Kyle Phillips
Menlo Country Club
Menlo Country Club
2300 Woodside Rd
Redwood City, CA 94062-1132
United States
Overview
Kyle Phillips completed an extensive renovation in 2014, moving nearly 100,000 cubic yards of earth—creating 14 new holes and redesigning the other four holes. The original course opened in 1912 after it was designed by Scotsman Tom Nicoll. Redesigns were done over the years by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., after the club acquired additional land—and the work Phillips did over 17 months completely reimagined the course while staying true to the original Menlo Country Club design. The club now enjoys bentgrass greens, and Phillips instituted playability with more teeing areas and redesigned green complexes that feature run-off areas that offer options for those who miss the green.
About
Awards
Ranking history:
Best in State:
2023-'24 ranking: 50th (previously not ranked).
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
“Wonderful redesign on a beautiful piece of rolling topography. Bunkers are well integrated into the fairways and green complexes. Closely mown turf is prevalent everywhere. Many of the bunkers are gathering bunkers playing much larger then their square footage. Very challenging heavily undulating greens with numerous false fronts and roll off areas. A few too many catch basins for my taste in both the fairways and around the greens. That might have been my main complaint as a lot of earth was moved and some of these basins could have been eliminated with a different drainage plan. Well worth a visit. "
Read More2022
Review
“Fun, interesting course since Kyle Phillips redesign with plenty of variety. A memorable recurring design feature is multi-level greens with falloffs directly into bunkers near hole locations - presents good risk/reward options."
Read More2022
Review
“Menlo Country Club provides excellent shot values. Differently shaped tee balls offer advantages on numerous holes and the holes provide a nice balance of testing power (e.g. #8) with finesse (e.g. #13). Kyle Phillips’s relatively recently redone green complexes also offer a wide variety of options for a golfer who misses the GIR. Menlo CC offers nearly outstanding playability as the course provides four teeing options that spread over almost 1,000 yards and very few forced carries are required. Resistance to scoring is nearly outstanding with the course’s greens and barranca serving as the course’s primary defenses to low numbers. Menlo CC has a wonderful mix of short and long holes in varied directions across its Par 3s, 4s, and 5s and offers excellent design variety. Both memorability and aesthetics are nearly excellent as Phillips’s design ties together beautifully with the property. The course’s conditioning was nearly excellent (and certainly an improvement from its prior iteration) but would continue to benefit from playing even faster and firmer. Menlo CC is a very low profile, low key club that offers an excellent ambiance and is a very enjoyable place to play golf."
Read More2021
Review
“Very enjoyable course and very walkable. Kyle Phillips really improved this course and the tree clearing has also really helped the course's conditioning. A bit of an odd mix with very new style green complexes on an older style routing and course presentation. Some really great holes, but then some problem children as well (i.e. #8, #9, and #10). Overall a wonderful members course."
Read More2018
Review
“The course was highly playable. Very few forced carries from the tee or to the greens and many tee boxes to choose from. The wide fairways also helped to avoid lost balls. I greatly enjoyed the individuality and felt with Menlo was in the upper tier of courses I highly enjoyed and would love to have played another 18 on; the quick pace of play didn't hurt. The aesthetics were good and greatly enhanced by the ability to see six holes while walking the fairway of many holes"
Read More2018
