Top 10 of 2018

They say any day on the golf course is better than a day at work. While that is certainly true, there are a few golf courses I played this year that are heads and shoulders above the rest. Courses that I will remember for a very long time. Check out the list and let me know what courses you played this year in the comments!


10. Lake Merced

Of all the private clubs on this list, Lake Merced was one of the most fun all around experiences and if I lived in San Fran, I would join it in a second. The routing is great, the trees and the bay breezes are great. The membership is great. All the course needs is a little TLC and it would be fantastic. Maybe on day if I get all the money, I will definitely get a national membership here, it is that good.

http://www.re-gripped.com/2018/05/lake-merced-golf-club.html

9. Barton Creek- Coore/Crenshaw

This course was a tale of 2 nines. The front side kinda a straightforward resort course. The back side? Totally tubular! Rolling hills, crazy greens, great second shots, the back nine had it all.

https://www.coorecrenshawquest.com/2018/12/barton-creek.html

8. Austin Golf Club

The first rule about AGC is that you can't talk about AGC. The second rule of AGC is see the first rule.

https://www.coorecrenshawquest.com/2018/12/austin-golf-club.html

7.  Saticoy

Wow, this is the last course I played in 2018 and it was a real gem. A classic course from the golden age, it still holds up to today's tests and will give you all you want a more. I was really blown away by this one.

https://www.re-gripped.com/2018/12/the-saticoy-club-review.html

6. Pacific Dunes

The views are outrageous. The architecture challenging and engaging. It is consistently ranked in the top 10 in the US much less the world. Still though, with the wind up this course is a beast. All that beauty and routing aside, if the wind is up good luck to ya as the design elements make it close to unplayable on some holes. Strong like, not love.

http://www.re-gripped.com/2018/04/pacific-dunes.html

5. Bandon Trails

You feel like you are in a completely different universe when visiting Bandon and playing Trails and that is a good thing. C&C do an excellent job creating a lot of variety out of the pines and the 11th hole remains one of my favorite holes they have designed thus far.

http://www.coorecrenshawquest.com/2018/04/bandon-trailspreserve.html

4. Pacific Grove

Quite simply, it lived up to its reputation of the poor man's Pebble Beach. For $40 you can get out there and knock it around on the front side and say what's the big deal but whoa doggie, you turn to that back side, and you get all the coastal Monterey golf you can handle. This is beyond a gem and a must play if you are in the area!

http://www.re-gripped.com/2018/02/pacific-grove-back-9.html

3. San Francisco GC

Holes 1-9 are perhaps the best stretch of nine holes in the US. The routing superbly uses the landscape to amazing effect, they are 9 holes that will challenge and delight any golfer and the clubhouse and locker room almost have a patina halo around them. Sadly, the back 9 just doesn't hold up to the front with a lot of parallel holes but still excellent by any measure. Still that opening 9 is strong enough to vault the club to number 3 in the rankings.

http://www.re-gripped.com/2018/05/san-francisco-golf-club.html

2. Bandon Dunes

The best course at Bandon, one of the best courses I have played, this course has it all. Width for errant drivers, visually stunning holes and fun greens. People may say Pacific is tougher but it isn't better. Bandon is divine.

http://www.re-gripped.com/2018/05/bandon-dunes.html

1. Cal Club

After playing this course you could've knocked me over with a feather. It is like someone went to the best sandbelt courses in Australia took them up and placed them in San Francisco. Olympic has the pedigree, San Francisco GC has the mystery but Cal Club has the golf, best course I played in 2018 by far!

http://www.re-gripped.com/2018/06/cal-club.html

Cal Club

The Cal Club socks you in the mouth with its audacious routing, wide open style of play coupled with crazy bunkering, Cal Club stands supreme in my eyes as the best golf course in San Francisco.

The opening par 5 gives you a sense of everything you will experience on the day. A blind tee shot with wild bunkers looming on the horizon leading to an amazing green complex which you can approach either in the air or a bump and run (I chose bump and run with a 5 wood and made par).

You then go up and down over hill and dale. The routing cuts its way between hills allowing for a variety of shots and with superb conditioning and green complex giving you all you could ask for. The course wends its way up to the standout 6th hole.

Not only is it an amazing par 3 but it gives you $1,000,000 views of the entire course. It is a blessed spot.

One of the best things about the course is how it uses the hillsides to create slopes and playing angles. The second hole shows how a straight shot will play but also fades and draws could use the slopes to get you to the promised land.

Speaking of slopes, the cape hole at Cal Club is outrageous. Aim as far left as possible or if you could bomb it like the assistant pro I was playing with, you go for the green.

The backside is just as interesting as the front side, giving you tough par 3s (including the quintessential downhill San Francisco par 3) and cool blind shots.

The course ends with a fascinating par 4 where you hit over the hill to gain the speed slot but still have a long iron into a green surrounded by an amphitheater. You can just imagine being a member at Cal Club at a Member-Member tourney with the whole club watching you as the match goes the distance to 18.

If you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed my time at Cal Club. I have yet to play Olympic or Harding but I can't imagine them knocking Cal Club off the top perch in San Francisco. Considering the pedigree of the other courses in NorCal this is high praise indeed. Cal Club, if you get a chance to play it, you MUST.

For more info on Cal Club check out this link: http://www.calclub.org/

Lake Merced Golf Club

If you overlook Lake Merced Golf Club, located in San Francisco, you will do so at your own peril. I had always found the course visually compelling when I watched in host LPGA events on TV but playing it, I thought the routing was great causing intriguing shots and would definitely be my home course if I lived in San Francisco.

What I found particularly intriguing was how enjoyable it was to tee off with some blind tee shots framed by beautiful trees

and then when you get up to your ball, seeing these great approaches to the greens.

I mean, I probably just described your favorite parkland course with that general description above but believe me that when I say that Lake Merced's routing and framing of holes creates a rather magical atmosphere and makes this a truly special course.

Also, like every San Francisco course I played during my trip there, this course featured a downhill par 3, dramatically framed. This one was a doozy but so fun to play!

One of my favorite holes is the par 5 ninth that starts off with a blind-ish drive and I happened to drive it right where Lydia Ko did in the recent LPGA tournament.

I also hit three wood from that spot but unlike Lydia, I didn't quite make it to two feet from the cup. It doesn't matter because the green is so awesome and framed by the clubhouse that it is a great way to wrap up the front 9.

The back nine features several of the same types of holes that you find on the front side (a blind tee shot playing downhill on a dogleg right, a tee shot that has the ability to catch the speed slot and wind up 30 yards from the green, etc.) and while on most courses this would lead to some grousing, here it works.

That is the thing about Lake Merced, what you think might not work on scorecard, works in person. The routing is great over hill and dale. The tee shots give you something to chew on as do the approach shots. The greens are in great shape. Sure the bunkering is a little ragged and they could do with some tree trimming but the bones of the course are great and I would gladly be a member there if I could, especially if they have a late afternoon membership:

The 18th hole is emblematic of the course as a hole as it is a fun, let it all hang out par 5 hole. You just wail away on shots until you can't wait anymore. If you can get on this gem, do it!

For more info on Lake Merced check out this link: https://www.lmgc.org/

Also do yourself a favor and check out Andrew's golf blog. This guy is a talented writer, golfer and all around good guy and well worth a bookmark: https://golfblogit.wordpress.com/

San Francisco Golf Club

San Francisco is a city that has an embarrassment of golf riches. Olympic has hosted several majors. TPC Harding Park has hosted multiple tour events as has Lake Merced. The eponymous golf club of San Fran is by contrast intensely private and eschews the spotlight of its neighbors but it is a world class track and I was lucky enough to play it recently.

What makes a golf course world class? I would argue it is the routing first and foremost. Does the course take advantage of what the land has to offer and create challenging and interesting holes for the golfer? Next are the conditions of the course in top shape (grass, sand, greens)? Further down the list but no less important is the history of the course and its place in the game.

SFGC has all of this in spades.

The routing of the first 9 holes of SFGC is perhaps the finest routing I have ever played. The first hole is a gentle handshake of a par 5 which gently drifts over some mounds but setting up a difficult return on the second hole which is set in an audacious valley right that sits parallel to the first hole.

From then on SFGC socks you in the mouth by going over hill and dale with fantastically framed tee shots, elevated greens, great bunkers and stellar greens. The front side culminates with perhaps the best 2 hole stretch on the planet, holes 7 and 8.

Both of these holes sit in the same valley with 7 being the famous downhill par 3 and then looking out over the expanse you can see what waits for you at hole 8. It is a tee box you want to stay on for a long time. 7 is a short but devilish hole with a crazy undulating green and significant bunker complexes. 8 is a fantastic driving hole with the banks of the hills sloping all around you leading to an elevate green.

The backside's routing doesn't hold up to the front as the course takes you over more flattish terrain although what it lacks in features, it more than makes up for with bunkers. I have never seen more and interesting bunkers then playing the back 9 of SFGC. The stars on the back are the par 3s, short but tenacious, these greens require all of your attention.

You find yourself back at the clubhouse after all too brief a round but what a way to end up! The clubhouse is a living, breathing history book showing you the connection of the course to golf history. There are amazing exhibits all over the place showing who has played the course, how the course has changed over the years, etc. Plus as  you are dining there, you can't help but feel part of golfing history.

SFGC holds onto its traditions which means no yardages, mandatory caddies eyeballing everything and no pictures of the course. The members want to preserve their place in history and in the shadows of San Francisco golf. While I feel that this course should be a little looser on how they run things and more open to the world so golfers can see its awesomeness, I respect what the members are doing there and am jealous at what a great golf course they have!