http://www.bodegaharbourgolf.com

Our league had a tournament that I got into at the last minute and based on the comments I had heard from others, I was really looking forward to playing this course. It is a design by Robert Trent Jones Jr that by the web site looks really nice and by the satellite images on Google, looks just o.k. The course is actually really beautiful and way nicer than the satellite images show, much more like the web site indicates in the pictures. There are a lot of elevation changes throughout the course and if you are too far offline, some very thick and penal rough. The houses can come into play on the front 9 and a few holes on the back 9. It's not a real long course, with only 3 par 5's and 5 par 3's (for the men). Some of the holes, you really need either local knowledge or to go forward and see what is in store for you as is will really limit the distance you should hit the ball from the tee.

I can say that I will never go back to play this course again, unless I am guaranteed that it will be a calm day as it was horribly windy the whole day, which was really draining on all of us mentally. Having to play in wind is always hard, but this was brutal. I don't know how fast it was blowing, but we were guessing 30+ MPH. I have video (which I will load as well) of my playing partner hitting a 3-iron off the tee of #17, which is a 135 yard par 3 straight into the wind and his ball made it to about the front of the green (but way right up the hill because of the wind) which means he only hit it about 120 yards and his 3-iron is typically a 185 yard club for him.

There are some "stupid" holes as well on this course like hole #5, which is a double-dogleg par 5, but your tee shot (from the white tees), can only go about 180 yards (landing area is about 30 foot elevation drop) before falling off and into a thick patch of rough that separates that part of the fairway from the next section that angles almost 90 degrees right. From there, you have about 260 yards to the green, which is over a fenced in private property area, so the safe shot is to the right before the left-hand dogleg to the green. Crazy hole design that forces you to hit short shots. Another bad design is #16. From the tee, you are crossing over a swamp-like area to the fairway which is almost at a 90 degree angle from you going left to the green and is only about 20 yards wide. It's not a long hole and from the white tees, to get across the swamp was only something like 155 yards, but with the wind pushing everything left, it made it difficult. The women play it as a par 3 instead of about 160 yards (that's where the drop area is for the other tee boxes) and the green is very small. Holes 16 and 17 can only be walked (but they do provide pull carts for your use in case you were riding). The last hole, #18 is a horrible design as well, especially on windy days. You can't see the flag and the fairway is dropping away from you, so you can't see the ball land. I hit a 7 iron (typically a 170 club, but going with the wind) and it was too much club. There should at least be a sign saying that the fairway ends 170-180 yards out or something, we had no idea as it's a 335 yard hole. We never found my ball and since I had already WD from the tournament after some really bad holes, I just dropped up near where I though my ball went into the hazard. If you manage to have your shot stay in the fairway, you are then hitting across a hazard to the green which is sitting about 40 feet below you and is surrounded by some horrible rough that will eat your ball even if you saw exactly where it went in.

There are some really nice holes, like #4 which is a really neat, tight uphill hole with severe bunkers in the middle of the fairway and #13 which is a dogleg right that goes downhill, but straight into the wind from the tee. Unfortunately, my approach shot was from about 180 yards and I decided to hit a 4-iron (normally a 210 yard club) turned over a little to have a hook to fight the wind, but instead, I didn't get all the way through the swing and had a big slice that was made WAY worse by the wind and by the time it came down (way right), probably only 10 yards forward of where I was.

Hole 1, par 4:



Hole 2, par 4:



Hole 3, par 3:



Hole 4, par 4:



Hole 5, par 5:



Hole 6, par 3:


Hole 7, par 3:


Hole 8, par 5:




Hole 9, par 4:


Hole 10, par 4:


Hole 11, par 4:


Hole 12, par 3:


Hole 13, par 4:


Hole 14, par 4:



Hole 15, par 5:


Hole 16, par 4 (par 3 for the women):





Hole 17, par 3:


Hole 18, par 4:


Panoramic from just over the 18th fairway with a view of the 16th green:

Here is the video. I probably won't get the pictures loaded until tomorrow.

Too many goofy holes like Monarch Dunes?

Looks like someone pull hooked it from the narrator talking during the swing.

You could hear me?

The good thing was, Phil couldn't hear me! BTW, it was nowhere near a pull hook, it was a slice that went high-and-right, up near the bush on the side of the hill.

Boy, just the sound of that video made me cringe. I enjoy a little wind, it keeps things interesting, but that didn't look like very much fun.

First post updated with the pics.

Looks like a half-decent course if not for the wind. But with it completely exposed like that, I'm sure it really blows most days out there. So, I think I'll pass.

Dave