Ahhh! TPC Harding Park. My home course. As a San Francisco city-resident I find myself to be extremely lucky to be able to call this course my home course. Harding Park has had quite the journey to get to where it is. When opened in 1925, Harding Park promised to bring, and delivered, another great course to the west coast. Sadly, after many years of prosperous success Harding Park fell into pretty bad shape. Hitting rock bottom in 1998, the course was used as a parking lot during the US Open at Olympic Club. Luckily, for city residents and golf enthusiasts alike, at the urging of Sandy Tatum the city of San Francisco decided to put some time and money back into the course to restore and enhance it to the world-class track it is.
In this post, I’ll aim to give you a brief overview of Harding Park’s historic past as well as a hole by hole breakdown of the course as well as point out why I think this course is generally underrated by golf publications (*cough* Golf Digest *cough*).
History
I’m mostly repeating what you can find on Harding Park’s website but here’s the highlights for me:
- Named after Warren G. Harding, Harding Park Golf Course was opened on July 18, 1925
- Course architects: Willie Watson and Sam Whiting, who also designed the nearby, and well renowned, Olympic Club Lake Course
- In 2002 - 2003, underwent 15 month, $16 million renovation to restore and enhance the course
- A few of the better golfers that have called Harding Park home (Ken Venturi, Harvey Ward, Johnny Miller, Michael Allen, George Archer)
- Harding Park plays host to the SF City Championship, which is the longest running golf tournament in the USA. While all other tournaments at the time suspended play during WWII, the SF City Championship pressed on and is now the longest running tournament in America.
Hole by Hole Breakdown
Before I get to a hole by hole breakdown, allow me to sing the praises of Harding for a minute. Harding Park offers a championship caliber test to golfers of all skill levels, as evidenced by the fact that its hosting the 2020 PGA Championship. It tests you with a delicate balance of length and finesse that gives you a chance to think about how they want to best approach the course. Additionally, plenty of the holes pose a nice pairing of risk and reward. Also, I always find Harding Park to be fair. You're fairly rewarded for hitting great shots, adequately able to get around the course with good shots, and justly punished when hitting poor shots. This type of design is something that I’ve come to greatly appreciate in a course. When I think about Harding, I know that the score a golfer reports should be a true indication of their game. The opposing endpoints of this type of course design would be courses like The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island where you can get harshly punished for good shots (IMO that course is just too damn hard) or on the other end of the spectrum would be your local muni/resort course where you can blast drivers-wedge combos into your personal record books with your lowest score ever.
Okay, let’s move on to the hole by hole review. I’ll be listing yardages from the Blue tee markers (72.9/126), which are the furthest back tees that Harding Park sets each day. The Blue tees play par 72 at 6,845 yards. There is another set of tees, Championship (74.3/129), which stretch the course to 7,169 yards but they are never set outside of tournaments. An important point to note is that Harding Park is located less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean. This is a huge factor into how the course plays on a daily basis. Most days you’ll find yourself facing a predictable off-shore breeze that is cool, damp and heavy causing the course to play much longer than the advertised yardage.
Hole 1 (Par 4 395 yards): Harding Park kicks off with a welcoming starting hole. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I always appreciate courses that allow you to ease yourself into a round. The first fairway is wide enough to help shake the first tee jitters but still requires a good shot if you’re hunting for a birdie. The ideal placement for your tee shot is center/left-center. This should give you somewhere between a mid-iron to wedge into a relatively large, flat green. If you can come out of the gates hot the first hole is a birdie hole.
Hole 2 (Par 4 430 yards): If the first hole eases you into the round, the second hole splashes a bit of cold water on your face to startle you awake. This hole is a long par 4 that requires a solid tee shot to have a decent look at the green. A pair of fairway bunkers on the left initially grab your eye from the tee box and coax most golfers into bailing out right. Unfortunately, unless you can really pound the ball the right-hand side can shut you out with a cluster of pesky trees. The green is flanked with a large bunker to its right and once on the surface thankfully it’s not too sloped. Do you best to get a par and thank your lucky stars if you come away with a birdie.
Hole 3 (Par 3 165 yards): Uphill into a well-protected green with bunkers short right and short left, the third hole can be a simple task or create a massive headache. The key to this hole is to ensure you take enough club as the most common and penalizing miss is short. The back pin location is probably the simplest as you should be able to take trouble out of play. The front pin on the other hand is the most inviting. But be aware, a miss into one of the bunkers with a front pin is almost a sure-fire bogey as the green is narrow and undulating near the front.
Hole 4 (Par 5 580 yards): It’s time to let the big dog eat! Playing as the longest hole on the course, this par 5 is not much of a birdie hole. The hole doglegs left and is almost impossible to reach in two. This hole requires three well struck shots to have a chance at a bird. The ideal tee shot calls for a long draw around the corner of the gentle dogleg but beware, missing too far left can spell disaster and bailing out right will likely leave 350-400 yards into the hole. Do your best to keep your second shot in the fairway and aim for the far left or far right side of the fairway if you want an even lie. The green itself is rather large, like most are at Harding Park, and relatively flat. Hopefully you can get your approach shot close as two putts can be tough if you have to trek across the green. Oh yeah, don’t hit your approach shot into either of the two deep greenside traps. Par is tough if you find yourself in there. Best of luck on this beast!
Hole 5 (Par 4 395 yards): Even when I’m playing well, I often stagger to the 5th tee ready for a reprieve with an easy hole. Thankfully the 5th is one of the easier ones on the course. A relatively short par 4 requires you to only hit one good shot, your tee shot. The hole plays very straight with the exception that the tee box is set back to the left calling for a slight draw from the tee to avoid trees on the left and turn away from trees on the right. If you hit a solid tee shot and find the fairway you have a very inviting approach shot with a short iron in hand. There’s no major trouble by the green other than short-siding yourself as the green sits on a bit of a crown. Take dead aim at any pin on this green and go get your birdie. You’re going to need all the good vibes you can get heading into hole 6.
Hole 6 (Par 4 440 yards): After coming off the easy fifth hole you get thrown right back into the fire with a testing tee shot. The sixth hole bends to the left and is plagued with a huge over-hanging tree that, even at only 50 yards from the tee box, is a very real threat to any tee shot that is missed too far to the left. The ideal tee shot is a long draw down the center or left side of the fairway (that sounds easy enough!). Depending on how well you hit your tee shot you’ll have anywhere between a long to mid-iron into the green. The green slopes pretty aggressively from back to front but never repels shots off the front. The front portion is a safe spot. Depending on the pin location and speeds of the green, this can be one of the toughest greens on the course. Beware of left-hand pins as the green aggressively falls off to the left. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve putted the ball off the green before. Pray for your par and move on to the next hole.
Hole 7 (Par 4 335 yards): This is perhaps the easiest par 4 on the course. The tee shot is generally stress free as the target landing area is large. Hit a fairway metal to long iron and give yourself a full wedge into the green. I’ve seen players play driver here before but it makes no sense to me. The landing area to get your ball on the green is extremely small as bunkers flank the green on both the right and left. The green is similar to the third hole with a narrow front and sloping from back to front. Aim to get a birdie here as they don’t come much easier than they do here.
Hole 8 (Par 3 200 yards): At 200 yards this is the longest par 3 on the course. Whatever relief golfers may get from distance due to the hole’s downhill setting is typically offset by a prevailing headwind. The worst place to end up off the tee is short left into a deep swell of rough. Avoiding that gives you a workable chip most days. The green itself is a large, diagonal green set near a bunker in the front right. A par is always greatly appreciated here.
Hole 9 (Par 5 495 yards): This is a birdie hole. That’s the mindset you need when playing the ninth. At a hair under 500 yards reaching the green in two is usually doable. Golfers often have to contend with the same headwind that blows on hole 8 causing 500 yards to seem a bit further but getting home in two is still doable. The fairway is huge and there’s not much trouble off the tee except for fairway bunkers on the right-hand side that can catch a wayward drive from time to time. If you hit a nice drive give it a go and shoot for the green in two. Try to avoid the greenside bunker on the left as it is in play. If you strike your second shot clean the bunkers you see on the right aren’t really in play. If on the other hand, you don’t have a shot at the green in two, take your medicine and layup to a number that you like. Be careful not to go too far down the fairway though as the bunkers on the left are a tough up and down. The green is straightforward and there’s not too much to watch out for once there. Go ahead and bag that beautiful birdie and make the turn.
Hole 10 (Par 5 550 yards): The tenth hole opens with a pretty unassuming tee shot. For long-knockers, try to steer clear of the fairway bunker on the right. Even though this hole plays down wind most days its typically a 3-shot hole. Be careful with your layup and stay away from OB on the left-hand side of the hole. Do your best to keep your layup in the fairway to a full club number you prefer as approach shots are easier when you can put a little spin on the ball. The green offers a few challenges for bad shots with a deep bunker short right, a small pesky bunker back left and a large false front on the green. Front pin placements are the hardest location so keep your fingers crossed that you’ve got something in the middle or the back.
Hole 11 (Par 3 185 yards): Pin position can change the makeup of this hole drastically. An average length par three plays much easier when the pin position is in the front of a two-tier green. Two bunkers crowd the middle portion of the green, one left and one right, and anything long of the green can find OB-trouble in a hurry. As a rule of thumb, I always recommend players aim for the middle of the green, two-putt for par and happily move on to the next hole.
Hole 12 (Par 5 480 yards): The twelfth at Harding Park is one of the easiest holes on the course. This short par five does its best to scare golfers on the tee with a tree on the left overhanging in the line of sight down the side of a slight dogleg left. Players that can draw a tee shot have a distinct advantage here. Do your best to find the fairway for an ideal line on your approach, even though right rough still gives you a look at the green. For longer hitters, approach shots typically range from 180 – 230 yards. As with most things at Harding Park, the approach shot can be a simple task if struck well but if you’re not careful you can find trouble with pesky trees on the right or one of four bunkers leading into the green. The green itself is large and flat so two putts are generally doable once on the surface.
Hole 13 (Par 4 405 yards): Hole 13 begins the best stretch of golf Harding Park has to offer. Of the next six holes, three are truly excellent holes (13, 16, and 18), two are well above average (14 and 15), and one is average (17). For a closing stretch of golf, that’s a pretty solid way to finish your round. The 13th hole is shaped like a reverse ‘S’ pointing golfers to the left off the tee. Don’t be fooled here though, the left side of the fairway can often leave you shut out from a clean look into the green on your approach. The ideal line off the tee is over the fairway bunker on the right side of the hole. If you get enough into your tee shot you can catch a favorable speed slot and run out further in the middle of the fairway leaving you a mid to short iron into a tricky green. I’ve referred to this before but one of the main things I love about Harding Park is that it doesn’t penalize good shots. Let’s take the tee shot here as an example, I mentioned that you don’t want to go left as some overhanging trees can shut you out from a look at the green. Well that’s true, but you can often hit a “good” tee shot and just slightly miss left. So instead of completely shutting you out, Harding Park gives the bold players a chance to play a low slinging draw to give themselves a shot to get onto the green. But don’t be mistaken, just because you have a chance to get yourself back on track doesn’t mean Harding is offering you an easy shot. The fairway banks high on the right and helps draws run back onto the green. But be careful, if you overcook your draw you’ll likely find yourself in the bottom of a massive green-side bunker. The green itself offers a good amount of undulation towards the front of the green and is flat towards the rear. This design is so great because the front portion of the green is relatively wide open from the fairway so the architects chose to use green contour as a natural defense. On the other hand, the back portion of the green was left flat but is protected short by the green-side bunker left and was left narrow to penalize aggressive shots that go long as you’ll be short-sided. This is one of my all-time favorite holes. Between the design elements and the scenery, which did I mention that this hole is set against the backdrop of Lake Merced and Olympic Club in the distance, this hole offers golfers a variety of different challenges with potential creative solutions. Choose your path wisely and live with the results!
Hole 14 (Par 4 440 yards): Hole 14 is a beast. There’s no other way to put it and there’s not much of a silver lining. This hole is tough. Playing at 440 yards, this hole almost always plays into some sort of a headwind. I’m never going to be considered a really long hitter but I can easily put my drives out there in the range of 260 – 275 yards (in Northern CA, which speaking from experience equates to 290 – 300 yards in warmer drier conditions). On this hole though, I almost always find myself with a long iron in hand due to a heavy breeze and soft landing conditions. The green slopes from back to front which helps hold longer shots that players typically have to hit into it. Be careful of the trap on the left, although it’s not that bad of a spot if you have a little green to work with. Though there is nothing remarkable about this hole I like that it offers a stern test as golfers start to think about how their day will stack up. Just when you start to dream about how nice it’s going to be to hang up your scorecard with a stellar round, this hole can quickly smack you down and squash any dreams you may be prematurely having.
Hole 15 (Par 4 405 yards): Hole 15 starts with an elevated tee shot into a well-guarded fairway. If the wind is blowing and there’s a chill in the air you can hit driver otherwise take a little bit less to play short of the fairway bunker on the right. The ideal shot here is right center of the fairway short of the trap. This offers you a flat lie. Most other locations offer severe downhill lies which can make your approach shot into the green tougher than need be. Once in the fairway, I love to hit a draw into this green. There’s a large green side bunker on the right side of the green. Start your approach shot right at the bunker and let it drift back into the middle of the green. Be careful with the false front on the green. Putting down that slope can be a tricky endeavor.
Hole 16 (Par 4 330 yards): I don’t know about you but when I look at a scorecard and see a 330-yard par 4 my mouth typically starts to salivate. Well the more I play this gem of a hole, the more I find myself getting nerve-induced cotton mouth! According to one of my good friends, Andrew Bernick, this is the best short par 4 in all Northern California. I agree with him. This is a great hole and it only gets better the more you get to know it. From the standpoint of experiencing the hole, the most tragic thing that can happen here is for a lucky visiting golfer to play the happy path of this hole and walk away unimpressed with an easy short par 4. But the truth, is that this hole can be an easy birdie or a quick double bogey and therein lies the beauty. The tee shot usually starts off as an assuming layup. Driver is typically too much here as a chain of fairway bunkers lining the left side of the hole can leave you in an unenviable spot. So with driver in the bag, most people pull between a 4-iron and a 3-wood. The challenge of the tee shot comes from a hazard flanking the entire left side of the hole with hills propelling errant tee shots even further left. This naturally leads you to think that if left is trouble right must be okay. WRONG! The right side of the hole is an equally bad location. There’s a clump of towering cypress trees that easily kill approach shots. As the trees block out normal height shots, you’re typically only left with a punch shot. Unfortunately for us, the course was designed with a perfectly placed bunker short right of the green to squash any hopes of running a low shot into the green. Okay let’s move onto the green. The green has two tiers so if you have any aspirations of snaking a birdie be sure to get your ball on the right portion of the green. As your round is coming to a close, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. This hole can propel you on with an easy birdie or absolutely stop you dead in your tracks if you’re not careful. Enjoy this hole and take notice of the small nuances as it’s a true gem.
Hole 17 (Par 3 175 yards): This is the most lackluster hole of the finishing stretch but it still offers a fair test. A mid-iron is sufficient from the tee but you usually need to take an extra club to get through the prevailing headwind. There’s a pesky over-hanging tree on the left. A well struck tee shot is typically safe from hitting those branches so try not to let them bother you.
Hole 18 (Par 4 440 yards): And here we are at the 18th hole, I’m sad to say the round is coming to an end. As a parting gift, Harding Park leaves you with a world-class golf hole. I don’t know if I love this hole or hole 13 more. This is a super fun closing hole. I’m not sure if I would call this a dogleg. The hole curves around an arc from right to left and the tee shot is visually intimidating as you’re forced to carry a sizeable chunk of Lake Merced. With water lining the left, it gets worse as there’s also trees lining the left side of the fairway which bat balls back into the hazard. These two factors force a pretty long carry to get the ball into an ideal position. The other route off the tee which ends up being the most prevalent is to bail out to the right. Unfortunately, that’s not good either as there’s two fairway bunkers that catch tons of balls that get blocked to the right. For your second shot, golfers are presented with a wide range of shots depending on their tee shot. A good tee shot, which aggressively cuts the corner, can put you as close as 100 yards into the green. But the most realistic spot is somewhere around 150 – 180 yards into the green. The green is elevated above two large green side bunkers that are very tough up-and-ins. Once on the green there is quite a bit of undulation. I won’t go into too much more detail because I want to leave a little for you to discover when you play the course for yourself. Needless to say, this is an epic closing hole.
Grades (where 1 is significantly below average and 5 is significantly above)
Scenery: 4 stars
Design: 5 stars
Condition: 4 stars
Practice Facilities: 3 stars
Experience: 4 stars
Click here for a more detailed breakdown of how I think about course ratings.
Closing thoughts: California is home to some ridiculously nice golf courses. To be able to say that a course is a top-10 course in California is quite a statement. According to Golf Digest’s most recent ranking of America’s Top 100 Greatest Golf Courses, California has twelve! I’m not going to argue that Harding Park is in the same breath as the state’s elites (Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, LACC, Riviera, Olympic Club, Torrey Pines, SFGC, Cal Club, Spyglass, MPCC and Pasatiempo). But when you start to discuss the 10 next best courses in California I would make a very passionate argument that Harding Park should be strongly considered.
Unfortunately, one of Harding Park’s greatest strength (its availability to the public) is also its biggest weakness when it comes to getting the accolades it deserves. The course conditioning and pace of play suffer the most from public play. Additionally, the practice facilities could use some love. But none of those should deter from the fact that Harding Park is a top-notch course. Imagine for a second that SFGC took control of Harding Park and rebranded the course as the SFGC North Course. I guarantee you that this track would make its way into the conversation and would be permanently included in Golf Digest’s list of America’s Second 100 Greatest.
This is by far the best course I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling home. When you combine the history of Harding Park with the natural scenery of towering cypress trees, views of Lake Merced, and the upcoming PGA Tour exposure that Harding Park will receive with the 2020 PGA Championship and 2025 President’s Cup, it’s a can’t miss venue that should be considered one of America’s great courses.
The bottom line here is that you should do yourself a favor and book a tee time at Harding Park. You won’t be disappointed.
