The New Chuck Corica South — photo tour

[Matt_Cohn]

I played in today's Preview Day for the new Chuck Corica South Course in Alameda, CA (right next to Oakland).

I never played the old course, so I can only talk about what's there now, and it's really cool. I hope others will chime in on the particulars of the consruction/development process. This is a brand new course, not a renovation. The work was done under Rees Jones' name but I understand that other people were more involved in the design and construction.

The look was inspired by the Australian Sandbelt courses around Melbourne and it totally works. It's the second most Aussie looking course I've seen in the U.S. after Valley Club. The fairways are wide, the bunkers are real, and the greens are consistently fun and interesting. The conditions were fantastic, and the fairways bounced and rolled.

Here's the scorecard:






#1, 533 par 5. Here's Rees Jones hitting the ceremonial first tee shot. The hole doglegs right around the fairway bunkers. For some reason this teeshot is especially flat and probably the least visually interesting teeshot on the course.



And the green:



#2, 394 par 4. There's a center fairway bunker and a decision to make off the tee.



Here's the approach view over the center bunker.



#3, 388 par 4. Somewhat straight-ahead tee shot, then this approach from in front and behind:






#4, 469 par 4. The first hard hole, but the fairway is very wide.



The second shot is especially nice-looking.



#5, 133 par 3. The green is diagonal from front-left to back-right and the hole usually plays into a right-to-left wind, so that's tough. This shot is from below the green on the right.



And back from the green.



#6, 525 par 5. It's nice but not vital to be closer to the bunkers to on the right side.



Here's the second shot.



#7, 187 par 3. Just a good solid hole with a tough hole location today.



From the green back towards #1.



#8, 297 par 4. The water looks nice but isn't in play; there's no water that's seriously in play anywhere on the course. I liked this hole because from the tee you see lots of trouble and not much else. In reality, there's plenty of short grass in front of and around the green.



I didn't expect such a big green on a drivable par 4, but it works because there's plenty of movement in the green (hard to capture in a mid-day photo) so it still demands precision one way or the other.



#9, 409 par 4. Driving range on the left, but it's a big wide fairway. It looks like various hole locations would create different preferred angles from the tee, but it was hard to tell based on one casual play.



Here's the approach. There's another 50 yards of fairway over the left bunkers before the green.



#10, 444 par 4. By far the most difficult stretch of the golf course is 10-12. Longer hitters have the option of trying to carry the bunkers and stay left of the lake, but the better play is probably taking less than driver. The hole is typically downwind so that's fine.



I didn't get it in this photo, but there's a Biarritz-like feature in front of the green. Since the hole is long-ish and downwind and the green is open in front, a lot of players are likely to use it (either purposefully or on accident).






#11, 248 par 3. A big, beautiful hole and the first of four consecutive holes that play through trees; the other fourteen holes are much more open. The prevailing wind here is across from the left.






#12, 474 par 4. Like I said, a tough 3-hole stretch. I like this picture although the opening isn't as narrow as it looks here; it's no gimme though, and there's a lot of sand on the right. The wind is again left-to-right.



The green is large and not overly undulating, but it's still not an easy approach shot, especially if you hit your tee shot anywhere other than straight.






#13, 332 par 4. Maybe drivable in certain circumstances, but it's a pretty narrow corridor.



And the approach. You can see why driver off the tee might not be the right play, even if the green is within reach.



#14, 370 par 4. The teeshot comes out of the trees and the rest of the hole is back in the open. It's pretty much a drive in the fairway and then, hopefully, a wedge or short iron close.






#15, 495 par 5. It's a very wide drive, as many of the drives here are. Everything happens in the last 200 yards of the hole. Here's the approach after a good drive:



Here it is from the side:



And from left of the green. In all of these pictures you can see how much short grass there is to the right of the green for anyone who doesn't want to carry all that sand.



#16, 179 par 3. It's a long, narrow green and it was a tough shot today at 193, into the wind and right-to-left. There's a hazard left and long, and the recovery from right isn't easy.



#17, 579 par 5. It's a bit of a diagonal fairway going left-to-right, and the right side makes for a more straightforward second shot. Here's the green from in front and behind. I would say that the four par-5's felt somewhat similar to me in that all of the greens were guarded by plenty of sand and mounds, but nothing that would make me lay up if the green were at all within reach.






#18, 418 par 4. I wish I had a better camera because this is a really cool looking tee shot. The bunker is about 230 to carry from the back tee, into the wind. (Interestingly, on a windy site, this is the only non-par-3 that plays directly into the wind.) Many people will play tees that will require a choice on this particular tee shot. There is room to play left.



I didn't get a picture of the green, but here are the fairway bunkers and the approach.



All in all this is a pretty amazing addition to our Bay Area public golf scene — and with Baylands, two new courses in two weeks! — and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves in the coming months.

[Mark Kiely]

Nice tour, looks good! A buddy of mine was out there today, too.


Brutal punctuation mistake on the otherwise-fun scorecard, though. (Master's with an apostrophe. Ugh.)

[David_Tepper]

Matt -

Thanks for the photo tour. The course looks very good. I wonder how some of those holes will play in the winter months, when the wind is coming from the opposite direction.

There is a lot of sand on the course. I hope the greens crew will be up to the job of maintaining it in good order over the years.

DT

[Adam Lawrence]

I was out there too, and I echo Matt's thoughts. Contractor Greenway Golf also has a forty year lease to operate the course, and as such is investing heavily in facilities -- the pro shop is run by John Ashworth's Linksoul operation; the rental clubs are of absolutely outstanding quality, and the whole setup is very impressive.


The entire course has been raised up some ten feet and more using inert fill that came from a couple of large scale SF construction sites. They got paid by the cubic yard for taking this material, which will have gone much of the way to covering the costs of construction. Greenway boss Marc Logan has overseen the construction process with great care. He's a voluble Aussie -- is there any other sort of Aussie? -- and they were able to separate out the fill that came in into two types, muck and pure dune sand.  They use the latter to sandcap the entire course, which is pretty amazing -- I've never heard of anyone basically getting paid to sandcap before..

[Matthew Petersen]

Nice tour, looks good! A buddy of mine was out there today, too.


Brutal punctuation mistake on the otherwise-fun scorecard, though. (Master's with an apostrophe. Ugh.)

My first thought as well.


How does no one proof read and catch that? I do appreciate the sentiment, however.

[Matt_Cohn]

http://www.golf.com/courses-and-travel/2018/06/19/george-kelleys-first-course-didnt-last-his-corica-park-south-course-redesign-gem

[JLahrman]

Well it's certainly hard to recognize, although it appears to follow the old routing almost exactly. The old par-4 #1 and par 3 #2 have been combined into the par-5 1st, and that par-3 5th hole is new, squeezed back into a corner. But only #7-#9 and #12-#13 really look anything like the old holes. Apart from that I wouldn't recognize the course at all.

[mike_beene]

Rees Jones appears to be a flipper.

[Joel_Stewart]

Rees Jones appears to be a flipper.

I'm not sure what that means?


Considering Rees only came on site a few times and I believe they implemented only one of his suggestions It's a quasi Rees course. In all honesty they licensed his name to appease the city council. I told Rees that Marc Logan made him look good and he just nodded.


Regardless I liked the course. Aside from the architecture it's built for low maintenance and low water consumption.  The use of Santa Ana Bermuda is a brilliant move.


There's a few flaws. The drive on the 10th is awkward and some of the shaping doesn't look natural. 
It's easily the best municipal course in the East Bay and one of the better ones in the Bay Area.

[Tim Leahy]

It doesn't look as interesting as Metro. Looks like Torrey North without the ocean holes.

[Peter Flory]

Rees Jones appears to be a flipper.

I'm not sure what that means?

I think he was referring to his golf swing

[mike_beene]

Correct. Just a golf swing reference from the picture.

[Joel_Stewart]

It doesn't look as interesting as Metro. Looks like Torrey North without the ocean holes.

That's an interesting comment. I didn't take one photo because I thought it would be hard to photograph.  Matt has proven me wrong but the details are much better than Metro.


The par 3s are far better than Metros.


The par5s are a push but I may lean towards Metro.


Not sure about the par 4s after only 1 round at Alameda.


Conditioning is 1000 percent better at Alameda. The state of the art drainage and irrigation system should keep it that way. Metro was built on the cheap and they used the wrong grass all of which is very evident.

[Kyle Henderson]

I was able to play this "newbie" earlier today. The previous course on this site was one of the the most forgettable racks in the Bay Area. The new course is certainly well conditioned at this point and has some interesting contours, particularly on the back nine. The course has an appealing aesthetic and some of the abundant (!) bunkering does make the player think when standing on several tee boxes.


It's a bit of a shame the routing wasn't reworked a bit more, given that the sister course is also being redone, as the front nine is a bit cramped and the majority of the holes run north/south. Thus, the first 14 holes still seem crammed against one another, with few consequential angles of play from tee to green aside from the opening tee shot.


The greens are very large, with generous fringe areas and swales such that the green side bunkering really only comes into play for very poor approach shots. The mounding surrounding the greens is not often tied in intimately with the actual green contours.


Overall, the new "South" is nice addition to the local golfing scene, built on top of what was once a very featureless golf course. It is certainly very convenient for those flying through Oakland International, but I would not put it in a class very much above the nearby Metropolitan or Monarch Bay courses.


The North Course renovations are now underway, so hopefully something even better than the new South course is on its way.

[JLahrman]

Kyle, first of all thanks for the review but what are you doing playing golf?


Secondly, I agree that it would have been nice to redo the routing a bit. Although perhaps that was already considered. The downside being that they likely would have had to close both courses at once in what is already a golf-starved area, and the options may have been limited given how packed in the holes are.


Based on my 10 or so plays of each course I preferred the South course, so we'll see what happens with the North.

What are the greens fees like post-redo?

[Kyle Henderson]

I'm off for a few weeks on "baby bonding" leave, but I did manage to sneak away from the littles for a few hours. Green fees vary from sub-$40 for locals mid-week to $105 on weekends for "foreigners."


A few years ago, another member of this site was tapped to redo both courses. His plan involved the creation of a few "practice holes" that would be used as part of the accrual courses during the renovation so that the courses would not have to close during construction.


Given that this project went 18 months over the original timeline, ha approach would have been preferred on many levels in my estimation.

Kyle, first of all thanks for the review but what are you doing playing golf?


Secondly, I agree that it would have been nice to redo the routing a bit. Although perhaps that was already considered. The downside being that they likely would have had to close both courses at once in what is already a golf-starved area, and the options may have been limited given how packed in the holes are.


Based on my 10 or so plays of each course I preferred the South course, so we'll see what happens with the North.

What are the greens fees like post-redo?

[JLahrman]

I'm off for a few weeks on "baby bonding" leave, but I did manage to sneak away from the littles for a few hours. Green fees vary from sub-$40 for locals mid-week to $105 on weekends for "foreigners."

Right on, and congratulations. I've got a few weeks off myself now with my wife and kids still up in Michigan with the in-laws. Planning to play this afternoon. The 4pm forecast of 106 degrees is making me rethink that plan but if I don't do it now it won't happen.


Anyway, sub-$40 is still affordable; I seem to remember paying in the $25 range when I would go out to walk there a few years ago. I was worried that the redo would heavily inflate the greens fees for a place that really exists for locals, but I would consider $40 quite reasonable. The $105 is crazy but will keep the course heavily local; I guess if you're coming from elsewhere to play Alameda you must REALLY want to play there.

[Kyle Henderson]

I had to fork over $65 on a Friday (golfing weekend) morning to walk, which is in line for local public tracks. 85 degrees with a slight breeze trumps Texas golf.

I'm off for a few weeks on "baby bonding" leave, but I did manage to sneak away from the littles for a few hours. Green fees vary from sub-$40 for locals mid-week to $105 on weekends for "foreigners."

Right on, and congratulations. I've got a few weeks off myself now with my wife and kids still up in Michigan with the in-laws. Planning to play this afternoon. The 4pm forecast of 106 degrees is making me rethink that plan but if I don't do it now it won't happen.


Anyway, sub-$40 is still affordable; I seem to remember paying in the $25 range when I would go out to walk there a few years ago. I was worried that the redo would heavily inflate the greens fees for a place that really exists for locals, but I would consider $40 quite reasonable. The $105 is crazy but will keep the course heavily local; I guess if you're coming from elsewhere to play Alameda you must REALLY want to play there.

[Joel_Stewart]

The North Course renovations are now underway, so hopefully something even better than the new South course is on its way.

I wouldn't get your hopes up. They are downplaying expectations and want to build something affordable.  I think in the $35 range. Looks like it going to be a Florida style course, incorporating and expanding the water features.


As far as the new course, play has been fantastic.  Over 200 rounds per day with only 50 percent coming from Alameda County. A surprising number of people are taking the ferry and coming from San Francisco.  Half the players are walking.

[Kalen Braley]

Joel,


With the dearth of quality public options in the bay area, not surprised to see them coming from a distance.  When i lived there, I did quite a bit of early morning weekend driving to get to the decent stuff.

[Joel_Stewart]

Joe Passov is reporting Alameda might be a temporary home for a new PGA tournament hosted by Steph Curry.


https://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/2018/10/06/steph-curry-pga-tour-targeting-public-course-for-possible-event/

[Kalen Braley]

Joel,


That routing is already jammed in, where would the fans observe from? Don't get my wrong, I like the idea, but seems a mandatory hard hat event!!

[Joel_Stewart]

It seems to me it could work on a logistic level. The north course could be used for parking and the 10th and 12th which have adjoining fairways could be used for a massive area of corporate tents and hospitality.


As for the golf course, with viewing stands it could work. They might end up trampling and killing much of the fescue areas around the greens and would probably need to build a few more tees. I suspect they would play one of the par 5s on the front nine (probably the 6th)  as a par 4.  I'm not sure if they could get the greens up to 13 on speed?

[David_Tepper]

"Can Steph Curry bring PGA Tour golf to Alameda?"

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/golf/article/PGA-Tour-visits-Alameda-course-eyes-Steph-13299592.php
 

[Kalen Braley]

David thanks for posting.


Other than infrastructure issues, which i'm not surprised by, looks like its the front runner...very cool!


P.S.  I wonder which course this was?  "Tour officials also held talks with at least one private Bay Area club, but that course is “highly unlikely” to host the new event, one source said."