Playing Where the Pros Play

The place

Harding Park is one of the better arguments for American municipal golf. It sits on Lake Merced in San Francisco, has hosted the PGA Championship, and still lets a regular golfer walk onto a tee where tour players have stood. Cypress, fog, and a city that can disappear into weather between the 3rd and the 12th. The restoration brought championship bones back without taking the course away from the people of San Francisco. That combination is rarer than a fairway in July fog.

“Beautiful views. Terrible decisions. Great memories.”

What it asks of you: A famous tee box does not swing for you. It just raises the standard of the day.

JW’s personal notes from the round will live here — the funny moment, the people, the 19th hole — without inventing what hasn’t been written yet.

Course website