North California courses

[Jungle Tim]

What are the best courses in an around San Francisco?
Are there any championship courses?

 

[milow369]

Yes,

DeLaveaga in Santa Cruz, CA. - worth the trip alone

Pinto Lake in Watsonville, CA. is a newly refurbished course that is getting great acclaim.

Aptos High School DGC is getting some decent reviews for a relatively new course.

Black Mouse in Felton is worth a stop - huge redwoods, lots of shade, elevation changes, small crowds

Golden Gate Park in S.F.

 

[innova]

DeLaveaga in Santa Cruz, CA. - worth the trip alone

imho, it would be unwise to miss out on the opportunity to play that course.

 

[solomon.trenton]

there is also a course in petaluma, ca. 45 min north of san fran

 

[Adam Schneider]

I wouldn't play Pinto Lake unless you have pinpoint accuracy and/or an immunity to poison oak. (By all means, check it out, but you might want to think twice before actually throwing on a couple of those holes!)

 

[BENFTS]

let me give you a little info. the silicon valley disc golf club recently got approval for a 27 hole course in the pesacdero mountains. we held a one day tournament there and the county rec department is giving us approval for two other 27 hole courses in the same area. you have nothing to worry about with crossing fairways or teeing over someone. this area is epic, i have never seen a course on this site or even herds of a course that can even touch this one. over the next 4 months we are hoping to finish the other two courses and have them ready for a possible worlds bid in 2012. but as it stands the best courses around the bay area are.

DeLaveaga in Santa Cruz, CA
stafford lake in novato, ca
golden gate park san francisco
Pinto Lake in Watsonville, CA the second best 9 hole course i have ever played.
Parque De La Raza in san jose CA the best nine hole course ever.

i will post updates on the three new courses going in and when they can be played. we hope to have installed all three courses and have them finished by the end of the year. the hike for the course that is complete is over 6 miles from start to finish. the area it sits in was logged over 100 years ago so now there are tons of 100 year old redwoods and tons of massive redwood stumps. the scenery and landscape of this course i am sure when others play it will be one of the most amazing courses of all time. i guarantee it.

 

[Adam Schneider]

let me give you a little info. the silicon valley disc golf club recently got approval for a 27 hole course in the pesacdero mountains.

There's no place called the "Pescadero Mountains." Where exactly are you talking about?

 

[martinb]

. the hike for the course that is complete is over 6 miles from start to finish. the area it sits in was logged over 100 years ago so now there are tons of 100 year old redwoods and tons of massive redwood stumps. the scenery and landscape of this course i am sure when others play it will be one of the most amazing courses of all time. i guarantee it.

i can see me playing a 6 mile-long course once, just to say i did it . i imagine it would take ALL DAY to play one round. not so sure i would use the word "amazing" to describe it. nothing personal BNFTS.

 

[BENFTS]

the place is called the tarwater creek trail. the current 1 course sits on the trail head and the proposed other two sit on the other side of the trail head to the south. still a work in progress for the other two and the club is finalizing the agreement with the county to make it permanent.

the first hole is very similar to "top of the world" in santa cruz but this hole presents a lot of difficulty with placement and obstacles in play. hole 2 shoots up hill where even the big armed pros wont reach in two.

but from the moment i saw this course i was amazed beyond amazed. imagine playing disc golf in a pristine national park with no other traffic and no other distractions. with holes as longer than 1000 feet and one as short as 125'. 4 tunnel drives, massive up hill and down hill shots. technical open at first tunnel at the end holes, that require long and super accurate drives. holes that shoot over 25' wide redwood fallen trees and through 20' wide ones still standing. then just a few holes later you play through a massive open northern California plains like area that is sparsely populated with trees. its just impossible to get board with this course as it has to be the most diverse course i have ever played.

 

[BENFTS]

i can see me playing a 6 mile-long course once, just to say i did it . i imagine it would take ALL DAY to play one round. not so sure i would use the word "amazing" to describe it. nothing personal BNFTS.

it took 6 hours to play. i will try to get a map up soon.

 

[DSCJNKY]

Hey BENFTS,
I'm coming down from Humboldt soon. I'd Love to play this new course! Guide???

As for the original question regarding courses in the Bay area...
Stafford Lake in Novato
De LaVeaga in Santa Cruz
Golden Gate Park in SF... in that order.
But all three are great!
DSCJNKY

 

[Adam Schneider]

Good god, six miles for ONE of the 27-hole courses? With a 400-foot average hole length, that makes for an average of 700+ feet of walkout between each hole.

 

[BENFTS]

it would have to be a weekend, but the weekend your coming out i have a c-tier to be at. also the hike is so long because there are several places where you have to use a switch back to get up and down hills. like i said EPIC.

 

[Adam Schneider]

There are course maps in this thread: http://groups.google.com/group/svdgc/browse_thread/thread/9e5c6131d3082101/143d77a235fd1a80

'Tain't six miles... but it is more than 3 miles for sure.

 

[BENFTS]

the course map you are looking at it the one. a pedometer was taken and the hike was over 5 miles. my pedometer said i walked over 6 miles.

 

[humchris85]

As for the original question regarding courses in the Bay area...
Stafford Lake in Novato
De LaVeaga in Santa Cruz
Golden Gate Park in SF... in that order.
But all three are great!
DSCJNKY

I'll second that. They are all great courses.

 

[virtualguthrie]

Norcal

Third, and I agree with the order (though it's hard to choose between Dela and Stafford) and Golden Gate is my home course.

 

[DSCJNKY]

Third, and I agree with the order (though it's hard to choose between Dela and Stafford) and Golden Gate is my home course.

It is definately hard to chose between DeLa and Stafford. But, I think the scenery and wildlife at Stafford trumps DeLa. The memorability of the holes at Stafford trumps DeLa. The fact that Novato (Stafford) isn't as far out of the way as Santa Cruz trumps DeLa.

I will go out on a limb and say Stafford might be the best course in the State of California. Although, I haven't played every course in CA, I have played over 40 of them; and, I have tried to go to all the top courses (i.e. the famous ones). Therefore, I feel I have some validity to put it up there at the top.

The only bad thing someone can say about Stafford is it cost $5 to park and it's impossible to find your way around the first time without a guide; oh, and it's long. At DeLa, it's free and you can easily find a guide your first time there.

What do other people feel about DeLa vs. Stafford? Am I wrong?
DSCJNKY

 

[humchris85]

I think Tahoe has better courses than the bay, myself. If you have the time go up and hit up Tahoes 4 courses.

 

[Cnote]

DSCJNKY- I agree with you DeLa vs. Stafford statements for the most part although I have only played Stafford one time, DeLa is my home course. I loved the setting of Stafford I went in early April and all the spring flowers and wild life was awesome along with to awesome view of the lake. I took one of the maps from the first tee and did not have too tough of a time getting around. I had to $8 to park on the weekend but well worth it.
DeLa is very nice too it is one of my favorites (plus it is close to home), although you do have to pay $2 to park now.....no big deal.

I would say course layouts are comparable with Stafford getting he nod for setting.