Oakmont Country Club’s church pew bunker flyover video
Oakmont Country Club will test the U.S. Open golfers once again and in 2025, there are 13 “church pews” in the famed bunker.
The words classic and California just seem to go together.
Classic cars, classic food and classic bands are all part of the California lifestyle. But what about California and classic golf courses?
According to Golfweek’s just-released list of the top 200 classic golf courses in the country, California definitely has a solid place in the classic design game. Eighteen of the top 200 courses are in California, ranging from the Mexican border to Northern California.
To rate its courses, Golfweek uses 10 categories: routing, integrity of design, overall land plan, greens and surrounds, variety and memorability of par-3s, par-4s and par-5s, tree and landscape management, conditioning and ecology and finally what Golfweek calls the walk in the park test, or the sense of the place as worthy of spending four hours on it. The one difference for classic courses is they must have opened before 1960.
Here are the classic courses that make California a classic golf home:
Monterey Peninsula
CYPRESS POINT CLUB: Not surprisingly, many of the California courses on the list are in and around the Monterey Peninsula. That includes the No. 1 course on the list, Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach. Long considered one of the top courses in the country for its beauty and the caliber of its closing holes along the Pacific coast, Cypress Point for many years was part of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, known then as the Crosby Clambake. Cypress Point remains a relevant course by hosting the Walker Cup matches this week.
PEBBLE BEACH GOLF LINKS: The host of the AT&T tournament and one of the best-known courses in the country comes in at No. 10. With its stunning Pacific Coast views and by hosting U.S. Open victories by Jack Nicklaus, Tom Kite and Tiger Woods, Pebble Beach can test the best players in the world.
DUNES COURSE, MONTEREY PENINSULA COUNTRY CLUB: Just up the road from Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Dunes Course, originally designed by Seth Raynor, is tournament worthy. It tied for 49th on the top-200 list.
San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO GOLF CLUB: Designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened in 1915, this course is considered not only one of the best courses in the country but also one of the most exclusive private clubs in the nation. It is 18th on the top-200 list.
THE CALIFORNIA GOLF CLUB: Designed by Willie Locke and A. Vernon Macan and later redesigned in part by Alister MacKenzie, this course comes in at 29th. Opened in a different location in 1918, the existing club opened in 1926.
THE LAKE COURSE, OLYMPIC CLUB: Golf in the Bay Area might be best known for the Lake Course in San Francisco (No. 43), since that course had hosted multiple national championships including U.S. Opens.
PASATIEMPO GOLF CLUB: Located in Santa Cruz, this course (No. 39) is one of the most historic courses in California, from its design by Alister MacKenzie to Bobby Jones being among the first to play the course when it opened in 1929 to famed golfer Marion Hollins being instrumental in developing the course and surrounding athletic fields.
THE MEADOW CLUB: North of San Francisco in Fairfax is another MacKenzie design, ranked 67th. Unlike the seaside courses of the Monterey Peninsula or the city courses of San Francisco, the Meadow Club is known for its mountains, hills and beautiful terrain.
LAKE MERCED: Located in Daly City, this course is a neighboring course of The Olympic Club and comes in 108th. Not surprisingly, MacKenzie is again one of the designers in 1922, this time with Willie Lock. The course has hosted several LPGA tournaments.
Los Angeles
NORTH COURSE, LOS ANGELES COUNTRY CLUB: The Los Angeles golf courses on the top-200 list start with this fabled course, 11th in the national rankings. Opened in Beverly Hills in 1911, the North Course hosted the U.S. Open in 2023, won by Wyndham Clark.
RIVIERA COUNTRY CLUB: Perhaps more famous in the Los Angeles area is this George Thomas design in Pacific Palisade, coming in at 17th. Known as Hogan’s Alley for Ben Hogan’s success on the course in the 1940s, Riviera has hosted U.S. Open and PGA Championship events as well as the annual Genesis Invitational on the PGA Tour hosted by Tiger Woods. It will be the golf home of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
THE VALLEY CLUB OF MONTECITO: North of Los Angeles near Santa Barbara, it features the familiar name of Alister MacKenzie as a designer. Not perhaps as spectacular as some other MacKenzie designs, the Valley Club is ranked 36th and remains a favorite for a variety of holes and mountainous landscapes.
BEL-AIR COUNTRY CLUB: Any discussion of Los Angeles golf must include this long-time favorite, ranked 59th. Like Riviera, this course comes from the mind of designer George Thomas, along with William Bell. It is renowned for its routing and its large bridge that dominates the course’s landscape.
WILSHIRE COUNTRY CLUB: Opened in 1918, this is a true downtown course located in the Hancock Park area of central Los Angeles. In addition to its Norman MacBeth design, Wilshire (120th) is noted for being bisected by Beverly Boulevard. Among the tournaments hosted at Wilshire was a recent six-year run for an LPGA event that ended in 2022.
San Diego
SOUTH COURSE, TORREY PINES GOLF COURSE: This tough layout (124th) has always been considered one of the better courses in California, but U.S. Open victories by Tiger Woods in 2008 and Jon Rahm in 2012 elevated the course’s status. Located on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean, the course annually hosts the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour.
RANCHO SANTA FE GOLF CLUB: Before Bing Crosby moved his Crosby Clambake PGA Tour event to Monterey after World War II, the tournament was played for six years on this course that is tied for 156th. Opened in 1929 and designed by Max Behr, the course is noted for running on the natural terrains of the land.
LA JOLLA COUNTRY CLUB: Located just down the road from Torrey Pines, this course (T161) features some of the same ocean views. Designed by William P. Bell, La Jolla opened in 1927 and is known for its hills, its trees and its lightning-fast greens and immaculate conditioning.
SAN DIEGO COUNTRY CLUB: Another William P. Bell design, this layout opened six years before La Jolla Country Club in 1921. That makes it the oldest private golf course in the San Diego area. On relatively flat ground but full of shot variety, the course in Chula Vista is also probably the closest course to the Mexican border. It made the list at No. 190.
Where is the desert?
While the Coachella Valley has plenty of golf courses that have made a variety of top 100 or top 200 lists, for public, private and resort courses, most of the highly rated desert courses were built after 1960. That means the handful of courses built in the Coachella Valey before 1960 didn’t make the GolfWeek list. It’s important to remember many of those desert courses were built specifically to only be a temporary desert home for players, not to be the long-term home for golfers who only visited the desert for a few months each winter.
