MACKENZIE
The Golden Gate from Marshall's Beach, below the Presidio

California 100 · a trip

Home game

when the friends fly in: the city's three, no night away

2 nights · fly SFO · 20m to the first tee · 45m from SF by car · green fees $542–669 a head · 3 of 3 played

The Golden Gate from Marshall's Beach, below the Presidio · Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
directions ↗

The trip for the weekend the friends come to you. Harding Park is the municipal course that hosted a Presidents Cup and a PGA Championship and still charges muni money to anyone with a city card; the finishing stretch along Lake Merced through the cypress is championship golf fifteen minutes from the house. The Presidio is the 1895 army course inside a national park, hilly and tree-lined with glimpses of the Golden Gate, the right afternoon round for a group that has just got off a plane. Half Moon Bay is the day out: Arthur Hills' Ocean course runs along the bluffs south of the harbour, links-ish and windy, and finishes with the 18th hard along the cliff edge to the Ritz-Carlton, where the fire pits and the bagpiper at sunset are the best 19th hole in the Bay Area. Three rounds, two drives, and everyone sleeps in their own bed — yours.

SFO#29#38#42
SFO ✈ then #29 → #38 → #42 · the dashed line is the order, not the roadmap National Geographic, Esri, Garmin, HERE, UNEP-WCMC, USGS, NASA, ESA, METI, NRCAN, GEBCO, NOAA

the courses

  1. #29TPC Harding ParkSan Francisco · $205–282 · B+ value · 15m from SF · 9 mi from SFOplayed
  2. #38Half Moon Bay — OceanHalf Moon Bay · $202–237 · B value · 45m from SF · 17 mi from #29played
  3. #42PresidioSan Francisco · $135–150 · A- value · 15m from SF · 22 mi from #38played
Harding Park's 18th, cypress and Lake Merced
Harding Park's 18th, cypress and Lake MercedTinou Bao from San Francisco, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

#29 TPC Harding Park

The Ocean course along the bluffs at Half Moon Bay
The Ocean course along the bluffs at Half Moon BayEduardo Manchon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

#38 Half Moon Bay — Ocean

The Presidio course under its cypress
The Presidio course under its cypressDaderot · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

#42 Presidio

the rest of the weekend

The Ritz-Carlton on the bluff at Half Moon Bay
The Ritz-Carlton on the bluff at Half Moon BayMARELBU · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

the logistics

airport
SFO San Francisco, 20m — to Harding Park; the Presidio is 25 minutes, Half Moon Bay 35 down Highway 1
sleep
your spare room. Everyone lands at SFO and nobody rents a car — Harding and the Presidio are a ride away, Half Moon Bay is the one drive
when
September and October are the clear months in the city; summer is fog at Half Moon Bay until noon and wind at Harding after it. Non-resident rates are quoted; a city resident card halves Harding and Presidio.
  1. Fri · pick up, Presidio in the afternoon under the eucalyptus with the bridge at the end of the fairways, dinner in the Richmond
  2. Sat · Harding Park, the muni that held the 2020 PGA — the cypress holes along Lake Merced from 14 in are the test. Giants game or the Marina for the evening
  3. Sun · Half Moon Bay Ocean course on the bluffs, the 18th along the cliff to the Ritz, fire pits and a drink before the airport