If you’re feeling the itch to head to the fairway or hit the driving range, make sure to pack up the clubs and go because August is National Golf Month. Not only is the weather perfect for a few rounds, but there are plenty of outstanding golf courses in the Bay Area ... Here are a few suggestions:
TPC Harding Park - San Francisco
TPC Harding Park offers two impressive courses that are open to the public – Harding Park and Fleming 9. The combined 18 hole Harding Park and Fleming 9 hole courses create not only a challenging experience for each golfer, but also a scenic one, while amidst lush vegetation, towering, unique Monterey Cypress trees, and tranquil Lake Merced. TPC Harding Park has been honored as "#13 Municipal Golf Course in the United States," as well as the "#24 Best Course to Play in California," by Golfweek Magazine. Golf Digest Magazine has also named it as, "one of the Best Places to Play," ranking it a 4.5 star golf course. Since its recent renovations in 2005, TPC Harding Park has been honored to host the WGC-American Express Championship in 2005, the President's Cup in 2009, and the Champions Tour Charles Schwab Cup in both 2010 and 2011. Spanning over almost a full century, and enduring a Herculean journey, TPC Harding Park is proud to say the course has returned to its 1920s' former glory.
Presidio Golf Course - San Francisco
The prestigious Presidio golf course opened for public play in 1995 and has quickly gained a reputation as one of the nation's top public courses. Located just minutes from downtown San Francisco, this 18-hole course plays 6,500 yards of challenging golf winding through beautiful Eucalyptus and Monterey Pine trees in The City's trademark hills.
Designed with tight fairways and strategically placed bunkers, this 18-hole "hilly" golf course offers a unique challenge for golfers of all abilities. Orginally designed by Robert Wood Johnstone, the course was expanded in 1910 by Johnstone in collaboration with Wiliam McEwan and redesigned and lengthened in by the British firm of Fowler & Simpson in 1921.http://www.presidiogolf.com/
Designed with tight fairways and strategically placed bunkers, this 18-hole "hilly" golf course offers a unique challenge for golfers of all abilities. Orginally designed by Robert Wood Johnstone, the course was expanded in 1910 by Johnstone in collaboration with Wiliam McEwan and redesigned and lengthened in by the British firm of Fowler & Simpson in 1921.http://www.presidiogolf.com/
Sharp Park - S. San Francisco
Sharp Park has been called a "treasure of international golf architecture, by one of history’s great artists." What makes this course so special is not just its unique design heritage, but that it is a public course--a public course in a spectacular setting, loved and played by a diverse group of residents and visitors to San Francisco and the Northern Peninsula. Men, women and children of all ages, ethnicities, and lifestyles gather for exercise, companionship and competition in a highly accessible and affordable setting.
http://sharpparkgc.ghinclub.com/
http://sharpparkgc.ghinclub.com/
Lincoln Park Golf Course - San Francisco
With its majestic views of the Golden Gate and the Pacific Ocean, Lincoln Park Golf Course has always been a beautiful public asset to be treasured. Numerous renovations over the past century have added an interesting element to a course, which was once a burial ground and is presently the surrounding home of a beautiful art museum.
At the turn of the 20th century there were no municipal golf courses in San Francisco or in any of the surrounding communities. The general public, who did not have access or were unable to afford the country club setting for golfing recreation, began to press the City to set aside some public land to be groomed as a public golf course. At this point in time, the parcel of land now referred to as Lincoln Park was a cemetery named Potter’s Field. Like many cemeteries of that era, it was ethnically divided into various sections. What is presently the 18th fairway of the golf course was a burial ground, primarily for the city’s Italian community. The area that now constitutes the 1st and 13th fairways was the Chinese section of the cemetery, and the high terrain at the 15th fairway and 13th tee was a Serbian resting place.
At the beginning of 1902, Jack Neville and Vincent Whitney approached John McLaren, San Francisco’s steward of public parks, about the prospect of constructing a municipal golf course. Jack Neville at the time was considered one of the finest amateur golfers in the country and would go on to design such classic golf courses as Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterrey and Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles. Vincent Whitney was a member of the Olympic Club and owned the Whitney Building, which stood for years on lower Geary Street. Both of these men were wealthy members of private clubs but were very instrumental in starting San Francisco’s first municipal golf course. John McLaren encouraged Neville and Whitney to try their hand at constructing some golf holes that the Potter’s Field site. At the time golf was still considered a game to be played on links land as near to the ocean as possible, and Potter’s Field, despite it being an existing cemetery, was considered a good site. By the end of 1902 a three-hole layout was completed on the hilly, wind-swept, and almost treeless land. These three holes occupied what are presently the 1st, 12th and 13th holes of the modern course.
The popularity of the new links, which were free to the public, led to the expansion of the course and the eventual removal of the cemetery. Lincoln Park, named after Abraham Lincoln, became a full 18-hole course in 1917. It was at this point that the first City golf tournament was played at the Lincoln Park Golf Course. During the 1920s, the cost to play at Lincoln Park was $ 2.00 per month for the full 18. Herbert Fowler, who worked on Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Scotland, added nine of those holes and redesigned the course in the early 1920s. The course was redesigned again in the 1960s by Jack Fleming, who assisted Dr. Alister Mackenzie in the construction of some of the Bay Area’s greatest courses, including Cypress Point, Pasatiempo and, of course, Sharp Park.
Poplar Creek - San Mateo
Originally built in 1933 as a way to aid unemployed laborers during the Depression and named San Mateo Municipal, the course is home to the San Mateo County Championship and the O'Brien Junior Tournament, which has had such notable past winners as PGA Tour Professionals Johnny Miller, Keith Clearwater, and Mark Lye.
Since the middle 1960's the course has averaged nearly 100,000 rounds per year, making it one of the most popular golf courses in northern California.
The course was closed in April, 1999 for a complete renovation and new routing plan. In July, 2000 the course re-opened with a new look and a new name - Poplar Creek - landmarking the flow of Poplar Creek through the golf course.http://www.poplarcreekgolf.com/course/
Since the middle 1960's the course has averaged nearly 100,000 rounds per year, making it one of the most popular golf courses in northern California.
The course was closed in April, 1999 for a complete renovation and new routing plan. In July, 2000 the course re-opened with a new look and a new name - Poplar Creek - landmarking the flow of Poplar Creek through the golf course.http://www.poplarcreekgolf.com/course/
San Jose Municipal Golf Course - San Jose
For over 40 years San Jose Municipal Golf Course has been called home to thousands of south bay golfers. With a tremendous location near the major freeways of 101,880, & 280 this hangout is easy to get to. A straight forward layout with open fairways on flat terrain offers a pleasant experience for golfers of all abilities. It’s the perfect course if you like to walk. A course that is always in excellent condition, the championship yardage has been increased with construction of several new tee boxes. From the tips “the muni” plays well over 6700 yards. While not the punishing round featured at some of the newly designed courses (that’s a relief), San Jose Municipal Golf Course is sure to provide a challenging, enjoyable day of golf.
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