Lincoln Park Golf Course

Lincoln Park opened as a 6-hole course in 1909 and expanded to 18 by 1913. Tom Bendelow redesigned it in 1928 into the layout that — with some modifications — still exists today. At 5,149 yards and par 68, it's not a long course by any measure. But length has never been the point here. The point is standing on a tee box on the northwestern tip of San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge in front of you, Marin on your left, and the Pacific opening up to the right. On a clear morning, it's one of the better views you'll find on any golf course in the country, public or private.

The course winds through terrain that includes a historic cemetery — portions of which predate the golf course itself — and passes within steps of the Palace of the Legion of Honor, one of the city's finest art museums. The routing is tight and hilly in sections, and the fog that rolls through the Lands End area can drop visibility and add real chill to afternoon rounds. Morning tee times tend to be cleaner conditions-wise, and the light on the bridge from the back nine early in the day is worth setting an alarm for.

Lincoln Park is one of the SF City Golf Championship venues — a tournament that has been running since 1917, making it the oldest municipal golf tournament in the country. Ken Venturi won here multiple times in the early 1950s before going on to win the 1964 U.S. Open. The course carries that kind of quiet history without advertising it. At the green fees charged, it's one of the most underpriced rounds of golf in Northern California.