Notable, influential architects Robert Earl Baldock (1908- 2000). A former associate of Southern California-based Golden It’s too bad all designers don’t
have the freedom of land and the low density of housing that Nicklaus had with Mayacama. A big part of design is fighting for the integrity of golf, sometimes against developers whose primary interest is real estate, or other times against marketers coveting the publicity of what once used to be called “signature holes.” (We can at least be thankful that the term is now out of date, uttered only by novice writers at press events.) Back in early 1995, when the
land boom was devouring farmland throughout the Sacramento Valley and the biggest crop on former agricultural parcels seemed to be real estate golf, Palo Alto-based designer Robert Trent (“Bobby”) Jones Jr. was at work at Ser- rano Country Club in El Dorado Hills, 30 miles east of the state capitol build- ing. The routing formed what’s called double-loaded corridors, meaning real estate paralleled holes were placed in solo or tandem formation. At the tee of the par-3 sixth hole, with water down the entire right side to a green set diagonally to the hazard, one of the
Ranked in the Region
Northern California courses ranked in Golf Magazine’s “Top 100 Golf Courses You Can Play” list for 2013-14:
#2
#11 #15 #44
Pebble Beach Golf Links Douglas Grant and Jack Neville (1919)
Spyglass Hill Golf Course Robert Trent Jones (1966)
Pasatiempo Golf Club Alister MacKenzie (1929)
The Links at Spanish Bay Robert Trent Jones Jr., Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum (1987)
CordeValle Golf Club #58 Robert Trent Jones Jr. (1999)
30 /
NCGA.ORG / WINTER 2015
Cypress Point starts through a maritime forest and transitions to sandy dunes before its famous 15th, 16th and 17th holes.
Age designer/builder William Park Bell, Baldock worked out of Fresno, then Costa Mesa and succeeded on a large scale through efficiently designed, modest but playable courses, including Baywood GCC, Butte Creek CC, Chimney Rock GC, the original Monterey Peninsula CC – Shore Course, Ponderosa GC and Soule Park GC.
Robert Muir Graves (1930-2003). A Walnut Creek-based designer who championed training
in landscape architecture for course design, Graves built dozens of new and renovated courses in Northern California, co-authored several books on course design, and created a legendary summer workshop at Harvard University.
John Harbottle III (1959-2012). A standout collegiate golfer and protégé of Pete Dye, Harbottle was heavily influenced by Scottish links; his new designs include Cinnabar Hills, Schaffer’s Mill and Stevinson Ranch.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. (b. 1939). Dozens of courses, both new and renovated, were built by the elder son of the Hall of Fame architect, including Bodega Harbour, Resort at Squaw Creek, Poppy Hills, Links at Spanish Bay, Serrano and Granite Bay.
Alister MacKenzie (1870-1934). Meadow Club, Northwood, Pasatiempo, Cypress Point, Haggin
Oaks, Sharp Park. Enough said? Kyle Phillips (b. 1958). A longtime associate of Robert Trent Jones Jr., Phillips has been on his
own since 1997, with design credits for Morgan Creek GC and major renovations of Del Paso CC, California Golf Club of San Francisco and Menlo CC.
William “Willie” Watson (1860-1941). An émigré who worked intensively during the
interwar Golden Age of Design, Watson designed the original Olympic Club-Ocean Course as well as the club’s Lake Course, plus Harding Park, Orinda CC, Diablo Hills, Menlo CC and Mira Vista GCC.
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