If anyone has Presidents’ Day (mon the 17th) off and wants a game I’m booking me and my non refuge bud at Sharp 7:50am. 2 spots open - just book on their site if you want to join.
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I live in Novato, and been here my whole life except for about 10 years in SoCal. I will have to try Bennett as I have never been there before. I cycle a few regular courses with a pretty tight group of friends and manage to play at least once a week. Fortunately a few of them are members at Marin, so I play there a lot.
Not sure about myself yet, wife would be going to Facebook.
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sonoma county is the best place to live in my humble opinion.
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I have played Pebble. It’s certainly pricey, but you can make a tee time a day or two in advance without having to stay overnight at the resort (which is nice since its just an hour drive away). I get that the value is relative, but IMO the memories of playing PB are well worth whatever sacrifice you have to make to pay that price.
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SFGC has traditionally been ranked the highest. I’ve not played it personally, but if its better than Cal Club it must be effing fantastic because Cal Club is really really good. Olympic is too hard to be any fun.
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That commute is rough. But virtually all commutes are going to be rough. Baylands is a super fun course that you could play in the evening while traffic dies down and head back over the bridge afterwards.
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Have never driven. You can get a decent rate on the United flight from SFO to North Bend. Worth the time savings in my opinion.
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Which ones? Yellow grass can be damn play on. Firm, fast, and yellow >> green and soft.
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Sure there are snakes around, but its not a real problem
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Would you say Pebble is too hard to be any fun as well? That’s what i’m worried most about. I think I can come up with the $550 alright, but as a 14 handicap I worry about playing a 5+ hour round in windy conditions and hitting it in the greenside bunkers on half the holes. I also worry that the inland holes will not wow me. This is coming from a person who has played few notable courses. I’m seriously considering playing it this summer, but leaning against it.
Absolutely not. Throw your scorecard away and go enjoy it. Plus it’s not overly difficult.
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I haven’t driven to Bandon yet but I did some calculations in the Bandon thread currently going on this site. It’s not as cut and dried as you’d think if you factor in the potential for travel delays and flight cancellations going into north bend:
Anyone drive from the SF Bay Area to Bandon as opposed to flying? It’s a little over 8 hours to get there via car from here. Seems like once you factor in flights and airports and driving things start to get close to being a wash. I’m not going to add in the time to pickup the rental car because that probably offsets with some gas/bathroom/food stops when driving the whole way.
Drive time home to airport: 30-45 minutes
Early arrival to airport wait time: 1:30 hours
Bay Area to Portland Flight: 1:45 hours
Portland to Bandon Drive: 4:00 hours
Add this together and it’s roughly 8 hoursIf flying into Eugene drive time to bandon is reduced by 1.5-2 hours
So it’s a 6-6.5 hour trip.North Bend is obviously super close to Bandon but the idea of planning a whole trip and having it get fucked because of a flight cancellation sounds like a nightmare.
Would be driving up with multiple people so obviously costs are exponentially cheaper than flying.
I’ve actually driven to Portland (10 hrs) and back twice. My wife and I had some biz stuff up there And the past few years we decided to make a week out of it. Took the dog etc. this yr we’re just flying for a long weekend.
Anyway, Long story short 8 & 1/2 hours to Bandon is certainly doable but the flight into North Bend is pretty appealing.
I guess it depends on what you like.
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Born in the Bay Area and lived here for 37 years. Never played Pebble. The cost is crazy. Will I play it some day, maybe but frankly it is not a course I lust over the thought of playing.
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Haven’t played any of these but I think the consensus would be SFGC and Cal Club pretty far ahead of Olympic.
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All commutes in the Bay are pretty terrible. Being in Union City or Fremont actually puts you in a better commute spot than a lot of people commuting across the bay.
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Never driven but planning to. Seems like the best value option at potentially a similar travel time depending on where you fly into.
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What courses are you looking at? But yes the majority of the grass does not go dormant in the bay area so things are pretty green. You will run into some courses being very wet and muddy in a typical winter due to rain and poor drainage. But as we phase in and out of droughts you could also be playing in your shorts in January.
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No its not too hard. Usually windier in the afternoon. Get the first tee time and you can play in under 4 hours. Its a “bucket list” course that everyone should play at least once. Try to take the experience in and forget about your score.
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The way I look at it is if I win the fantasy league (EPL) i’m leading in at the moment and win $450, then pebble will technically only cost me $100.
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Two HUGE pros for driving:
- you can hit up Northwood and
- you can stop off and visit @Bagger
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Here is my shortlist for courses to visit in the region. Probably going to take me 3 years or more to visit and afford all of these.
Near: Corica, Baylands, Wente, Callippe Preserve, Sharp Park, Half Moon Bay, Presidio
Beyond: Pasatiempo, Bayonet, Pacific Grove, Pebble, Northwood, Bodega Bay, Poppy Hills, Yocha Dehe, Haggin Oaks
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Solid list. Very solid.
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im down to go play all of them…
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I’ll be back in this thread in a few months, assuming my trip solidifies, for some locals to play around the first week of July (weekdays).
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Looking to snag two more people to join me and a buddy in this St Pattys tourney down at Bayonet (never played but can’t pass this up from what I’ve heard) - anyone interested?
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If you wanna stay in the North Bay, the best public-access course is Northwood, despite it only being 9 holes. After that, courses worth playing (not including IV and Peacock) include Windsor, Tayman Park (also 9 holes), Bodega Bay and Bennett Valley. A lot of dudes I play with like Rooster Run, but I think it’s meh, and the same goes for both courses at Foxtail.
If Aetna Springs were still open, I’d tell you to pop over there, but rumors are that the new ownership isn’t sure when/if it will reopen.
A lot of love for Northwood in the Refuge. I’ve played it twice, but not in probably 10 years. I thought it was fine and I enjoyed playing among redwoods. But I don’t recall much about the routing or even any of the holes. So, I guess I don’t see why folks seem to fawn over it so much. I’m probably not woke enoughto get it, and certainly need to get back out there, but wondered why folks love it so much. If McKenzie’s name weren’t attached to it, would folks really rave about it?