Don’t Have Tickets? Make a Tee Time Instead

By Vic Williams | posted October 5, 2009

While FG prepares to hang with Greg, Freddie and their respective dozen-man armies at Harding Park in San Francisco starting this Thursday — you can read the blow-by-blow blog right here starting Thursday through Monday, Oct. 12, after the United States and International teams wrap up the eighth Presidents Cup — most Americans will view the competition on TV between their own autumn rounds (you are still out there playing golf, aren’t you?), or during or after work.

Since the event is spread over four days instead of the Ryder Cup’s three, it’ll feel more like a regular PGA Tour stop, with the added bonus of team and individual match play deciding the outcome. And with Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Anthony and the rest strapping it on for nationalistic pride, make no mistake, for a golf fan this is must-see stuff.

If you’re still holding out hope to attend the Presidents Cup in person, it’s possible, but most likely you’ll have to go the inflated StubHub route or, if you’re so blessed, lobby for a VIP ticket through a business connection. Ticket sales have always been strong, but once International Captain Greg Norman announced Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa as one of his two captain’s picks — much-maligned Adam Scott is the other — demand for passes from the Bay Area’s large Asian population went through the roof. Korean star Y.E. Yang beating Tiger at the PGA only upped the ante, and now everyone wants to see those two duking it out again during the Sunday singles. That matchup is up to Norman and American skipper Fred Couples, but either way, the fact that Harding Park is truly an urban venue made a sell-out not just likely, but inevitable. Throw in the fact that October commonly serves up some of the region’s best golf weather (perfectly placed between summer’s fog and winter’s rains), and you’ve got the final recipe for gigantic crowds on the shores of Lake Merced.

If you can’t grab a greenside seat at Harding in person, but are lucky enough to be in the San Francisco area this week with clubs in tow, why not fill your own cup with some world-class par-seeking fun? We’re thinking three intense days of wall-to-wall golf by day, some killer San Fran, Wine Country or Monterey cuisine by night and ample doses of Golf Channel Prez Cup coverage in between. So, for the next three days, we’ll recommend a trio of courses in each of three destinations within a two-hour drive of the City by the Bay, moving north to south.

DAY ONE: The Links at Bodega Harbour, Yocha Dehe and Rancho Solano

It’ll take a hefty chunk of driving to get to two of these from the Embarcadero or North Beach, while the third — Rancho Solano, one of two stellar public layouts owned by the city of Fairfield — is about a half hour from the east end of the Bay Bridge, assuming traffic is moving at a fair pace up Interstate 80. Originally planned as a private club, Rancho Solano is one of the best deals in the Bay Area and delivers in every way, per management company Kemper Sports’ company-wide plan. Most importantly, it conjuries a great shot-by-shot story whether you’re a banger or bunter off the tee, whether you’re a careful calculator or scramblin’ fool. In its routing and detailing, architect Gary Roger Baird drew from his many direct and indirect design mentors — Robert Trent Jones, Alister Mackenzie, Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast — to forge a circuit that holds your attention, offers at least two strategic options off the tee and puts a premium on the approach and short game. Each nine starts with a 5-par, a feature we’ve always loved in a golf course, and the 3-pars are muscular; No. 12 stretches to 233 yards from the tips. Water figures on eight holes and there’s a great mix of short and long 4-pars. And, just to keep the flatstick warm, Rancho Solano’s greens are huge even by modern standards to accommodate healthy breezes blowing off the bay 15 or so miles to the West.

A ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and up Highway 101 to Petaluma, then due west through rolling farmland to the Pacific and the little burg of Bodega Bay, brings you to the Links at Bodega Harbour, where Robert Trent Jones Jr. took some links-like elements and applied them to what’s decidedly non-linksy terrain. The front nine in particular heaves and tumbles through coastal hills, over sandy arroyos and between iceplant-choked knolls — complete with a double-kinked 5-par followed by backi-to-back 3-pars — before diving dramatically down toward the water for its outstanding three-hole finale (No 16, which plays over reedy wetlands to a narrow fairway separated from the beach by a single berm, is one of the best short 4-pars anywhere). New greens and bunkering gave the course fresh new life in 2008, and its remoteness, along with unassuming service and some great nearby lodging, is what makes Bodega such a surprising mini-getaway joy.

Yocha Dehe is something else altogether, a relatively new “amenity” built to make Native American-owned Cache Creek Casino Resort in Brooks, Calif. — an hour west of Sacramento and 90 minutes from San Francisco — even more attractive to weekenders. For day-visit golfers Brad Bell’s bucolic layout is no less inspiring than Bodega in setting, layout or challenge. In fact, tee to green it’s the toughest track among this trio thanks to capricious breezes barreling through its secluded north-south valley, fascinating green complexes, tricky water features and just enough elevation change to make club selection a careful chore. Set apart from the resort itself, with a nine-month-old hillside clubhouse looking out over the entire course, Yocha Dehe (named after the tribe that has occupied the Capay Valley for thousands of years) has the bones of a Tour venue, and should host a big event someday. Maybe even a Presidents Cup.

www.fairfieldgolf.com
www.linksatbodegaharbour.com
www.yocha-de-hegolfclub.com

Vic Williams is editor and publishing partner of Fairways + Greens, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to golf, travel and lifestyle for the West and beyond. He has written thousands of stories on golf and will cover every facet of the game right here, primarily travel but also the major tours, equipment, personalities and more. Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it