disk around.

[Mike Benham]

If you want something pretty good but not great, head to Cinnabar Hills.  That's an interesting course.

Assuming were limiting this to just the San Jose area and not including Santa Cruz, the peninsula (san fran), or the east bay...it pretty much ends there I think.

Kalen -

From Palo Alto, the travel time to Cinnabar or Pasatiempo is nearly identical ...

[Tim Leahy]

I haven't seen Sharon Heights mentioned. It is one of the best Country Club courses in that area and was rated as one of the toughest courses in No. Cal at one time. Used to be known for great greens. Jack Flemming course.

http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/course.aspx?course=105945

Also Boulder Ridge CC is pretty spectacular course.

http://boulderridgegolfclub.com/

[Kalen Braley]

If you want something pretty good but not great, head to Cinnabar Hills.  That's an interesting course.

Assuming were limiting this to just the San Jose area and not including Santa Cruz, the peninsula (san fran), or the east bay...it pretty much ends there I think.

Kalen -

From Palo Alto, the travel time to Cinnabar or Pasatiempo is nearly identical ...

Mike,

Thanks for the clarification...I would have thought Cinnabar to be a fair amount closer.  But then again, when I think Silicon Valley I think San Jose/Santa Clara.  Palo Alto is on the far north end of Silicon Valley though.

Either way, one thing is for sure...there is no good golf right in Silicon Valley.  Best one I can think of is Santa Clara Stars and Stripes, but thats a Doak 3 at best.

[Keith Doleshel]

Where is Tom Huckaby when you need him?  You would be sure to hear a rant of some sort out of him.  The price of land is out here is outrageous, but that is not the reason why there aren't better courses.  When San Jose and the Peninsula really grew population wise, cities built municipal golf courses.  Of course, when those courses were built, it wasn't exactly in the Golden Age of course design.  Therefore you get Shoreline, Palo Alto Muni, San Jose Muni, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara.  They are built on similar types of land that are not all that note-worthy or interesting.  Of those listed about, Santa Clara does probably have the most interesting terrain, and Shoreline probably the best design.  That's not saying a whole lot unfortunately.  Santa Teresa, Huckaby's old home track is good too, but nothing spectacular architecture wise.  And Kalen gave my place of employment, Cinnabar Hills, a little free advertising.  Thanks for the plug man.  Cinnabar does have some very quality attributes, and was my favorite public course to play even before they started signing my paychecks.  San Jose Country Club would probably be my favorite private course truly in Silicon Valley, although some would argue for Boulder Ridge or Almaden.  SJCC is an old-school type of course, 6,200 yards, small greens, and has some very good holes.  Being a San Jose guy, I consider Stanford to be on the Peninsula, but that is a very good golf course.  Sharon Heights is good too, not quite Stanford though.

[astavrides]

.

[Forrest Richardson]

Carl — Good question. Ask it in a few years once we get our arm around Palo Alto Golf Course (Palo Alto Muni). This c. 1956 layout was both Wm. P and Wm. F Bell, although the elder Bell passed away before it opened. It has seen better days, for sure. Our work is very similar to what we found at Olivas Park in Ventura, CA (a tired course with no shortage of issues, and issue categories) before we transformed the course into Olivas Links.

Regarding the geeks...there are a boatload of serious golfers and golf enthusiasts in this area. Even if you grabbed a very low 5% participation rate, you have a built-in golf population that is hungry for better golf. This is why the City of Palo Alto is focusing on its public course...to meet that demand. My take is that people play the offerings in this area because of (1) price and (2) location.

BTW, the site is very cool with some great views to the Baylands. Although flat, we see great potential.

[Peter Galea]

Carl — Good question. Ask it in a few years once we get our arm around Palo Alto Golf Course (Palo Alto Muni).

They just rebuilt Palo Alto Muni, what? 12 years ago?
Is it time to do it again?

[Kalen Braley]

Hey Pete,

Good to see you around. I sure wish they had something like your course in Silicon Valley. 

[Forrest Richardson]

Peter — It was the late 1990s and the work was incomplete as they "ran out of funds."

This (current) work has to do with re-aligning the San Francisquito Creek flood channel, so it trumps whatever improvements were completed, including the work of RTJ Sr. back in the 1970s-80s.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Here is a listing of public courses in SV and surrounds that are at least worth mentioning on a Four Seasons information page:

http://www.fourseasons.com/siliconvalley/other_recreation/golf.html

[Mike Benham]

Peter — It was the late 1990s and the work was incomplete as they "ran out of funds."

This (current) work has to do with re-aligning the San Francisquito Creek flood channel, so it trumps whatever improvements were completed, including the work of RTJ Sr. back in the 1970s-80s.

So does that mean that another agency will be paying for some of the work? 

Even though they ran out of funds, they haven't finished paying off the debt, the City sucks a healthy chunk of money from the revenue each month guaranteeing that the course is not profitable in many months.

If you can, describe the work that will be done with the flood channel moving ...

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