Bay Area Top Public Courses

[James the Hogan Fan]

Skywest to the top, by a long margin...

[Shakester]

I agree that Skywest would be near the top of my worst list. That place is horrible. Another would be Crystal Springs. Not because of the course. I actually really like the course and its pretty well kept, but I don't think I've ever played a round there under 5 hours on a weekend. They just pack them in like sardines there and it doesn't help that its also a pretty touch course.

[jysh17]

San Juan Oaks is about as far as Wente, Harding or anything in the north bay, if you live in San Jose, so I'd say it's at least Bay Area Adjacent?

I think Chardonnay is a nice course public course, if you are up in the Napa area.

For worst courses, Sharp Park has gotta be up there....which is sad because it has so much potential.

[JLo_73]

Among the best for me mostly based on experience since moving back to Bay Area about 2 years ago....

Corica Park South Played twice and love it. Still have to get used to the greens but awesome layout

Harding Park Really enjoy the overall experience and cant wait for PGA to come next year

Poppy Ridge Still think this is a great complex and getting out for all 3 nines is a treat. Tough courses but the real deal

Recently played Chardonnay which I hadn't played in 30 years and thought it was a great value. Always enjoy playing Boundary Oak (bias from growing up playing it as a kid) and need to get back out to Callippe as I haven't played it since being back.

 

[duffer987]

Excluding Bandon - Corica South is up there with Poppy Hills and Chambers Bay as my favorite regular plays on the entire West Coast.

Least has to be Tilden, Crystal Springs is another good shout for least favorite. I think Shadow Lakes (is that the right name?) out in Brentwood is closed now, but that was easily the worst course I played in the extended Bay Area.

Speaking of closed; Roddy is easily my most missed course. Not being the nicest walk knocks a 1/2 point off, but otherwise it was an excellent collection of golf holes.

[James the Hogan Fan]

Most missed: Sunol. Yes it was a cow pasture but it was _MY_ cow pasture. It was fun, decently cheap, and had some really good holes sprinkled in (and at least 20 meh ones and BS like Cypress 10.)

I played Tilden and was indifferent. Skywest is far and away the only course in the Bay I would not go to. Although someone mentioned Sharp Park (and I'll through out Lincoln park as well) For places that just don't get it done. The Fremont 9 holer is also quite bad... There was a time when they tried at least...

[duffer987]

I've not played it since I stopped commuting across 92 (used to get in the occasional after work round in the summer) but I thought Skywest was fine for 25 bucks, mundane and lots of crabgrass - that said I've not played it in 5.5yrs and have no desire to and won't, lol

Must not have enough Peninsula residents on here, was expecting some votes for Poplar Creek as the worst. I'd heard so many bad things about it, I've never played it.

[lchang]

I agree with disliking Tilden. Also Lake Chabot--don't like that one at all.

[ASN21]

Poplar is a course that makes you feel good about your golf game again. Its a true no frills muni. New-ish range and some tough holes. Overall for $19 walking after 4 pm, it's a hard deal to beat.

[duffer987]

I probably should have tried it at least once really. If I had time to kill or was waiting out traffic, I'd just typically go to Mariners Point.

[ASN21]

Probably a better choice. Night golf at Mariners is fun and their range is also better.

[James the Hogan Fan]

I think if Poplar were the minimum for basic munis, that would be fantastic. I really enjoyed playing there because it was so easy, laid back, walkable, and just kinda fun. It was also the first time I broke 90, so Ill always remember it for that!

[Medson]

LOL. It seems I have played most of so-called worst golf courses in the Bay Area.

[toddmanley]

I miss Roddy too.

[Gnucastle]

For worst in Bay Area - we are forgetting Sunnyvale Muni. I agree with all the others (except Crystal Springs - its my guilty pleasure for some reason).

[mci711]

How is the pace of play at TPC Harding Park on any given week day? I'll be in SF and have Monday afternoon free but my flight doesn't get in until close to noon.

[James the Hogan Fan]

I played Sunnyvale for the first time last week. It is short and kind of uninspiring, but it was in very good shape with decent greens and lush, full fairways and rough. What made it "bad"? Did I just catch it on a good day?

[lchang]

IMO, Sunnyvale is boring and clearly shoehorned into too small a plot of land.

[pappaf2]

I miss Roddy. I always had fun playing that course.

[Shakester]

I don't mind Sunnyvale. Its short and lacks any really challenge, but its not horrible. I'd play Sunnyvale over Shoreline and Santa Clara GC, which are two nearby courses. Shoreline could be such a great course if they fixed it up and maintained it. What a waste of a Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed course. The layout is solid, even though all the par 3's feel the same. I played there a few weeks ago during the holiday season and the fairways weren't good, but the greens were actually surprisingly fast and rolled extremely well.

I still haven't had a chance to get out on Moffett, but with Google purchasing it, it's quite hard to find tee times on the weekends, but I hear its a solid track.

[duffer987]

Agreed that Shoreline is decent and could definitely be better with improved drainage. I've only played it a couple times, as the quality v drive doesn't work out really. But for Peninsula public golf it's fine.

Played Moffet once when they first opened it up to more public play a couple years ago, too much crab grass for my liking, reminding me of Corica North before it closed, but did have some good holes, to go along with some rather mundane back and forth ones. One of the guys paired up with I thought might have been PepperTurbo at first, but turned out no, lol

[Seidinho]

Played this morning in 3:59 in a foursome. Good pace. They've started preparing for the PGA Championship - there is no driving range to warm up, fairways a are 1/3 narrower, and rough is starting to grow out. I lost two balls in the rough simply because I could not find them.

[duffer987]

Got some long weekend golf in and Played Harding yesterday - after a cannot see anything fogsoup start, from the 4th hole onwards the weather was as good as any other time I've played it(which admittedly doesn't take a lot). Greens were in excellent shape and with the rough cut down from its January worst, no one lost any balls because of it. The fairways are pretty narrow on some holes, but nothing unfair.

Played Baylands on Sun - ugh, I take back any recommends for this place, the conditions of any part of the course that is not the green is rubbish. Certainly don't need pristine conditions, but when they are the overriding topic amongst your group that's no good and for $99 it's doubly not good. It has some genuinely fun and interesting holes on it and with the wind up it adds some challenge, but how a course/refurb this new can already be falling over on the conditioning side is quite bad.

Played Corica South Sat - continues to be the cream of the crop for Bay Area publics.

[Seidinho]

Thanks for the update on Tpc conditions. Sounds like I’ll have to check it out again soon!

[duffer987]

No prob. Playing a day after the City Championship qualifier weekend sure helped. One of the regulars I played with said the rough was much better than that 2nd half of January stretch where it was so long folks lost balls.

[Gnucastle]

@duffer987 - I too played Baylands on Sunday and totally agree.. patchy and in some part hardpan dirt in areas of the fairway - inconsistent amount of sand in the (UNRAKED) bunkers aren't worth the $100 bones. Although the greens are good - wish people would fix ball marks though, because in the late afternoon they are everywhere! There are in deed a handful of good golf holes especially on the back nine (4, 10, 11, 12, 13 (perfectly placed road-hole bunker got me on my second) 17, 18).
Corica is awesome! Its just too far for me to get out on the weekend afternoons until the days start getting a tad long and can tee off around 1:30 and still get 18 in.

Playing Spyglass for the first time next week. That's considered Bay Area, right?

[James the Hogan Fan]

Well I finally played Corica South and I think I came in with unrealistic expectations. Yes the course was good but I was caught out by the green speed and had a miserable round because of it. 3 putting everything under the sun will ruin one's appreciation of a course very quickly. I simply did not bring a good enough game to the course that day, and the course destroyed me.

It was in fantastic shape and looks and feels fantastic. Just too hard for me.

 

Re Baylands: It pains me to hear they can't keep it in good shape. I remember playing there a few weeks after re-opening and thinking all of the things being said about Corica. (And how I don't handle fast greens and shot 91 there as well) Maybe for summer they'll have it where it needs to be.

[duffer987]

Ya it's weird. It's all just so patchy. The greens sit in isolation (slow but in good nick), then the aprons which remind me of a summer job laying turf in an apartment complex, it's not connected properly to the green or the 'fairway', the transition is awful and pretty much removes ground game options.

In the fairways it's like the turf kinda sits on top of the dirt as it's own spotty layer in lots of places. I don't think there was a single non-par 3 hole out there that was wholly sorted out from tee to green. I like to mix up my East Bay regular plays with other courses and being near Freewheel Brewery makes Baylands an appealing option, but the combo of price point and conditions are making it a nonstarter for me, until seeing how it grows in for summer.

[pappaf2]

It seems to me with all the work they are putting into the North Course at Corica when it's done there will be no better 2 course public option anywhere in California.

 

[milmatic]

I still haven't played Corica South and not sure what's taking me so long.

Anyway, played Harding over the long weekend as well. The rough was long but nowhere near impossible to get out of. Greens were slower than I anticipated so lots of 2 putts for me that day. fairways were narrowed but I still managed to hit a number of them. All in all the course was playing very well and got done in under 4.5hrs. Hoping to play again closer to the PGA where the course will be showing more teeth. Really wanna feel the pain of a championship course!