Golf in California

ronnie3585

I am going to be in California at the beginning of February. I will be based in San Francisco and am hoping to get two or three rounds of golf in. I'm looking for any recommendations you may have?

I am willing to drive up to 2.5hrs so that puts Monterey within my range. I play off 18 so I'm not looking for somewhere extremely difficult. I want a course that I can enjoy.

The first thing that springs to mind when one mentions California is Pebble. Is it really worth it? The green fees are $500, plus $100 club rental. I would consider paying that, however I can't help feeling it would be a bit of a tourist trap and I could get a lot of good golf elsewhere for that kind of cash. I like the look of Spanish Bay and Half Moon Bay.

I'm open to any recommendations. Thanks:)

ShivasIrons

ronnie3585 wrote: »

I am going to be in California at the beginning of February. I will be based in San Francisco and am hoping to get two or three rounds of golf in. I'm looking for any recommendations you may have?

I am willing to drive up to 2.5hrs so that puts Monterey within my range. I play off 18 so I'm not looking for somewhere extremely difficult. I want a course that I can enjoy.

The first thing that springs to mind when one mentions California is Pebble. Is it really worth it? The green fees are $500, plus $100 club rental. I would consider paying that, however I can't help feeling it would be a bit of a tourist trap and I could get a lot of good golf elsewhere for that kind of cash. I like the look of Spanish Bay and Half Moon Bay.

I'm open to any recommendations. Thanks:)

Consider that every time Pebble comes on TV it will bring back memories of your round there, what price can you put in that? It's worth every penny.

Spanish Bay is very good too.

Dermoth

Pebble may be off limits in early Feb as the AT&T is on in mid-Feb for a week. If you can get it at $500 at that time of year, I'd recommend it as an experience. The courses in Monterey are all supposed to be wonderful but Pebble is the only one I've played. Half Moon Bay supposed to be great value for money but Pasatiempo is another that's recommended. It's an Alister Mackenzie course. Down near Santa Cruz.

Beaulieu

Pebble is a "forever in the memory" experience. Played it 15 yrs ago but the deal then was that a single golfer could only book a tee time in the preceeding 24 hrs. I was also offered Spyglass but declined it. I would strongly recommend you try to play PB. Monterray and the town of Carmel are absolutely fabulous and are worth a visit even if you dont get on PB.

saintastic

Harding Park would be worth a visit. I think it is less than $200 and it hosted a WGC in 2005, Presidents Cup in 2009 and the Schwab Cup in 2010, 2011 and 2013 - the final of the Fed Ex Cup for the Seniors.

It will also host the WGC Matchplay this year and is going to have the USPGA in 2020.

Also, it may be a pain to bring your clubs but if Pebble Beach are charging $100 for rental clubs, would it not be cheaper to bring your clubs with you? I think the airlines don't charge for clubs for long haul. And if you are worried about them being difficult to carry, just borrow a light bag.

gfern

I played here on my last visit and thoroughly enjoyed the experience we paid $120 seemed good value compared to other clubs around.
Cinnabar Hills golf club in San Jose you will have to google it I can't post links

Pebble Beach would be good just for the experience if your budget runs to it, the Sunday Brunch alone worth a visit without the golf.

Dermo73

Check out Poppy Hills near Pebble Beach. A friend played it two years ago and raved about it. Much better value at about $100 a round

GreeBo

Olympic club?

fullstop

Dermo73 wrote: »

Check out Poppy Hills near Pebble Beach. A friend played it two years ago and raved about it. Much better value at about $100 a round

+1 for Poppy Hills, drove past it a couple of months back and it looked great. Used to be in some of the early PGA Tour games as well as far as I remember and it and Spyglass used to or still are used in the AT&T. Spanish Point looked awesome too...as did the parts you could see of Cypress Point.

GreeBo wrote: »

Olympic club?

Have to be invited by a member I think (for the US Open course anyway).

ShivasIrons

GreeBo wrote: »

Olympic club?

Olympic is a private member's club and a guest needs to be invited by a member.

Other great San Francisco and surrounds private clubs are San Francisco GC, The California Club, Cypress Point and Monterey Peninsula CC.

A friend calls Cypress and San Francisco GC grovelling clubs, i.e. he will grovel in any and every way possible to get an invite to play them.

ronnie3585

Thanks for all the recommendations guys. It looks like the AT&T may snooker me re Pebble, I'll have to see how my schedule pans out but it ain't looking good. Harding Park could like a good bet as it's very convenient to San Fran and looks lovely, as for Monterey - Spanish Bay looks good too.

I'd love to play the Olympic Club but it's purely private.