Where Does Lake Merced Stack Up?

[John Blain]

To those of you who are knowledgable about golf in the Bay Area I was wondering where Lake Merced stacks up against the other somewhat famous clubs in that area like: Olympic Club Lake and/or Ocean, SFGC, Cal Club, Harding Park and Pasatiempo? I have never played LM but I have played all the other aforementioned.  Just as good as those or a notch down?
Thanks.

[Dustin Ferrell]

I'm certainly not qualified to really say how it stacks up against some of the giants you mentioned, but I have played it as well as SFGC on a trip a couple years ago but let me set it up a little.

We played SFGC early in the week, drove and played Pebble, Spyglass, Cypress over the next couple days and then had an open day before we flew back home and a couple of us slipped out to Lake Merced CC for a quick round.  After playing some serious heavy hitters, i almost didn't want to play LM as I was tired and didn't know much about it.

I actually really enjoyed my round and the conditions were great.  The clubhouse was pretty modern, but I thought the mens locker room was really great and had a great day there.  Regarding the course, its tighter and feels a little more packed in that SFGC, but has the same beautiful trees and lots of roll and elevation changes that I wasn't expecting.

I have no idea what these great clubs around SF cost to belong to, but I'm assuming LM is a bit less than some of the others and If I lived there I think it would be a great place to play as a home club assuming entry to some of the big boys was out of the question.  The course is challenging, but not too tough, but I'm sure could play pretty hard if you were crooked off the tee.  Kinda felt like a shotmakers course to me.

[Alex Miller]

I've played Pasa, LM, and Harding. It seems to me that Olympic, SFGC, Cal Club, and Pasa are all in their own class in some order, then LM, then Harding Park.

I do think some of the drives on the front nine are a bit too demanding/narrow, but I really enjoyed the course. I know the routing changed as the adjacent highway expanded so it's possible it's not what it used to be years and years ago, but I only learned that after playing there and it made sense upon reflection. At the time it just felt like an average size course on a slightly less than average sized property.

[Jon Spaulding]

Stacks up well if you can golf your ball. If higher handicap imagine it pretty well sucks to play.

To me, clearly better than Harding/Ocean and slightly preferable to Lake. Well below SFGC, Cal and Pasa.

I think Kiser, Benham or Joel can get you on the Lake.

[Patrick Kiser]

El Conquistador name dropping I see...

I'm currently suffering from PTSLWS (that's Post Traumatic Scottish Links Withdrawal Syndrome for those not in the know), so I'm not sure I'm really able to respond much at this time.

What I can say from the few times I've had the fortunate luck and pleasure to visit Lake Merced Golf Club is it has always been a pretty good time.  I've always been well received and the staff is rather nice.  I think the land in itself is good very good.  The greens are pretty good as well, if unspectacular.  The routing is solid.  There's a good balance of quirk thrown in, which I like.

I'm not sure I agree with the handicap comment.  I'm a 16 and have always found the course to be quite fair and reasonable.  I feel they do a pretty good job here in keeping the rough at a reasonable level.  I'd say it's "difficult" to not find your ball here and I've usually been able to recover.  I hit one of my very best recovery shots here one time.  In my opinion, the corridors aren't as tight as some other venues in the area.    

However, I have to remind myself NOT to think about how the course was back in the day.  This might have been one of the very best MacKenzie tracks around at one point in time.  Perhaps even great.  The aerials and period photos alone give a pretty good hint of this.  So one really needs to "forget" about such things during their round.

As for coverage ... well, let's just say Jon's giving me WAY too much credit.  I can probably get anyone onto Lincoln Park...  

[Sean Leary]

El Conquistador name dropping I see...

I'm currently suffering from PTSLWS (that's Post Traumatic Scottish Links Withdrawal Syndrome for those not in the know), so I'm not sure I'm really able to respond much at this time.

What I can say from the few times I've had the fortunate luck and pleasure to visit Lake Merced Golf Club is it has always been a pretty good time.  I've always been well received and the staff is rather nice.  I think the land in itself is good very good.  The greens are pretty good as well, if unspectacular.  The routing is solid.  There's a good balance of quirk thrown in, which I like.

I'm not sure I agree with the handicap comment.  I'm a 16 and have always found the course to be quite fair and reasonable.  I feel they do a pretty good job here in keeping the rough at a reasonable level.  I'd say it's "difficult" to not find your ball here and I've usually been able to recover.  I hit one of my very best recovery shots here one time.  In my opinion, the corridors aren't as tight as some other venues in the area.    

However, I have to remind myself NOT to think about how the course was back in the day.  This might have been one of the very best MacKenzie tracks around at one point in time.  Perhaps even great.  The aerials and period photos alone give a pretty good hint of this.  So one really needs to "forget" about such things during their round.

As for coverage ... well, let's just say Jon's giving me WAY too much credit.  I can probably get anyone onto Lincoln Park...  

A 16? Really? For some reason I thought you were decent

[Patrick Kiser]

A 16? Really? For some reason I thought you were decent

They say I play like a 10, but I putt like a 30 ... so it evens out. 

I'm good for 35-40 jacks a round unfortunately...

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

It is far behind the top courses as well as the special places like the Meadow club or Cal Club as well. I think it may brely get in the top ten at the bottom. SFGC, Olympic Lake, Pasa, Meadow Club, Olympic Ocean, Cal Club, Harding Park, Stanford, Maycama, Lake Merced and there may be more ahead of it.

[Matt_Cohn]

LMGC is wonderful, and there's a reason that in the last 5 years it's hosted 2 US Open Sectionals, US Women's Open qualifying, NCAA Regionals, the California State Amateur, US Amateur Qualifying, and the US Girls Junior Championship this summer!

Lake Merced feels very much like a US Open course, which makes sense because it's a Rees Jones course now. I know there are some on here who simply don't like the Rees Jones version of championship golf, and it's true that the holes aren't generally as imaginative as one would find at Cal Club or SFGC in particular, but I find the course a great pleasure to play. It's an equally pure golf experience with Olympic Club and Cal Club, just on a slightly smaller scale.

I think that, for better or worse, if Lake Merced were 7,300 yards, I think it would be on (most) everyone's Top 100 list.

However, the longest par-4 on the back 9 is 414; the others are 391, 376, 335, and 382. Additionally the first 3 par 5's are 503, 516, and 496. I think this might keep LMGC from being viewed as one of the "big boys", although that's not really entirely fair because it's still plenty challenging. It's not as historic as Olympic Club; it's not as dazzling as Cal Club; and it's not as famously exclusive as SFGC. But the quality of the overall golf experience is at least close enough to compare with any of those other three clubs.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Bumping this old thread.  It seems that Lake Merced came close to NLE status recently.  The SF Chronicle reported yesterday that the club had received an offer for the property from a real estate developer...a whopping $321 million for the 143 acre property.  At 263 equity members, that was $1.22 million per member.  The Chronicle columnists Matier & Ross reported that "there were a lot of smiles and high fives on the greens". 

But there were also some disgruntled members who made it clear that there would be a long fight if the deal went forward, so the developer withdrew the offer.

Real estate is absolutely booming in the Bay Area right now.

The story is available on the SF Chronicle website, but they've switched to a pay model for online content.  Given that I am probably the only subscriber among the treehouse, I won't bother posting the link.

[Mark Provenzano]

They seem to come off the paywall at some point, here is a link http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Feinstein-isn-t-counting-weapons-ban-out-4379520.php

At that price, I'd buy a membership at Pasa...and that house for sale by the 7th tee.

[David Bartman]

LMGC is wonderful, and there's a reason that in the last 5 years it's hosted 2 US Open Sectionals, US Women's Open qualifying, NCAA Regionals, the California State Amateur, US Amateur Qualifying, and the US Girls Junior Championship this summer!

Lake Merced feels very much like a US Open course, which makes sense because it's a Rees Jones course now. I know there are some on here who simply don't like the Rees Jones version of championship golf, and it's true that the holes aren't generally as imaginative as one would find at Cal Club or SFGC in particular, but I find the course a great pleasure to play. It's an equally pure golf experience with Olympic Club and Cal Club, just on a slightly smaller scale.

I think that, for better or worse, if Lake Merced were 7,300 yards, I think it would be on (most) everyone's Top 100 list.

However, the longest par-4 on the back 9 is 414; the others are 391, 376, 335, and 382. Additionally the first 3 par 5's are 503, 516, and 496. I think this might keep LMGC from being viewed as one of the "big boys", although that's not really entirely fair because it's still plenty challenging. It's not as historic as Olympic Club; it's not as dazzling as Cal Club; and it's not as famously exclusive as SFGC. But the quality of the overall golf experience is at least close enough to compare with any of those other three clubs.

Matt I concur with your above statements regarding LMGC.  I would certainly rank it ahead of  Meadow Club, Olympic Ocean, Harding Park, Stanford, and Maycama.   

I think 5 under qualified for the Open so its not as if the course is a pitch and putt either.  There are some tricky elevation changes and the greens are tough to read. 

[Alex Miller]

LMGC is wonderful, and there's a reason that in the last 5 years it's hosted 2 US Open Sectionals, US Women's Open qualifying, NCAA Regionals, the California State Amateur, US Amateur Qualifying, and the US Girls Junior Championship this summer!

Lake Merced feels very much like a US Open course, which makes sense because it's a Rees Jones course now. I know there are some on here who simply don't like the Rees Jones version of championship golf, and it's true that the holes aren't generally as imaginative as one would find at Cal Club or SFGC in particular, but I find the course a great pleasure to play. It's an equally pure golf experience with Olympic Club and Cal Club, just on a slightly smaller scale.

I think that, for better or worse, if Lake Merced were 7,300 yards, I think it would be on (most) everyone's Top 100 list.

However, the longest par-4 on the back 9 is 414; the others are 391, 376, 335, and 382. Additionally the first 3 par 5's are 503, 516, and 496. I think this might keep LMGC from being viewed as one of the "big boys", although that's not really entirely fair because it's still plenty challenging. It's not as historic as Olympic Club; it's not as dazzling as Cal Club; and it's not as famously exclusive as SFGC. But the quality of the overall golf experience is at least close enough to compare with any of those other three clubs.

Matt I concur with your above statements regarding LMGC.  I would certainly rank it ahead of  Meadow Club, Olympic Ocean, Harding Park, Stanford, and Maycama.  

I think 5 under qualified for the Open so its not as if the course is a pitch and putt either.  There are some tricky elevation changes and the greens are tough to read.  

5 under did indeed qualify (5 tied at -5 for 5 spots if I recall). I was playing that day, unless -5 qualified the other time too. The prevailing breeze from the west definitely helps the course hold its own as a number of holes play plenty long back into the breeze, and I recall -5 being one of the highet 36 hole qualifying scores for the Sectionals held throughout the U.S.

By the way, to Matt's point I averaged 34 (-2) on the back compared to 42 (+6) on the front in my two rounds.

I'm surprised to hear you would rank it ahead of Meadow Club, as I am equally surprised to hear it described on the same order as Olympic or Cal Club, but that does not mean I did not enjoy it. Despite a Reese-ification, there are still a number of greens with great undulation and interesting challenges.

[David_Tepper]

I would think that LMCC is a much stronger test of golf than it is an example of great GCA, in contrast to the Meadow Club, which is a much better example of great GCA than it is as a strong test of golf.

[Joel_Stewart]

Did I hear correctly that the offer to buy Lake Merced GC was withdrawn?