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
“The course does well in this category as you can approach every green through the air or on the ground. Numerous times throughout the round you find yourself tempted to take a line from the tee box that challenges bunkers but often realize that it may not be the best play simply because of the wind direction in some cases. The course does a really good job of giving you sightlines or objects (trees or bunkers) to shape your ball off to get your ball safely into the fairway. Numerous times you can find yourself with uneven lies from the fairway with sloping the runs both north south as well as east west and will influence your shot shape and club selection. The greens feature numerous false fronts and often slope to the bunkers making greens difficult to hold at times. "
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
“The land is used masterfully with holes facing multiple directions really making you understand the prevailing wind and which shot to hit. The course is an easy walk with green to tee distances minimal. The course has a good mix of playing distances with the short par 4 10th that measure at only 317 yards to the long par 5 eighth hole measuring 628 yard. The par 3’s are reasonably short apart from the 7th hole that’s 207 yards. The tee boxes offer great range and can manipulate distance greatly and provide numerous angles and bring different obstacles in play. The sloping and changing elevation is great in the fairways with huge swells and deep valleys that can have you gasping for air throughout your walk. Bunker shaping is very well done and creates great variety from hole to hole. "
Read More2023
Review
“There's a lot to like about the new Lake Merced. Several green complexes deliver great variety and interest. 1 and 9 greens are good examples. There's at least one spectacular hole in 5."
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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