Playing the California Golf Club in San Francisco today.

[toogood]

So our course is closed this week for aerification, so a couple of our assistants and our director of instruction are going up to play the California Golf Club in San Francisco today.

I'm really excited as they just re-opened after an almost 2 year closing of rebuilding the entire course to take it back to it's original design from 1918. It's not the longest course you'll play but it has ~185 bunkers to contend with.

It should be fun.

[clearwaterms]

do you have a link?

was it longer before?

what is your normal round? and you will have to tell us what you shoot?

why have you waited this long to play it?

[underparnv]

http://www.thegolfclubofcalifornia.com/

Don't know the answers to the rest though...

[Fat Slice]

That club looks to be in San Diego. I think maybe this one? http://www.calclub.org/

[ks8829]

I played that course before the redesign about four times and loved the layout and the condition of the course. I drive by it more than a dozen times a month and noticed the driving range is uphill where one of the down hill holes use to be.

Let us know what you think of the new design and conditions of the course.

[toogood]

Well, let's put it this way. The course won.

I shot an 86, and didn't lose one ball, or have any penalty strokes. It was quite the challenge.

This was the first time I'd played the course so I can't compare it to the previous course, but based on this course. I loved it. The redesign was intended to bring the course back to it's old school roots, and they definitely achieved that. There were four sets of tees, and we played the tips, which they called the 'Venturi Tees' 7219 was the distance and it played every bit of it.

To start the head pro tells us that carts aren't allowed on the first 5 holes so we have to walk, no big deal. Then he tells us that there are no yardages marked anywhere on the course. Now that was a challenge. I'm used to at least having a 150 yard marker to gauge myself on. Try playing a course with no yardages whatsoever apart from the tees. It's a major test of your game, figuring out yardages based solely on feel and judging with your eyes.

The course was redesigned with the feel that it was just naturally there with no 'work' to it. I think they achieved it. There are 185 bunkers on the course and all of them felt like they could have been naturally occuring. They all 'fit' their location on the course, and had very much an old course feel. Jagged edges, long grass, no yardages, no hole signs, very subtle tee markers. Very minimalist.

So although I got my game handed back to me on a platter, I had a great time and enjoyed myself a lot. I'm expecting an improvement tomorrow when I play Silver Creek Valley Country Club tomorrow ( http://www.scvcc.com/ ) so I expect things to be much better.

[ks8829]

Well, let's put it this way. The course won.

My brother lives at Silver Creek and I played the course about 2 times, you'll enjoy yourself.

[toogood]

My brother lives at Silver Creek and I played the course about 2 times, you'll enjoy yourself.

Yeah, it's a good course. I've played it a few times. The current First Assistant there is my former boss at my current club. So I know the guys that work there pretty well. It should be fun.