Lake Merced Golf Club
Daly City, CA, United States • Private
Evan Schiller
Evan Schiller
Evan Schiller
Evan Schiller
Courtesy of the club
Evan Schiller/Courtesy of the club
Evan Schiller/Courtesy of the club
Courtesy of the club
Evan Schiller
Evan Schiller/Courtesy of the club
Overview
Lake Merced is one of the latest clubs to benefit from the restoration work of Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and their team. In 1962 a freeway forced a major overhaul of the work Alister Mackenzie did in 1929 and 1930, changing the look and feel of the golf course. Gone were the deep barrancas, sandy waste areas and Mackenzie's signature mounding and bunker designs. Hanse recaptured these lost features using what he often does—expansive research using historical photos and aerials. All 18 green and tee complexes were rebuilt, but perhaps most dramatically, 150,000 square feet of bunkers were refurbished to match Mackenzie’s signature style. What has emerged is a revitalization of one of California’s great courses that will further both Hanse’s and Mackenzie’s legacy as two of the most important architects in the game.
About
Awards
Ranking history:
2023-'24 ranking in California: 51st (previously unranked).
Panelists
Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists
100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES
Shot Options
Character
Challenge
Layout Variety
Fun
Aesthetics
Conditioning
Reviews
Review
“A lot of fun packed into all 18 holes!"
Read More2024
Review
“Outstanding renovation by Gil Hanse to the original MacKenzie design and routing"
Read More2024
Review
“I didn’t play the Rees Jones course prior to the Gil Hanse’s restoration, but with the highway work destroying very interesting land, I can see where this course’s reputation pre-restoration didn’t match its historical pedigree. Hanse’s work is so strong that it’s hard to picture this land not producing a world class course. While some holes in the the early portion and middle of the course along the boundaries of the club are forgettable from most measures (shot options, fun, layout variety), there is nothing average or forgettable about the interior holes that carve their way through the land’s primary ridges, Hanse’s punchbowl hole, and the previously iconic and now-newly iconic again McKenzie par 3 that was lost to highway. The conditioning on the restoration is strong (even during the rainy period of play on which I played it). It’s very safe to say that Lake Merced will be considered a peer of San Francisco GC, Cal Club and the Olympic Club, and I won’t be surprised that many will see it as their favorite course of the group."
Read More2024
Review
“The restoration of Lake Merced Golf Club by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner significantly improved the course, the shot options it offers, the layout variety, as well as how much fun the course is to play. While the restoration offers a significant upgrade for LMGC, the course is still not in the same league as Olympic, SFGC, or Cal Club."
Read More2024
Review
“Gil Hanse and his team spent 11 months restoring Lake Merced Golf Club back to its Alister Mackenzie design and the course is unbelievable now. The course has so many great holes. #5, #6, #12, #13 and #17 are some of my favorites. I’ve played a lot of courses in my life and Lake Merced GC is probably the best renovation/restoration I’ve ever seen. Gil Hanse really is the best at renovating/restoring courses. The members have a new driving range and putting course to work on their games too."
Read More2023
Review
“some fun holes and reachable par 5s (one drivable 4). You should make some birdies and have difficult up and downs if you miss a green on the tight sandy lies."
Read More2023
Review
“An excellent revision by Gil Hanse, on par with Pinehurst #4 and probably better because he had better property to work with. Challenging and fun to play every day"
Read More2023
Review
“The course is very playable with wide fairways, but you can easily find yourself in one of the many fairway bunkers or enormous greenside bunkers. Depth perception provides a real challenge here where often bunkers that you feel may not be in play very much are and vice versa. The course is located only about a mile from the coast so the prevailing wind can challenge your decision making that leads to indecision that again can put you in trouble."
Read More2023
Review
“Lake Merced GC-played 5-10-23 Located in Daly City, 15 min from SFO. The course was founded in 1922 opened in 1923 and was designed by Willie Locke and renovated Alister MacKenzie around 1930, the later altered by Robert Muir Graves and Rees Jones over the years. Course re-opened October 2022 after an 11 month renovation by Gil Hanse. The MacKenzie greens were restored and the entire course we re-grassed and re-routed. Old photographs were used to recreate some of the original holes."
Read More2023
Review
“Course needs more time to grow in. Majority of fairways are way too firm and several patchy dirt areas or areas where there is very little grass. Same comment on greens. Given they redid all of the greens, they are being careful about not mowing the greens too short, but this impacts the conditioning and creates odd dynamic where greens are incredibly firm, but not particularly fast. Nearly impossible to chip with anything less than a pitching wedge around the greens, and given the mounding and slope, don't think this was the intention of the course design. Will be interesting to see how the course grows out over the coming years since there are some very interesting holes (in particular the short par 4 11th and long par 4 12th are great holes). Local knowledge really important here as well since several holes have fairways where if you hit the fairway, there is large hill one's ball can roll down (5th hole was best example of this)."
Read More2023
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