There’s no doubt that Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco is one of the most famous muni courses in the country.  But like the fine city that lords over the land on which the course rests, Harding Park is full of contradictions.  The old growth cypress trees and frequent fog cut away to reveal plenty of history and rugged beauty, while its bureacratic management and spotty conditioning are a constant source of frustration.  One moment you’re squishing down the center of the fairway wondering what kind of lie you’ll have after a perfect drive, and the next you’re admiring the expansive views of Lake Merced and walking in the footsteps of greats like Johnny Miller and Ken Venturi.  Harding Park is a must play course if you’re visiting the San Francisco Bay Area and can’t swing an invite to the Olympic Club, but play it enough and you’ll find it tough to love.

No. 6 green at Harding Park

Watson and Whiting designed the course in the early-1920’s as an afterthought to Olympic across the lake, and it was a regular stop on the PGA tour in the 1960’s.  Lackluster maintenance drove the tour away until 2005 when the WGC-American Express Championship came to town on the heels of a major multi-year renovation.  Daly and Woods battled it out down the stretch and restored a healthy dose of Harding Park’s former glory.  The success of that event was followed by the Presidents Cup in the fall of 2009 and the Champions Tour will make a visit in November 2010 for the Charles Schwab Cup, but it’s not clear if Harding can once again become a regular PGA Tour stop.

Harding Park is the closest thing I have to a home course, and, being a San Francisco resident, I can take advantage of a hefty discount at $46-59 a round.  Visitors pay a far too-pricey $135 during the week and $155 on weekends, which unfortunately makes the course inaccessible to quite a few out-of-towners.  Let’s be clear – the condition of the course 99% of the time in no way justifies a green fee in excess of $80, but the politicos in San Francisco insist that the outsiders heavily subsidize the insiders.  I clearly benefit from this setup but the green fee discrepancy is far too large and it seems to keep people away leaving much needed revenue on the table.  The expectations at $155 a round are simply too high, and while the magnificence of the cypress trees lining the fairways and the drama of the five finishing holes is worthy of a big spend, the usually patchy fairways, thin rough, and bumpy greens will leave many wanting a rebate.  Sure San Francisco winters can be dark and damp, but this past winter saw no more rainfall than usual.  If the cart is going to leave tire tracks in the middle of the fairway then it probably shouldn’t be out of the shed in the first place.

For all it’s apparent faults and bad lies, Harding Park remains a spectacular layout on a fine piece of city-owned land. The front nine starts off gently with two reasonable par-4s and a scenic uphill par-3 and then proceeds to alternate - a tough hole followed by a birdie hole through the turn.  The 440-yard par-4 sixth is particularly challenging with a tough tee shot right out of the box.  The short seventh hole brings some relief but the pin placement can be tough and it yields fewer birdies than you might expect at only 335 yards.  The back nine is where Harding really shines.  Hole twelve is the only real birdie opportunity until the sixteenth, and you’ll likely find that the second nine plays about two or three shots more difficult than the front.  As the course follows the perimeter and opens itself up to vistas of surrounding Lake Merced, tee shot placement and approach accuracy become increasingly important.  The tee shot from the back box on fourteen is as good as it gets with a lengthy 440-yard par-4 stretched out straight away in front of you.  Reach back and swing hard to give yourself a shot at reaching the uphill green with anything less than a one-iron.  The final three holes make Harding Park what it is, and should not be taken lightly.  A well-placed drive on sixteen opens up a birdie, while playing the final two holes even par is worthy of a cold beer on the terrace.

No. 14 fairway

Harding Park has the right physical ingredients to be both a reliable muni course and a golf destination, but the current mix just isn’t right.  I’ve often noticed four or five employees holding court behind the counter in the pro shop and then spent five and a half hours walking the course without a marshal in sight.  The play is too slow, and instead of putting more bodies on the course to police the action, the current manager (KemperSports) has taken to moving all of the blue tees up to the white plates and the white tees up even further on the weekends.  This is not a solution, but rather does a great disservice to serious golfers and further erodes the game’s traditions.  The whole paperwork fiasco with showing your receipt (and resident card for the second time) on the first tee is a bit tiresome and not appropriate for a high caliber facility.  That said, the near perfect turkey sandwich and 16-oz Red Stripe that appeared from the drink cart on the eighth tee did console me for the moment.

The bottom line is that at $60 I’ll keep going back despite the frequent bum lie in the fairway.  But I doubt many visitors will pony up the full fee more than once, and that’s no way to show off the generosity and natural beauty of San Francisco.

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Harding Park Golf Course – San Francisco, CA
Most recent date of play: April 3, 2010 – temps in high-50’s, blue skies