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Callippe Preserve
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
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26 reviews for Callippe Preserve
For public golf in the Bay area for the price, I just do not think you can beat Callippe Preserve at this time:
Course Design A-: Hilly, interesting, challenging and from the tips particularly difficult. Some forced carries, some water, plenty of sand (I found much of it) both fairway and green-side, holes of differing types, some long, some short and strategic, some long and strategic. Front 9 design good but nothing special, #9 perhaps the best of the bunch. Back 9 is special, almost every hole unique and of interest, and the flow, which initially seems to run back-and-forth parallel up a steep hillside, actually uses dramatic changes in the elevation to spice up the flow as well as many holes' individual design. Greens were varied, relatively large, many levels, plenty of break. Uphill into the wind, you almost should use a driver instead of a putter. And some great views, particularly from the back 9.
Conditions B+: A little dried out at the edges but the rough was deep in many areas, was able to play the ball down all but twice (a few areas had been recently aerated), tees is very good shape - from tee to green probably as good as many private courses. Greens were consistent, but maybe the one weak spot, not really true, and it seemed of a type of grass that would hold up against the constant hot sun, wind and public course overuse, but not private course or good resort course quality. I bet if they wanted though, they could turn them into excellent condition if they cut back play, added some water, and rolled assiduously for a few days. Sand a little firm/muddy in some traps, fluffy in others, somewhat inconsistent, but there was sand at least!
Service B+: Generally helpful, friendly, a balance of local feel and professional feel, and there was plenty of help available.
Food/Beverage B: Big inside area (with AC) for food/drink, with a smallish but decent bar, and also a screened in huge outside area. We only tried a little of the food and it was sort of pub style. Window for quick service was very effective, big hot dogs, fast, friendly service, perfect for that quick bite before the 10th hole or even before you tee off. There was a food/drink cart that came around with good frequency, decent service, choice and price. This was WAY better than practically any public course, just lacked a little of that extra plushness you get at some resorts and private courses. Will try a serious lunch next time, maybe this rating could go up to B+.
Practice areas TBD but at least a B: Didn't have time to use driving range, so do not know if it is mats or grass or both, but there was one, and also a good sized putting green that actually putted just like the greens on the course! Big kudos for this, how many times have you practiced putting on the practice green and then found the actual green utterly different?
Value A: Yes, it is out in the edges of the east bay unless you happen to live in Pleasanton. But it was, from what I can tell, built for the local residents (there is a discount). For under $60 including cart for mid-week, early afternoon there is no better value that I have seen. If you are an eclub member at Half Moon Bay you can get out with cart on the Ocean Course after 2pm for around $60, maybe that beats Callippe. But this was the normal Callippe price, no special deal, and standard rate at HMB is $150 (!).
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I've been yearning to play here since they've opened several years ago and I finally got my opportunity. I usually don't do much out this way (Pleasanton) but this will get me back, cuz I love, love, love this place.
I love how even though its a good 20 miles away from home, I can still get there without hopping on a freeway. A nice country drive through the east bay canyons, shades on, window down and music blaring is how I like to roll.
I love how the course is well maintained and well designed. The kind where they blended the holes according to the landscape. Canyon hill sides, wet marshland preserves and solitary oak trees flow throughout the course.
I love how the elevation changes create dynamic drama to a round and simply add some great views (great views of the 925 valley).
I love how their carts are top of line with GPS, auto lock brakes and quiet and efficient electric engines. Even though this course is walkable, so I've heard.
I love how it is $52 to ride during twilight (late afternoon). Let's see. Pay the same amount to play a busy muni course in the morning or this place later in the day with less people. No brainer for moi.
So yea, it wouldn't be prudent to say I'd be back, sooner than later fo sho. I've got to better my score here by getting more acquainted with the terrain and maybe lay off the beers from a six pack to maybe a couple. It can be done, I swear.
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Definitely one of my favorite courses to play here in the Bay Area. The staff is friendly, the course is beautifully maintained, and the best of all, the clubhouse does a great job of scheduling tee times to minimize backups.
Be warned though, the front nine is significantly easier than the back nine. There are a decent number of sand bunkers, a few water hazzards, but more importantly, several large preserve areas. Whenever I feel up for a challenge, I walk the back-9 early during the weekend. The back-nine will definitely challenge your course management skills where I rely moreso on my fairway woods than my driver. The par 5 18th hole is really popular, but my personal favorite is the par 5 15th hole.
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Tried this beautiful track from a review recommendation read on the Bridges Golf Course rewiew section. It told the reader to try Callippe Preserve for some unbelievable golf at a great price. Booked a noon tee time on a Friday and finished at 6:00 pm. They pack the tee times so close together that by the 3rd hole, there were 12 people, yes, 3 groups at the tee together waiting for the green to clear. The course is beautiful and well cared for. A little soggy, the ball just stops dead. It does play fair, but to play a round in 6 hours on a weekday, waiting for the groups in front on every shot is close to watching paint dry, but costs a bit more. A ranger came by once on the back nine for the first time, but told us is was wall to wall the whole way around with no gaps.
I would like to see management spread out the tee time a bit more. This is a great course with some fantastic golf, but you may not want to go back a second time if it takes 6 hours to play.
5 stars if you can afford it. The driving range is good, you can hit off the grass. The course is very well kept. Great views, well groomed, challenging greens, good food, everything! I wish I had a sugar daddy golf buddy and no job so I could play this course everyday!
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interesting layout with challenging greens and lots of elevation change. very well maintained. the driving range has some of the nicest turfgrass i've ever seen at a public course, if you pay attention to that sort of thing. a little out of the way, but overall a great course for the price.
Beautiful course, well maintained, lots of hills. Not as difficult as Bridges Golf Course. Like most nice courses the play can be slow. Fuggedaboutit on weekends. Six hours to play 18 holes is crazy slow. It is a little pricey. Very few water hazards, greens are nice and smooth. Can get pretty hot but then I go to Tilden if that's the case. Wait staff at the food service is always cheerful. Great practice range with real grass to hit off of.
I'm a big fan of the newest course to the area, Callippe Preserve. Callippe is in fantastic shape and offers up a true challenge to golfers of various skill sets. They have a good range with real grass surfaces to hit off of - and a nice little club house. The course uses the creeks and other surrounding nature in the courses difficult (yet fair) layout. It is a little hilly, and an be narrow at times.
Great Course! Great layout, nice clubhouse, reasonable rates and the course was in great shape.
Fairways - Excellent condition. Firm and recieved clubs well when hitting from them. Bright green, looked and felt awesome. 0 complaints.
Sand - Actual Sand. I know, it's amazing. With all the other course around using less and less soft sand this place packs it in. Put a ball in a bunker and you pay for it.
Tee Boxes - Again. Excellent shape. The errant and broken tees look to be cleaned up often and they're nice and firm.
Greens - In the mornings they're more receptive. In the summer afternoons these things are glass. True rolls and a lot of speed. Closely mown and also in great shape. Very few ball marks.
Layout - Winding along the foothills and around a creek it's an excellent design. You'll have views of the tri valley and Mt Diablo all day. Some tough holes and tight in some places but then there are scoring holes as well (#15 is a shortish par 5 over water. Classic risk reward)
Course management and playing away from trouble are key. If you play it a few times you'll start to see where you can and can't miss on the greens (don't miss right on the 18th green) Overall it's a great course in great shape with about average pricing. Well worth your time and effort to play.
Ps - If you play in the afternoon the wind is something fierce so be prepared. It will be tough!! Happy Hacking!
This course has been around for about two years now, and last week I finally got around to playing it. Man, was I impressed...and I don't impress easily.
This course is tucked away in the back roads of Pleasanton, up against the hills and far away from civilization. It plays quite short from the whites, but what it lacks in distance it makes up in toughness.
On the front nine, the fairways are pretty decent and quite easy, but when you get on the back, challenges abound. There's a par four 270, but if you risk it and go for the green and miss, you're gonna have to add one because you'll loose it down the ravine. The par five 18th requires placement as you cross the creek twice before hitting into an elevated green.
Pace of play moved pretty well; my only complaint is the condition of the greens. The grass on some of the greens was so thin, you could see the dirt underneath. Also, in the afternoon the wind could whip up and cause you to really think about your shots.
The course is walkable, so get out there and enjoy. I sure will again.
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I've played Callippe 4 times now and each time, I am very impressed at how well kept the course is. The layout is challenging but fair. The greens are huge but really challenge you as they have severe breaks. The only thing that keeps them from getting my fifth star is that the last few times I have gone, the greens were either slow or fast. It appeared that the grass was a bit long and they rolled them anyway. Don't get me wrong. They are MUCH faster and truer than any other muni I have played. It's just a bummer they don't match the rest of the course. On one green, the ball races past the hole but on the next, it stops while rolling downhill. Maybe it's the winter leftovers so I have my fingers crossed they will get better. Definitely a must play if you haven't been there though.
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I have played here once and it was a really nice course. Well maintained, decent price, nice range on actual grass and lots of challenging holes, very open. It's a bit of a drive for me, but worth it if you can get there during the week.
First time playing here, I really enjoyed the layout of the course. It has little bit of everything. I can understand that some long knockers might not appreciate this course design because from the blues, its only about 6400 yards, so for first time players at the course, it seems like your getting penalized for good shots. I suggest take the time and utilize the Sky Caddie. This thing is amazing, it's basically a GPS for the golf course.
I'll come back and try them for twilight. I bet it will play tougher because of the wind.
This course if awesome, and i live on it! How lucky am I?
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This is my favorite course. Well maintained and friendly staff. Beautiful scenery and nice grass driving range. I would definitely recommend a cart.
Difficult, but fair course. #18 kicks my behind every time, but I love it.
This is a fairly new course that is pretty typical of what you see being built nowadays. It does have a better layout than usual but you can still see most of the rest of the course from any given spot. The real drama is reserved for the back nine where all the really tough holes are though that's not what the handicap rating says.
The little native areas where the Callippe butterflies live will be the only natural areas around this course in a few years when the valley that its in is covered with new homes.
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Man!! Talk about a beautiful course!!
There's a lot of "native" areas, where the Callippe butterfly is supposed to have created a "natural habitat" which you can't impose on. I swear there were a lot more "hazards" than i expected.
It wa sa great course, beautifully laid out, and the bunkers were spotted in good locations. I think its one of my favorite courses in the Bay Area.
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Plagued by the same pace of play demons that haunt most Bay Area courses (aka 36+ handicappers with no rangers telling them to pick up), Callippe is nonetheless "better than most."
The greens are quite smooth but are slower than they look like they should be. Credit the developers for being willing to build some unique holes (11 and 12 in particular). Good players will probably find the course relatively easy, especially since you only need driver on about four holes (none on the back nine).
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First off, this is a breathtakingly beautiful golf course. Prepare to do most of your low scoring in the front nine, as it is fairly flat and the greens are relatively easy to read.
It's quite the different story on the back nine. You get a few holes that are only about 350-370 but man are they difficult. You'll want to practice your chipping and putting skills before setting foot onto this course since they will be tested mightily.
One slight complaint are the greens. They were a little inconsistent in that some of them were perfect, but some were not so well-maintained.
Tip: Most of the putts will be breaking towards the valley. I got this tip from a local that plays here weekly. Good luck and enjoy =)
CP is a notch above your typical muni course. It's tucked in the hills behind some large homes off of 680 in Pleasanton. I still remember most of the holes - The first tee is downhill, bunker on the left side of a narrow fairway, but worth taking the driver. 18 is interesting with your 2nd shot over a ravine, and your third shot uphill over another ravine. There's variety to the layout (not just back n forth, back n forth) with elevation changes so it's interesting. Fairways are in pretty good shape and drain well. Greens roll ok, but could be smoother. Even though it's links style with few trees, there are "native" plant/animal areas so you can't spray it too much.
Definitely worth it during the week. Try to keep the marshals (nice guys) on their toes, it gets slow out there at times.
Great friggin golf course. During the week, it's very affordable. Fun course, but you can't play out of some of the trouble spots. It's a preserve!?
I recommend this course to everyone it's a guarantee you'll love it.
Ever since Golf Digest had Callippe listed in their top new publics to play in 2007, I've always wanted to get on that action. And today I made it happen. We had a 12:16 tee time on a Sunday, and the check-in process was smooth... no complaints about the pro shop at all. In fact, we just made the cutoff for twilight, so our rate plus cart was around 50 per player. This is pretty reasonable for the bay area, to be quite honest. The range has grass tees (hooray), which is something you don't see much of except when you're inland. As expected, the tee boxes had a sandy base, but sandy grass is better than poopy mats. No doubt. 70 balls for about 5 bucks, so that was a nice surprise too. The practice greens, however, were surprisingly absurd... extremely undulating, dry and ridiculous hole placements. Can a brother (me) just practice his stroke?? Dag. How stupid were we to think that this was an anomaly and that there was no way the course greens could be similar... more on that later.
From the tips, Callippe plays 6748 yds at 73.4/139... so definitely knew we weren't in for a cakewalk. And it didn't disappoint on that note. The course is sort of located in the boonies of pleasant-farm-ville, with the back 9 taking advantage of the surrounding valleys. Some of the altitude changes on the back were really quite impressive and, like San Geronimo, really provided the backdrop that I expected from all the great reviews. The par 5 18th at 573 yards from the tips is probably the hardest hole that I have played in the bay area. Two ravines divide the dogleg right 'fairway' into 3 sections.... the first crosses at around 300 yards, and the second at around 450. With the small green surrounded by absolute junk, it really should be a par 6, since I can't see any amateur hitting a perfect baby cut with a 3 wood from 260 out. No chance. Fun, but ridiculous.
I would be inclined to say that the front 9 is slightly boring and flat, if it wasn't for the well-designed holes that had some of the most strategically placed bunkers I've seen in a long time. Good luck finding a straight tee shot down the fairway, as you either have to lay up in front of the bunker set (nice fluffy sand, by the way) or just cut the edges. After a winter golf layoff, this definitely wasn't the sort of thing to get me in the groove.... fairway bunker shots can go to hell and die, but that is what you get with good course design. Definitely not easy for beginners, although there is lots of leeway in the rough for errant shots.... so you will have a very hard time scoring well, but lost balls shouldn't be an issue. I was also a little disappointed with some of the fairways, only in that the sandy base sometimes made your club skip and hit thin shots.
Now the major, MAJOR gripe... the greens were a goddamn circus. Even with the rain we've had, they were dry, brown, hard and like f**king ice. Practically impossible to check up wedges or to hold a green from 150 out... just roll it on up there like St. Andrew's and hope for the best. On top of this, add multi-tiered greens with 3 on average. This can normally be mitigated by the greenskeeper, but apparently he likes to screw with us... the pin positions on about half of the holes were downright ludicrous. 10 foot uphill putt comes up an inch short, and not only rolls back to where it started, but right on by you and off the green. This is why we hardly finished by sunset with a 5.5 hour round.... people couldn't freaking put the ball in the hole! It was like mini golf out there... trying to mark your first putt before it started rolling away again. Not good. And a very easy way to turn a decent round into complete shit.... five 3-putts will tend to do that. The PGA tour would even have a fit, I don't doubt it for a second.
Honestly, I really did enjoy playing Callippe. It still is a very young course at 3 years, so when the baby trees start growing in and line the front 9 fairways, this will really become a gem in my book. Just fix the retarded greens... seriously.... they are so asinine that I just burst a vessel in my eye. Dammit.
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Extremely slow round today 5 1/2 hours. The front nine is not that great, but the back nine has several excellent holes that are very memorable. You will hear a lot of "fores!!" on the front as its built on too small a plot and holes are too close together. They need to hire some marshalls and get people playing faster. I was appalled at the almost 3 hr front nine and the only thing the starter said was "there are too many people on the course".
I would give it 4 1/2 stars for the golf course, but the pace of play dumped it to a 3. I would be afraid to go back to do this horrible problem.
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A beautiful golf course, even though it is a little small. I'm a beginner golfer and haven't been on too many courses, so I can't be too technical about the course. But I have to say it's well kept with beautiful scenery around it. I saw 4 deers(3 of them foes) close by as we were playing. The drink cart service was really nice too! My first time drinking beer and playing golf at the same time. I had a great time here, this place rocks!
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Played here yesterday late morning, first time.... the price is right.. the course is in great condition.. a wee-bit quirky for me.. u need to know where to hit it but I guess if I play here more, I would know or if I ponied up the $$$ for the yardage book... lotta layups.. bunkers, ravines, nature areas.. demanding but more forgiving than poppy ridge and prolly less windy in the afternoon... the greens were not in the best shape.. bumpy..dirt.. one had a dirt patch on it..yikes..but i did drop a few ..pow..pow...Can you place the pins any closer to the edges?? must think pros are playin'.. when we were leaving, there were a ton of peeps heading in for twilight ..it's a real bargain for pton residents.. anyway, it's new.. green conditions will prolly get better... 3.5 but givin it 4 cuz .. it was such a great frkn day to play with the bros.. righties vs. lefties..gittyup!!.... today wouldve been even better and warmer :)
I'm not sure it deserves all the great reviews, but the bar serves the coldest beer I've had anywhere. A nice track that will get better as it matures.
