Poplar Creek Golf Course

Poplar Creek has a Depression-era origin that distinguishes it from most courses on the Peninsula. The city built it in 1933 specifically to provide employment for laborers who needed work — one of dozens of public infrastructure projects nationwide that used golf courses as a practical vehicle for relief employment. It opened as San Mateo Municipal Golf Course, and since the mid-1960s it has averaged nearly 100,000 rounds per year, which puts it among the most-played public courses in Northern California by volume. In April 1999 the city closed it entirely for a complete redesign by Steve Halsey and Jack Daray Jr. It reopened in July 2000 with a new routing, new name, and infrastructure built to handle the demand placed on it.

The current layout plays to par 70 over 6,042 yards, with five rock-edged lakes, two waterfalls, nearly a thousand mature trees lining the fairways, and greens that average 5,500 square feet — some of the largest putting surfaces on the Peninsula. Regulars consistently single out the greens as the course's strongest asset: they're cut firm, they break reliably, and they have enough movement to separate good putters from average ones. The number-one handicap hole is the 421-yard par-4 second. Bay winds typically pick up in the afternoon, adding a club or two to approaches on the back nine and making the course play considerably harder than its slope of 115 might suggest. Play in the morning if you want benign conditions.

Past tournament winners here include PGA Tour professionals Johnny Miller, Keith Clearwater, and Mark Lye. Local player Adam Ichikawa once shot a 58 during a tournament — 12 under par — which is the standing course record. Note that the restaurant facility has been closed due to water damage; check the course website for current status before planning around a post-round meal.