Corica Park North Course - First Look: Latest Muni Gem in the US

duffer987 · October 22, 2021

For Bay Area folks, Westcoasters, and those further afield, thought I’d throw together a thread with a quick rambling - the rambling overtook the quick - review of the new 9 holes that opened last week, at the excellent Corica Park complex in Alameda, CA. While construction continues on the other 9, they've given us 9 holes to knock it around on Weds to Sun.

Those of us who saw the long process that was the building and opening of the South Course, had the same furrowed brows and ‘ya rights’ at the optimistic milestones for the North Course that used to hang on the wall at the clubhouse: and that was before Covid threw a spanner in the works.

But progress was being made, shapes were taking form, tees and greens were sighted, grass was growing in, and now we have something. With the opening of 9 holes on the North course this past week, schedules and grumpy golf curmudgeons be damned, we’ve got new golf holes to play.

Like the South Course, the North is built over top of the bones of what came before it. And with the 9 holes on offer now we get the old 1-4 and 14-18, playing to the same par and same dial on the compass as before. That gives us a short course of ~3000 yards from the back tees, with wide undulating fairways leading us to equally undulating and large greens. It is imminently scorable. The bite and the length will definitely have to come from the other 9, likely 6, 7, 8, and 13.

The North gives us the same (leaving aside everything is still bedding in) turf as the South and with that, the same firm springy playing conditions. Of course right now the greens react to approach shots the same way the South Course and Poppy Hills did when they reopened and the turf still needs to patch together and smooth over, which impacts the ability to putt and use hybrids around the greens. But all things being equal the course is in good nick and except for a few incomplete bunkers and what looks like one incomplete teebox, it is otherwise as we should expect to find it going forward.

With only two laps of the course, first impressions are bound to change, but count me as a fan. This is a brilliantly fun, compact, walkable 9 holes. Speaking of which, it is currently walking only and while I know it’s unfortunately not practical - such is the state of too many American golfers - I would love it if it remained walking only. It was like playing outside the US and was super cool to see everyone slinging their bag or pushing their Clicgear.

When they blend these starting and finishing holes with the middle of the course, we’re going to be left with amongst the best 36 holes of muni golf in the US and none I can think of I’d rather play day in day out.

Hole 1: Short to shortish opening par 4 lets you hit a 3W, hybrid, or driving iron off the tee if you want to be sure and stop short of the hazard on the left. Cover the riveted face bunkers guarding the front for middle and back flags and try and get on the correct side of the ridge that divides the front third from the remaining two thirds.

Hole 2: Reachable par 5. Keep your teeball in the fairway, shading it left if you can and you can get to the front left of this false front green - or better - with the second shot. Played as a three-shotter and you’ll definitely want the left side to have a clear view of the green as a large hollow 150yds back on the right and another riveted face bunker hamper approaches from the right. The green slopes front to back ending with a flat plateau section back right.

Hole 3: Shortish dogleg right, where the order of the day is keeping it away from the tree line, further right can get you to a flat enough plateau, before running out of fairway on the far side. Fortunately you should have a short iron or wedge into this hole, as you really need to land it on the surface, such are the contours around the green.

Hole 4: Hopefully no one throws any empties or flicks any cigarette butts out their windows as they drive past. To make more room for #14, they have pushed this par 3 as far left as they dare from its old position, with the teebox hard against the boundary. Being tucked in the corner, remember the wind conditions you had on #3 as it’s still there even if you cannot feel it. Front/mid flags left will have a backstop and flags right mean you take on the bunker. All through the air and a miss left means a tricky putt/pitch that has to navigate a raised shoulder, from well below the green… I may have been down there twice.

Edited October 22, 2021 by duffer987

duffer987 · October 22, 2021

Hole 5: Currently playing as a long par 4 until the back teebox is complete. The crowned Biarritz green - orientated more perpendicular like North Berwick, as opposed to lengthwise like at Yale or Old Mac - may make shots of 200yds as easy to get to the hole as those from 20. With loads of room to the right off the tee, the cluster of bunkers should be regularly avoidable. Pins on the left will make for one of the toughest up and downs/approaches on the course.

Hole 6: Another short par 3 requires covering the Valley of Dim (really there is no reason to be there unless you get cute to a front pin or mishit) to reach the raised surface. Unless the flag is in the back right pocket, middling this green will serve you well and again avoiding the left, which will run away to the 7th tee.

Hole 7: The toughest of the current holes, but depending on the wind and whether you can get up on the rightside plateau and then ride a speedslot down the hill, you can still end up with a short iron. The leftside of the fairway is calmer, will leave you more inline with a safe front left leave, but also further back. At the green, right is simply bad, everything is going to bang around and toilet bowl down into the collection area where (unless you are playing for the Warriors) the hole will be above your head. Left gives you a place to miss and also can let those with longer approaches run something on.

Hole 8: It was driveable in its old form and now is even more so. The pond is still there, but instead of leaving it in the trees on the right, there is loads of short grass instead. Now the green provides the challenge after you attempt to sling a driver or 3W in from the right or hold one up coming in from the left. All the room to miss is short right and that should work OK with approaches to pins that are not right/front right.

Hole 9: Maybe the closest to its old self. The trees are still there and the college kids during the Commuters tourney will simply cover them and go for the green; for the rest of us more caution may be required. Get left, not just to avoid the trees, but because there is a ton of room and the best angle to run up this back to front green is from the left side. Then it is a simple enough wedge that will stop and stick into the upslope of the green and maybe a birdie is on offer.

Temporary scorecard (yes maybe my Bayo & Blackhorse scorecard holder needs replacing):

Edited October 22, 2021 by duffer987

duffer987 · October 22, 2021

Again only 18 holes into it, but colour me impressed, especially remembering what used to be here (just like the South). A couple final things to add:

Flickr with fullsize pics and a few more: https://flickr.com/photos/13623225@N00/albums/72157720052134218/with/51617776330/
While the course will play firm, unlike the South, the ground game for approaches won’t be there to the same degree. 1, 3, 4, 14, 15 are better served through the air and depending on where your teeshot ends up, 16 will demand it. I’m not saying this is like Oregon, but similar to the difference between Bandon and Pacific.
Yes the fairways heave, crest, and fall, but the ball is going to want to settle somewhere flat or at least flattish. The scale is large, the hollows will fit an SUV, the plateaus a small Bay Area flat. It is not like the crumpled and rumpled fairways of an old course in the UK, somewhere like Moray GC for instance.
Small courses are still proper courses. Yes if the Cal players hitting balls down the street at Metro come play here, they can leave the top of their bag in the car and have at it, but for the vast majority of golfers, this is what a fun golf course should be. While not like for like, it still reminds me of a couple of my fave compact courses at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in SC and Landa Park GC at Comal Springs in Texas.
It does need time to bed in, but once it does the putter/wood/hybrid recovery shots around the greens will be a treat.
Walking, walking, walking. We played the first 9 with two chaps who always cart, they rented trolleys and survived and would then still be home in time for the 1st quarter of Sunday’s games. Please keep it walking only.
And aren't riveted faces expensive and a pain maintenance wise? Well maybe this is the trick 😉

Edited October 22, 2021 by duffer987

James the Hogan Fan · October 26, 2021

I played the 9 on Saturday and while it's ok, I feel like they basically did a Palo Alto Muni and made Baylands North.

The greens at the moment are entirely too firm; on hole 7 I hit a solid 9 iron that hit middle, hopped 4 feet up in the air, and shot off the back. I'm not sure what the expectation is with the face of the hoover dam fronting short right, but maybe it will soften up a little.

Is it better than what was there? Yes, in that the grass is all one kind and mostly uniform in coverage, riding a cart over the grass will no longer be spine-shattering, and the greens are very smooth and fast. The mounding and contours add intrigue. Far more importantly, it drains much better than the swamp it used to be.

But beyond that, it's still just a golf course and now it's an expensive golf course, which makes me sad because of my sentimental attachments to what it was. I'll play it again when the other 9 reopens and who knows when after that. It's how it went on the South Course as well.