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It says something about a golf course when it’s listed along with an olive oil farm on Google Maps. I had the pleasure of being invited by Steve Pajak, the golf editor at the Sacramento Bee, for his On Tour series.
The course should be divided into three parts: the first nine, the second nine and all eighteen greens. The front is a placement game, none of the par-4s are above 400 yards and a driver wil get you into more trouble than a shot towards the fairway. The first seven holes are all doglegs, with some elevation changes from tee to fairway. If you look at all but the slope/rating for the course, you’d think it wouldn’t be anything unusual. 6479 yards from the Blue tees, the first nine is even less than 3000 yards. However, the 147/72.3 numbers on the right side of the scorecard come from the greens.
The opening hole is an uphill dogleg right where a power fade is the ideal shot, the second hole a downhill dogleg left with an elevated green that adds a club to the approach. That green is severely sloped back to front and one of my playing partners had to hit his putt from the back and ended up eight yards off the green.
The third hole is almost a chip shot downhill to a green with a lake in front for some protection. With the elevated tee box, target a few yards behind the pin and let the spin take care of the rest.
The green on the fourth hole is the focal point. I didn’t pace it off, but the green is approximately 50 yards across and 12 deep. With a bunker across the front and two on the backside. The pin was towards the front of the green when I played, but I put my approach shot in the front bunker. I decided to fly it 20 yards past the green and had to hit a pitch shot from the top of the hill back down which put me across the green again. Thankfully I drained the last chip shot to save a bogey.
Be warned for the water hazard that crosses the sixth fairway. My GPS told me it was 225 to clear the weeds, but the 45° weather and crosswind left the 3-wood wet. My playing partners used either a 5-iron to lay up or a driver to get across. Either/or would work, and be sure to shoot to the flag.
The seventh hole is supposed to be the toughest on the course, with a 190-220 yard downhill shot to the landing area with another 120-140 downhill shot to a large green that is supposed to be surrounded by water. Right now it’s a 5-wood, 8-iron and 3 putt with an empty marshland surrounding the green. The green itself is large, quick and protected by an olive tree grove on the high side, but not necessarily difficult. Fire at the pin to shrink the green and it should be easier.
The eighth and ninth are the first two holes where a driver can be used and target golf doesn’t come into play. With straight shots off the tee, and some rescue areas for errant shots, these two holes are only notable in that first nine ends 1-17-3 on the handicap rating.
The second nine opens up the course and transforms it from a target course to an open links style format. It felt moreso like that since the skies were gray, the grass a dormant rye, and the trees down to a bare winter bark. A quick tip from the pro on the tenth hole, aim down the left side and hit to the eighth fairway. The hole is down the left side of a longer par-5 and this takes the woods to the right out of play.
The eleventh hole is a similar go/no-go akin to the fifth. Either go with a driver to clear the waste area or a five iron to lay up short. This green is the rare front to back slope that makes the approach shot easier (when not muffed). Aim short and let the bounce/roll take care of the rest if the pin is in the middle or back, take a club and a half less if in the front.
Golfers may recognize the twelfth hole as the driving range. It’s also the only par-4 over 400 yards, with OB and access road on the left and a waste area on the right. The approach shot leaves an uphill approach guarded by a creek short, OB long and a waste collection area on the right.
A hidden bunker greets a good drive on the par-5 double dipped thirteenth. The hole is a dogleg left that heads over a hill with a bunker on the right side. The downhill second shot needs to clear a waste area for a 150 uphill shot to the green. I’m happy I parred the hole after going into the bunker, left side rough and two putted. The green is somewhat cock-eyed to the fairway as it originally called for a much more severe angle to the green, but the actual construction took a softer turn.
The next two holes are notable due to their elevated teeboxes and requiring a target shot. The fourteenth is a 195-yard par-3 that played shorter due to a tailwind and elevation change. Steve hit a 175 shot to four feet and my push found a stone-lined bunker short right and popped into the water. At least I put my chip to within a few feet and saved the bogey. The strategy for the fifteenth is easy, aim at the tree and miss. An olive grove protects the weak side and a waste area on the left. There’s also a small creek in front of the green protecting any short shots to the elongated green.
The eighteenth is a consummate finishing hole. Check the GPS as a hidden waste area lies at the 260 mark taking the driver out of play unless you can hit a 290 drive on the fly. Aim towards the 150 post for the second shot to line up an approach to the green. While hidden from the fairway, aim to the right side of the green, as the pro demonstrated the severity of the slope. All shots will collect to the right side of the 45-yard wide green, and the pro hit a couple of pitch shots towards the back left corner from 20 yards out. All of the shots trickled down most of the way of the green. Aim right and putt uphill, as each shot will collect there anyhow. The course also has a scoreboard set up behind the green, with plans to place bleachers for viewing. The scoreboard will be linked in to the on-cart scorecard so finishing groups will have their scores flashed up.
The greens truly define the course. They’re slick, sloped and large. The carts come with GPS and show distances to the front, back and pin. Pay attention to the pin location as the greens can be shrunk down by firing at them. The greens also hold shots pretty well, but anyone with a high shot will have some additional spin because of their speed and slope. You may want to club up and hit a three quarter shot into the green to minimize backspin causing the ball to slide off the front of the green. This isn’t too bad of a thing though, as uphill chips are easier shots to handle than downhill putts.
I ended up in bunkers on #1, 4, 13, 15 and 16. The sand is compact and the landscape netting pokes through in a few spots. One of the downsides of the course is a stone-in-mortar wall that affects some bunkers. There isn’t a local rule in place yet clarifying their status, whether they are an immovable obstruction, an integral part of the course or an integral part of the bunker itself. I didn’t have to hit a shot in or near the rocks, but I couldn’t imagine trying. Anyone ending up in them would need to take a drop out of the area.
A few additional notes about the course. The course has an interesting backstory, which Steve researched pretty well. Come with provisions as the clubhouse is pretty light on those. Our deal included a made to order sandwich from a local deli and additional sundries. It does, however, sell olive oil and artisan soaps. The soaps are for a planned spa facility and the oil is literally made from the olives on the course; I think we walked away with a few bottles in the end. One of the legends of the course is that the owner got into a tiff with the county and maintained his course was a agro-tourism destination and did not sell tee times. However, you could buy a bottle of olive oil and get access to the facilities which happened to include a golf course. A bottle was $100. Genius.
The 12th hole currently doubles as the practice area. A warm-up facility will be added when the course is complete, but the practice green is insufficient for players to get the full scope of the greens on the course. The speed is similar, but it lacks the different slopes, bumps and especially the distances you’ll have to putt to.
I’m not sure if it is the newness of the course, the fact they can’t advertise much due to restrictions on play or the general weather conditions, but it was wide open. One of the members of our group tried to make the tee time at 10AM, we were told it was taken and asked if we wanted the 10:15. When we showed up on the first tee, we found ourselves behind the only other group on the course for the day. Thankfully they let us play through on the first but it still took us 5 hours to finish the round.
In the end, I shot a 90 with 6 penalty strokes and 3 3-putts on the front, which accounted for too many extra strokes. This is the type of course that will humble a good golfer, and challenging enough to make me want to come back to improve and maintain a respectable score.
Note: Another review I did back in 2000. I’ll be traveling to San Diego at the end of March and may have the chance to update the review.
With dormant rye grass fairways and kikiyu greens, any golfer will get a good roll off their drives, but on the flip side, must hit a high arching shot to place the ball on the greens or hit a three bouncer onto the green and hope it will stop near the hole. The low handicapper could probably pull off the former, the rest of us should stick with the latter method.
The long hitter can have a field day with the par-5’s, as four of the five par-5’s are under 500 yards and easily reachable with the amount of roll garnered off of the fairways. For those who don’t have long distance off of the tee, the par fives should play as easy pars, with wide fairways, and little rough to slow you down.
The first par-5 is a mere 606 yards from the tips, those who use the whites only have 597 yards. Number 3 is the only par 5 with a challenge, as it dogleg’s left with a blind second shot that is crucial to place the third shot onto the highly elevated and large green. One of the drawbacks with this hole are the golfers themselves.
The hole usually backs up at the second shot point as there is inevitably one golfer (like me) who believes they are able to reach the green or place a fairway wood to about 130 from the hole for an easy third shot. Though this is possible, be forewarned that play may slow down on this hole.
The next “par-5″ is a mere 466 yards, a tempting target for us long hitters, and an easy hole for the regular length golfers. It poses little challenge and can be easily parred or birdied with a bit of skill. The same is true for the other four par 5’s on the course. They are all under 500 yards and can be reached in two strokes. The majority of golfers should find them to be easy pars with an occasional birdie.
To compensate for the short par fives, the par threes make up in their distance. There are two par threes over 200 yards, necessitating a long iron or a short wood off of the tee.
Number 8 is a 210 yard challenge that can seem foreboding on a dark, damp night. Though straightforward, it only allows for a golfer to have a 15 yard margin of error, right or left, to make it stay on the green. This may be a challenge to golfers who have difficulty with their long irons or short woods. The other longer par 3 is number 12. It’s carded at 208 yards, but has an elevated green that necessitates a longer shot off of the tee.
Again though, golfers should remember that a nice bounce and a good roll are the norm on this course, and may be used to their advantage. After all, why not hit a little less and let the course take some of the workload off of the golfer?
Though short, the par fours on the course are deceptively tricky. They come equipped with slopes, downhill, uphill, and side hill, leaving golfers with uneven lies and shifting distances to the greens. These slopes also cause the golfer to focus on hitting a good shot, rather than the shot that is necessary to get to and stay on the green.
No. 5 is one of the fun par fours. Listed as 369 on the card, its length is sufficiently shortened by the fact that the tee box is about 70 feet higher than the fairway. It allows the golfer to get a nice head start on the hole and one of the best sights a golfer can see; that of the ball just floating in air as the hangtime increases another two or three seconds.
Though there is a pond on the hole, either a 210 yard lay-up shot off the tee or a 250 normal drive can remove that threat. It is an easy hole, and very fun to drive.
Another interesting par 4 is No. 7, which looks on the card as a menacing dogleg left with bunkers guarding the hole and a stream forcing the golfer to either lay up and take a fairway wood out or to drive it and have a mid iron into the green. Worry not though because of the generous roll and bounce, the hole plays less than the listed 412 yards and the stream slicing the fairway is one of the drainage ditches described below.
Additionally one of the interesting par 4’s is No. 13. Listed at 387 yards, it employs a number of hillocks, slopes, and tricks of the trade to distort the hole. Off the tee, the fairway slopes to diagonally to the right, giving the hole an illusion of being a dogleg. Also, the bowl shaped green is placed underneath the down slope of a hillock, thus reducing the distance to the hole and forcing the golfer to lay up to take advantage of the roll provided.
If the golfer decides to take a normal shot into the green, it would most likely roll off to the back of the green, giving the golfer a tough uphill putt on a two tiered green.
The last of the fun par 4’s is the last hole on the course. No. 18 is a dogleg left with a large overhanging tree on the left side of the tee box. This discourages long drives off the tee to the left and easier side of the hole.
Golfers are forced to aim to the right of the tee box and attempt to draw it back, those that hit it far enough will find the rough, albeit at 130 yards or less. Another deterrent on this hole is a large bunker sitting at the 120 marker in the middle of the fairway that prevents shots getting too close to the green.
The hazards on the course are few and far between. Bunkers are placed more to stop a ball from rolling into someone’s back yard than to punish the golfer for an errant shot.
In fact, there are only 41 bunkers on the whole course and almost never come into play. If they do, golfers should thank them, usually saving the ball and a two stroke OB penalty. What passes for a stream on the scorecard maps are actually drainage ditches with a free drop. The only “lakes” listed on the maps are nestled in areas that rarely, if ever, come into play.
Because of the houses ringing the course, there is a number of out of bounds golfers can get into. Also, though with generous fairways, most holes only have five to eight yards of rough before the boundary line comes into play. Not necessarily a tight course like Alta Sierra CC in the Sierra Nevada foothills, it does not give the errant golfer much of a margin of error.
Note: This is a review from 2000 I found and updated for my former home course. Granite Bay is semi-private (play is open on Mondays).
With only two holes without a crink, angle or dogleg in them, designer Robert Trent Jones Jr. developed a tight, compact course with the land available to him. Numbers 1 & 9 straddle the same lake that tempts most golfers with the long shot with greater rewards and greater risks, but always gives the shorter, straighter shot its due in the next shot selection.
The holes following No. 1 seduce the first time golfer into thinking this is an easy course. The fairways are relatively open and approach shots fire into large greens. However, most greens on the course have tiers, slopes and wicked breaks on short putts and may make the errant golfer want to toss their clubs into the nearest watering hole and crawl away.
The course opens up after No. 7, a short, downhill par three with a sumptuous green, but protected on three sides by sand. The tee box is elevated, usually translating to a one-club advantage and the wind in the Sierra Foothills also come into play, with a usual left to right wind that pushes the ball into the smallest bunker, where one’s head is about level with the green.
No. 8 is a “short” 440 yard par four, with space to draw, fade, or smash it down the middle. The approach shot is an easy five iron for most golfers onto a back to front sloping green. But the green is slightly off-set from the fairway, and players would be encouraged to aim to the left side to allow for an easier approach shot.
The back nine begins to reward those who either took a cart or had been in the Army in their youth. After driving to the largest oak in the middle of the dogleg right, par four, a small hike ensues, where one meets the meandering creek and takes an immediate turn for the uphill walk to the ball. The approach shot allows an easy iron into a large green with only a few ceremonial bunkers.
After playing the slightly double dog-legged par five No. 12, the dogleg effect comes drastically into play on number 13. It doglegs to the left with a downhill slope leading to a collection area. A 5-wood from the tee is the smart play, as it will leave you on the top of a shelf for the approach shot. A well stuck driver will leave you in one of two red-staked hazards.
Number 14 is Granite Bay’s signature hole, a 200 yard par three over a valley that requires at least an accurate 190 yard shot. OB lines the left of the hole, and a slope on the right precludes any recovery. After the hike back up to the green, golfers are rewarded with a green the size of Bill Gates’ mansion, where one wished to tee the ball up on the green to get it to the pin.
After a short par 5 with a downhill drive, Nos. 16, 17 and 18 will come into play. For the tired and weary golfers, these are not the friendliest holes on the course and whomever has a two-hole lead could press their bet to double down the wager. No. 16 is a 400 yard par four with a slope that begins around the 160 mark, funneling balls to the right for most drivers. A beetle preservation area will punish any fades from the tee and the woods to the left will only reward players who were able to find the 15th fairway with a blind shot, as opposed to a punch-out situation. The green slopes back to front and the player should fire their shot short of the flag placement to ensure an uphill putt. Any side-hill putts may trickle down to the bottom of the green.
No. 17 is an uphill dogleg right with a bowl shaped green and a few tactically placed trees to discourage the normal shortcuts golfers might want to attempt. An uphill slope protects the right side of the green, and any shots hit to that area will bounce back down to the putting surface, though the up-hill shot will add at least a club to the distance.
The last hole at Granite Bay is a 440 yard, downhill, dogleg left par four with OB to the left and granite boulders on the right. It is for the straight hitters advantage, as the elevated tee box will carry the distance for the approach shot into a kidney shaped green and deep bunkers.
The greens at Granite Bay are usually very large, approximately 40×30 yards, where the golfer must take heed of the color of the flag in making their shot selection. Also, there is only one flat green, the rest are either bi-level, have a back to front slope, a few undulations, or any combination of the three.
The greens are also slick and the ball has a tendency to break in the last six feet of the putt, so accuracy is much more important than distance in these greens. Also, the sand bunkers that guard the greens are usually very deep and immense, where it is not impossible to hit the ball into the same bunker you are in.
Lastly, the fairways at Granite Bay are not very generous. With such a compact course, Granite Bay could not afford to give the golfer a wide sweeping fairway, but rather ones where the next shot is usually one into the green, whereas the golfer that finds the rough wishes that he or she had brought their chain saw instead of their sand wedge.
This is a course that a good golfer having a good day will want to come back and beat his old score, but a golfer having a bad day will want to come back only to beat the golf course in his or her next round.
I recently got to play a round of golf with the Sacbee golf editor and felt motivated enough to start up a new blog centered on golf and food. More along the lines of “hey, play golf here and get something to eat here afterwards.” To ensure I’m not just any other internet expert, allow me to present some qualifications:
I’m currently a 7.4 index and have ranged from a 6.x to 11.5 in the past 6 years. The index always spikes up when I get too busy to play or practice on a regular basis because of work, school, or travel. But when I do play, I get back down to about an 8 and when I have plenty of time, into the 7s. I’ve only had one hole-in-one, but that won me a trip to Las Vegas…and had to use the trip before I turned 21. Fun times.
The bag currently consists of an 8.5° R9 420cc driver, a 12° 3-wood and 19° 5-wood TaylorMade Supersteel bubble shaft, a 3-pw 660 Titeleist blades with an inch over and 3° flat stiff steel shaft, a custom 52° tungsten gap wedge, an old-school Wilson sand-wedge and two-ball putter. I play the Nike One Black ball at the moment, mainly because they’re $27 a dozen, and I don’t really need whatever marginal performance improvement the high-end $45 a dozen ball provides.
I’m currently in Northern California, but have played golf across the country. Some of the notable destinations are Torrey Pines (when it was only $80 to non-residents), Pinehurst (not No. 2 though) and some destinations in South Carolina. I’ve reviewed golf courses in the past, and they’re floating around somewhere in the cloud. I’ll see about tracking them down and updating them shortly.
As for the food part, I’ve found there’s plenty of places to get a bite to eat after finishing a round of golf. I’ll focus on finding good local eats. My food philosophy is simple, I like Mexican places that have tortilla chips ready and sauces that don’t hide the meat, Italian places that have their own bread guy and BBQ places that know how to smoke good meats. These won’t be diet foods, but after walking 5 miles, who cares?
Anyhow. Enjoy.
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