If you like teeing it high and watching it fly, you can’t beat golf in the High Sierras. If you like seeing snow-capped mountains in the reflection of a deep-blue water hazard while crushing your career-best drive at altitude, it’s time to visit courses in the Lake Tahoe area. If you like seeing your breath in the morning and peeling off layers to play on sun-kissed summer afternoons, you have to bring your clubs to the California-Nevada border. If you like towering Ponderosa pines framing lush green fairways and spectacular downhill tee shots toward island greens 240 yards away, this is the perfect golf destination.
If so, you should do what I’ve done every summer for the past 23 years – make a pilgrimage to Lake Tahoe to play golf in Reno, Carson City, South Tahoe, Truckee and the Clio-Portola-Graeagle area. Once or twice every year, I renew acquaintances with my favorite courses and play new tracks in the shadows of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Last month I played nine courses in six days, including Clear Creek Tahoe – a breathtaking Coore-Crenshaw design west of Carson City and east of Lake Tahoe – to increase my Tahoe-area play list to 44 different courses.
That, math fans, means I have played almost 800 different holes in the region. It’s also why I feel qualified to put together a composite dream course of the Best 18 Holes of the High Sierras. They’re not the best 18 holes in the area, but the best first hole, best second hole, best third hole and so on – an admittedly biased list of memorable holes that I consider the most architecturally distinctive, picturesque, challenging and/or fun to play. (I have chosen not to include more than one hole from any course.)
It’s time to tee it up on 18 unforgettable holes on 18 courses in my favorite slice of golf paradise:
No. 1: Old Greenwood, Truckee (462 yards): This Jack Nicklaus-designed masterpiece was named after Old Caleb Greenwood, a fur trapper who blazed a trail through the area that hundreds of thousands later followed during the great California Gold Rush in 1849. The opening hole is one of a dozen memorable holes – a dogleg-right par-4 with a generously wide fairway that leaves you a treacherous approach shot to a large two-tiered green. Take your bogey and run.
No. 2: Martis Camp, Truckee (478/421 yards): I call this the Sherwood Country Club of northeastern California because of the palatial homes built on the private course, an award-winning, 2008 Tom Fazio design that Lee Janzen calls Fazio’s best ever. From the course’s medal tees that stretch a staggering 7,700 yards, this dogleg-right par-4 requires a long, accurate tee shot to the left side of a sloping fairway that kicks every ball toward a cavernous bunker guarding the right side. If it gobbles up yours, you might need Caleb Greenwood to lead you out.
No. 3: Grizzly Ranch, Portola (640 yards): Whether you’re coming from Reno or Truckee, it’s a scenic drive on winding two-lane roads to find this magnificent Bob Cupp course that opened in 2005 in the Feather River Valley. This monstrous par-5 is the No. 1 handicap hole and requires three long precise shots, the last from an elevated fairway over a brush-filled canyon that collects many souvenirs that don’t make it to the green below. All the par-5s are memorable.
No. 4: Red Hawk Golf and Resort (Lakes Course), Sparks, NV (220 yards): There’s water everywhere (hence the name) on this Robert Trent Jones Jr. gem, including three par-3s that require forced carries over aqua hazards, this one to reach a huge kidney-shaped green, with the only bailout area short left. No. 17 is even longer (241 yards). Bring your ball retriever.
No. 5: Clear Creek Tahoe, Carson City, NV (337/288/237 yards): Love every Coore-Crenshaw course I have played (e.g., Bandon Trails, Plantation at Kapalua, Lost Farm in Tasmania), and this is no exception. This mountain course opened in 2009 and features arguably the hardest short par-4 anywhere. The risk outweighs the reward even from the closer tee boxes, because it plays uphill into the wind over strategically placed fairway bunkers toward a dramatically sloped green surrounded by four bunkers. And good luck keeping your ball on the green if you’re putting downhill at a front hole location.
No. 6: Resort at Squaw Creek, Squaw Valley (210, 176, 153 yards): No matter which tee box you choose, this is a diabolical par-3 over water that usually plays into the prevailing breeze on this links-style RTJ Jr. layout. The entire course, at the base of the ski runs where the 1960 Winter Olympics were contested, is visually striking because of the tall native grasses bordering the fairways, as well as the many wooden-bridge cart paths. A friend once lost 32 balls in one round and shortly thereafter gave up the game. Honest.
No. 7: Incline Village (Championship Course), Incline Village, NV (407 yards): This downhill, dogleg-right par-4 is the picture on the scorecard at this 1964 RTJ Jr. course on the North Shore, with towering pines framing your view from an elevated tee that reveals a backdrop of Lake Tahoe and snow-capped mountains in the distance. Aim for the bunkers about 250 yards away at the end of the fairway; if you lay up short of them, you’ll have a short iron in. If you try to fade it around the corner, you’ll most likely be taking a penalty drop.
No. 8: Tahoe Donner, Truckee (468/452 yards): At an altitude of 6,500 feet, this Bob Williams mountain course has the highest elevation among Tahoe-area courses. That means your tee shot on this downhill, dogleg-right par-4 will soar. You need to cut off as much of the dogleg as you can without getting trapped behind the outcropping that juts into the fairway. Then you’ll need to hit a long iron, hybrid or fairway metal to clear a ravine and find the green. If you’re lucky, that is.
No. 9: Whitehawk Ranch, Clio (276/267 yards): This Dick Bailey design is a hidden gem, requiring a winding 39-mile drive from Truckee through farmlands and small towns along Highway 89, but it is one of my all-time favorites and ranks among the best courses in the state on most lists. This scenic hole is the quintessential risk-reward par-4, with trees on both sides of a narrow fairway traversed by a stream and water lurking to the right of the green. Go for it. No guts, no glory, right?
No. 10: Schaffer’s Mill, Truckee (445 yards): This is one of my favorite holes among many on this breathtaking John Harbottle-Johnny Miller private course (formerly Timilick at Tahoe) that understandably was ranked No. 9 on Golfweek’s 2008 national list of Best New Private Courses and was rated the top new California course that year. This uphill, dogleft-left par-4 is stunningly gorgeous with streams, waterfalls, boulders and bunkers lining the left side. Thankfully, the course is open to the public on Mondays.
No. 11: Northstar California, Truckee (340 yards): Formerly called Northstar-at-Tahoe, this Robert Muir Graves layout is a tale of two nines: a wide-open, grip-it-and-rip-it, links-style nine (Meadow Nine: Holes 1-9) and a tight, tree-lined back nine (Mountain Nine: Holes 10-18) that requires precise shot-making on this short dogleg-left par-4. You need to lay up with a long iron or hybrid off the tee, setting up a short-iron approach over a brush-filled ravine to reach a small green. So short, yet so challenging.
No. 12 The Dragon at Nakoma, Clio (390 yards): This dogleg-right par-4 is dramatically uphill., requiring an accurate tee shot through a portal of trees over a ravine to a steeply left-to-right sloped fairway on the way to a steeply back-to-front sloped green – featuring a false front, to boot. When it opened, this Robin Nelson design was even difficult for pros – hence its motto then: “Send Me your Heroes.” But recent changes under new ownership have softened the course and made it very playable. Happy to report the Dragon is no longer breathing fire. Shot my best round there last month.
No. 13: Coyote Moon, Truckee (227/206/187 yards): This breathtaking downhill par-3, featuring a 200-foot drop from tee to green, is the signature hole on this spectacular Brad Bell mountain course distinguished by stately pines, rolling fairways, huge undulating greens, granite outcroppings, wildflowers, the scenic Trout Creek and – best of all – no houses in sight. Could play this course every day without getting tired of it.
No. 14: Carson Valley, Gardnerville, NV (325 yards): Not many people outside of Nevada’s capital city know about this traditional, tree-lined course designed by local architect Red Swift. It is the oldest course in the area (opened in 1965) and winds through century-old cottonwood trees and along the Carson River. One particular cottonwood commands your attention: the one standing in the middle of the fairway on this short, dogleg-left par-4. You have to play around it or try to launch a drive over it. Absolutely love it.
No. 15: LakeRidge, Reno (237 yards):Fore! Downhill does not accurately describe this tee shot, featuring a 140-yard drop from mountain-ridge tee to the island green, on this Robert Trent Jones Sr. layout that offers views of the towering casino hotels in downtown Reno. I wish I could stand on the elevated tee box and hit a bucket of balls every time I play it. Suffice to say, it makes the island-green 17th at TPC Sawgrass in Florida seem like a chip shot.
No. 16: Golf Club at Gray’s Crossing, Truckee (242/222/194 yards): Unfortunately, the opening of this private Jim Hardy-Peter Jacobsen layout in 2007 coincided with an economic downturn. But the course’s pain turned out to be our gain, because now it’s open to the public. It’s a sister course to Old Greenwood on the other side of Interstate 80 and is known for its tour-quality greens, impeccable course conditions and views of nearby Mt. Rose. This long, downhill par-3 is fun and challenging. Don’t know why, but I always seem to card my lowest rounds here.
No. 17: Edgewood Tahoe, Stateline, NV (207/175/140 yards): This is the signature hole on the crown jewel of Tahoe golf, the stunning George Fazio/Tom Fazio layout on the shores of Lake Tahoe best known as the venue for the annual American Century Championship celebrity tournament (July 19-24). This par-3 is so close to Lake Tahoe that it actually has sandy beach that is in play if you block your shot right of the cart path; so close that boats filled with locals and tourists often hover to watch the action and laugh at your misfortune. (Honorable mention: Montreux Country Club, Reno (464/450/421): Downhill par-4 with creeks left of fairway and right of green that even bedevils PGA Tour players during the annual Barracuda Championship.)
No. 18: Genoa Lakes (Lakes Course), Genoa, NV (449 yards): At sunrise or sunset, you’re very likely to encounter dozens of grazing deer on the par-5 17th and the par-4 18th on this picturesque Peter Jacobsen-John Harbottle links-style course about 15 miles north of Carson City. Like 13 other holes on the course where water and lush wetlands come into play, the finishing hole is a dogleg-left that requires a long, accurate tee shot over water to a fairway bordered by long grasses. Then you get to attack a huge, undulating green back–dropped by the stately clubhouse and snow-capped mountains. Makes you want to linger when your round is over.
Can’t wait for next year’s trip.
