TPC Harding Park - San Francisco

[soloredd]

Anyone got some experiences at Harding Park? Heading up tomorrow to my friend's who lives in the city and we are playing Harding on Monday and Presidio on Tuesday. Harding looked awesome during the President's Cup two years ago but I've also heard it has had its lesser moments.

Course doesn't look to play overly long but just hoping the wind is not too crazy. Weather has been beautiful the past couple days.

[mvmac]

Harding has been a special place for my family.  My Dad actually grew up working at the cart barn with my great Uncle who was the head pro at the time.  Before the re-model, it was one of the courses I grew up playing with my Grandfather.  Played some of my best golf on that course during the SF city tourney :)

Like you said, it's not super long, but the greens are smaller than most.  Not sure where you are from but the ball doesn't go as far in that area, so add 1/2 to a full club more.  The best stretch of holes are from 14-18.  From 14 tee you can see the Olympic Club Ocean and Lake course to the left, across Lake Merced.

[drglew]

i played those exact two courses during a trip several years ago.  Harding was very nice, alhtough not spectacular (not in a Monterey peninsula sort of way) though.  Presidio's conditioning was a little worse, but i remember liking the routing and some of the views.

The biggest pain was that the rounds were PAINFULLY slow, i.e. Presidio took 5-1/2 hours, and I couldn't even finish my Harding round due to darkness (got through 15 holes in 4-1/2 hours).  When finishing many holes, you had to sit down and watch up to two groups ahead of you tee off.  Unless things have radically changed, bring a book or something to entertain yourself!

[soloredd]

Thanks for the replies.

mvmac - Appreciate the suggestion for adding some club. Will definitely keep that in mind. I'm coming in from Fresno where we have dry weather. Heading out today @ 1130 for Harding so will post back tonight.

drglew - Sounds ominous! I'm not down with rounds 5.5+ hours. Yikes. Hopefully we won't run into too much of that on a Monday morning but who knows. My buddy played Presidio a couple months back and said the pacing was pretty good so we shall see. Tomorrow is Presidio so I'll let you know.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by soloredd

mvmac - Appreciate the suggestion for adding some club. Will definitely keep that in mind. I'm coming in from Fresno where we have dry weather.

Fresno is less than 300 feet above sea level. Harding Park is on the coast. The difference in elevation is going to be negligible in club distances. If anything, you'll need *less* club going from dry weather to humid. Overall, wind will probably play more of a factor than either elevation or humidity.

[DoGolf Jonathan]

This is an awesome course.  If you have time to play it, its a definite must.

[sfbayareagolfer]

Harding is my home course. To address your concerns, a typical round is about 4-1/2 to 5 hours and wind is not usually an issue.

It's a great course... Good luck on 4 and 16!