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Poplar Creek Golf Course
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
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27 reviews for Poplar Creek Golf Course
Gotta say, this place actually really exceeded my expectations. I had played it two or three times back in the day when it was the shit stain known as Coyote Point Golf Course. It used to be so bad, I never wanted to return. When setting up a little eightsome between friends with all kinds of skill levels, I figured to give the remodeled Poplar Creek a whirl.
We had a 10:20 Saturday morning tee time and I was fearing one of those six hour marathons. I heard rumors that this place logged more rounds than any other course in the Bay Area. As soon as I got to the first tee box, I could tell the new course was in much better shape and was a completely different layout. New trees, waterfalls, club house. By the time we finished our round, I was a believer in Poplar Creek.
I was on fire, I hung with my friend who usually lays the smack down on me - and could count 5 or 6 really fun holes. The pace was also awesome! Maybe we were lucky, but we finished in just over 4 hours.
I almost want to give 4-stars, but I gotta be real. This is just a back-and-forth muni. But because it is like that ugly girl in high school that became gorgeous in college - a late bloomer so to speak... I'll bump it up to 3.5 stars.
Boooo, Poplar just raised their prices across the board. Considering that it takes nearly 6 hours to play a round here, 35-50 bucks isn't worth it. The course itself is well-maintained and pretty flat and easy, but it is not uncommon for groups of 5-6 to slow the entire course down. Twilight prices might seem nice, but the wind picks up around 3:00 and makes it pretty tough. You're better off playing somewhere else.
Also, no driving range.
Oh, and there are giant electrical towers that may or may not give you cancer.
It might not look like the the most difficult course in the world but with the wind that rips through this course nearly all of the holes play long.
Its cheap I payed 24.50 for a weekday afternoon by booking online a few days in advance.
Its well maintained for a muni course.
The pace of play was not too bad, about 4.5 hours for a foursome.
Overall a fun afternoon.
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Keeping it at 3 stars, but this place is dangerously close to getting a 2-star rating. The bunkers are in horrendous shape. The edges are no longer defined, the sand is thin and heaven forbid they rake them each day. We played at 6:45am this morning and they were not raked from the day before. C'mon Poplar! Don't let it get any worse!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/23/2007
This course stirs up a varying set of emotions. Read on...
I like the course itself. At a slope of… Read more »
a pretty decent muni... but kinda boring. a nice place to play if you don't want to drive far and don't want to pay a lot of money. it can get really windy in the afternoon. make sure to bring a windbreaker, even if it's warm and sunny when you start your round. the pace of play can get excruciatingly slow on weekend afternoons. i actually saw someone give up and leave after just a few holes because we were on a 6 hour pace. no driving range. but i'd say as long as you know what to expect at an inexpensive muni, you'll have a good time.
Decent for a muni. More challenging than the live driving range, aka Palo Alto Muni. Much flatter than Presidio or Harding. Less scenic than Mountain View. Very short course so play from the blacks.
Go up a club or down? That's what you'll be asking yourself on every hole since the wind is gnarly. Location is great since it's a short drive for SF, east bay and peninsula folks. Very walkable and probably preferred if you end up spraying the ball onto adjacent holes. Stay clear the of the power line towers, the electrical crackling is downright scary.
Par 4s are short so expect a slooowww round as people attempt to reach the green with the driver. Day I played, no breaks on the greens whatsoever even when it looked like it would break.
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Poplar is a pretty short flat course so but definitely a confidence builder. If you hit it long, definitely play from the black tees but if you want a better chance to get pars/birdies, you can play from the gold or silver tees.
It does get pretty windy as the other reviewers have said - the wind definitely comes more into play on the back 9 so be sure to adjust accordingly.
Definitely a walkable course so you really don't need a cart.
For the money, I prefer to play at Sunnyvale Muni or Skywest which are more challenging courses and more fun to play.
I think for the money this place is a great way to go, but I don't understand the attitude/personalities of some of the people behind the golf shop counter. It's as if you're interrupting them when you show up to pay your greens fee. The folks in the restaurant are great, and the food's quite good too, just wish they'd blow a little sunshine towards the gold shop folk.
Exceptional course!
This is a really beautiful course to play at. It is a pretty flat course but the greens and fairways are maintained very well. If you don't like being paired up with strangers I would strongly recommend bringing 3 friends. this place can be crowded especially because twilight is very cheap. It is not the easiest course because it is ALWAYS and i mean ALWAYS windy.
Overall 4 stars! Long and straight!
I wasnt to hot for this place. When I played here it was spur of the moment as I was in the area and had my clubs in the trunk. I had to wait about an hour till they found a group that had room for 1. The staff seemed a little snotty and the place was crowded mid week. I only got to get in 10 holes befroe the sun went down.
I had only been playing golf for about 4 months prior to playing this kinda boring flat course. Out of the 10 holes, I was able to scratch all except the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Yes, this course is flat and easy. Water hazards can look to be a pain but can be carried. The only challenging part was the damned wind. I guess it gets pretty windy in this part of the Bay.
Luckily I played w/ some seasoned golfers and I was able to learn a few things as the day went on. They thought I had been playing for awhile at first. Then they realized my newbness on the golf course by the 5th hole =).
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This is a boring course. If you're dying to get out and play, and walk 400 yards up a fairway turn around and walk 400 yards down another fairway then poplar hills is for you.
Overall, it's well priced, a little slow, and well groomed. Those are the pros. The cons is that it is just very bland and uninventive. Three stars isn't a bad rating, but for me I'd look elsewhere and then use Poplar Creek as a backup course.
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Great for Beginners; Confidence Builder.
It seems always busy here at Poplar Creek... especially during the weekends but even so during weekday super twilight. Most of the slow play comes in during weekend afternoons, but there is an occasional marshall that'll come by to speed things up if you're falling behind. Pro shop is closing from what I gather at the end of August 2008. Haven't tried their restaurant but the facility is decently maintained otherwise.
Course conditions can be somewhat inconsistent... a sign of the wear and tear this place goes through. Keep track of the pin position on the whiteboard when you check-in (which uses a numbering system corresponding to the scorecard for hole position) to figure out your approach shots. Most of the holes are relatively forgiving as golfers playing from "parallel" fairways are not too uncommon.
There is no full range (just netting) but they do have an area for chipping and a decent size practice putting area. Check their rates online as you may be able to save some $$ by booking a later tee time.
A good place for beginners to get their feet wet in playing 18-holes and build some confidence.
Be warned -- I just played Poplar, and I still have no clue how to actually get to this course. An exit here, a turn there, loop back onto the freeway, behind a hotel, and behold the parking lot. So make sure you have this figured out in advance...
Otherwise I had a pretty righteous morning, despite my apparent lack of golfing talent. Without a San Mateo res card, it was $45 for a Sunday morning round -- given the short length (6000 tips) and relatively flat layout, this is probably as much as I'd be willing to pay anyways. However the course conditions were much better than expected, especially the cut of the fairways. The greens did have a smattering of ball marks, but that isn't surprising since it is one of the most-played courses in Northern California. We had an 8 am start, and the fog made the first hole pretty much unplayable. Once it lifted, the weather was perfect with no real sign of wind... maybe that is just an afternoon thing, along with the crowds. The pace was also perfect, finishing right around 4 hours, with only one or two signs of obnoxious marshals. Word is this course gets INSANE traffic in the afternoons with the twilight rates... so beware.
Note that there is no range here, only hitting nets... I didn't take advantage, but they're available in case you are into that sort of thing. One of the big negatives were the power lines/grids/generators/nuclear power plants throughout the course... you can practically hear the cancer eating your brains. It also made the course look beat and ugly, despite the fact that there isn't much to the layout anyways -- flat and wide open, with some OB stakes between holes.
In the end, Poplar is good for a leisurely round, but there isn't anything out-of-the-ordinary here. The burger at the on-site restaurant was the shiz, although running out of Jameson at noon on a Sunday is weak sauce.
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One of the most horrible experiences I ever had at a golf course. The course itself was average for a muni, but the staff was incredibly rude. STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!!
So prior to arriving at the course, my friend booked a foursome over the phone for 3:45pm. We arrived at the course right around 3:35 and proceeded to check in at 3:38pm (I checked my watch). As we approached the counter, this old hag of a lady begins to lecture us that we should have arrived 15 minutes prior to our tee time of 3:45pm. The bitch then informed us that we lost our spot and we would be placed first on the waiting list. That shit royally pissed us off. Never have we been penalized for being on time. My buddies and I play every weekend and not a single course has EVER bumped us off for showing up on time. Even if we showed up exactly on time, or were a few minutes late, other courses would accommodate and try to squeeze us in. No such luck with this staff.
After tiring of her little tirade, my friends and I decided to wait for the next opening. After all, we were already out here and ready to go. Can't be that long right? So we decided to go out to the practice green and start putting around. We waited, and waited, and waited. Checked 20 min later around 4:05pm to see if anything opened up, they said no. After another 30 min, we walked in and asked again. Initially they said no, but after the bitch and her associate whispered to each other for like 30 seconds, they said something just opened up. WTF! If we had not of walked in and checked again, we'd still be standing on the practice green waiting. Keep in mind they have the loud speaker announcement system there so we were pretty upset at this point. I have never had to jump through so many hoops to play a round of golf. Does this pompous bitch realize she's working at a muni? She acts like she's in charge of a goddamn private country club or something.
You may think that's the end of this horrendous outting, but it wasn't. By the time we got on the first tee, it was 4:45pm. Optimistically, we thought ok we can try to finish in about 3.5 hours right before the sun sets. Nope. The pace of play was absolutely ridiculous. It took us 3 hrs to finish the front 9, and seeing that they wanted the carts in by 8pm, we were nowhere close to finishing. What made it even worse was that the marshall was dogging and following us the whole time. He even lectured us specifically about hitting balls out of bounds when there was another guy standing literally 4 ft away getting ready to hit out of our fairway. Hey why don't you spend a little less time keeping tabs on us and a little more time finding out who the f*ck is slowing down the pace up front. Honestly, there were 3 different groups crowded at each tee box. Needless to say we were not welcome there.
I will never come back to this hellhole. The staff has zero customer service skills and I can find cheaper, nicer courses elsewhere. I am going to absolutely rip this course up to everyone I know because none of my story is exaggerated. These guys have no respect for their customers and only care about making money. If they had any kind of decency, they would have advised us to come back another day instead of collecting money for a full 18 holes when they knew the course was ridiculously packed. Furthermore, they did the same to 2 more groups after us (at 5pm!). Thank goodness for places like Yelp where I can warn others so they don't make the same mistake I did.
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Pretty decent for a municipal course, especially after the remodel years back.
It's nice and wide, so this course will definitely build up your confidence. Not too many hazards.
Half decent course that's n008 friendly. The wind made it a lot more fun to play on the otherwise wide-open and plain layout.
- .5 star because the snack shop at the turn doesn't take card. Any place that doesn't take card from a hard scape setup needs to get with the times. I've paid with plastic buying from the snack cart, not taking card is unacceptable and left me hungry and thirsty for the back 9.
Short course, but well maintained. Definitely a confidence booster. All in all, this is a good course. Yes, there are much better courses, but there are not a lot of options in the peninsula.
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A short track that has several par 4s thats reachable in 1 for the long hitters especially if the howling wind is in your favor. A very open and forgiving course where wild tee shots will still leave you a chance at par or better. The one thing I love about this course is its playability in the rain. This course drains really well and the conditions are actually really good even in the rain. The greens are all pretty big with some very tough double tiered ones as well. They're not that hard to read but still challenging. For the price, its not a bad track to play. Its easier to walk on than calling in for a tee time as they're always booked.
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Poplar Creek is located just south of San Francisco International Airport off Hwy 101. The course and clubhouse were remodeled a few years back and is one of the busiest courses on the Peninsula. This is perhaps one of the best maintained public courses in the area. The fairways are nicely contoured and the greens are well kept. Most would consider this a short course with most par fours shorter than 325 yards. Most holes are reachable in regulation even for a short hitter like myself. There are only two holes that have OB markers and local rules apply to those holes. For the sake of speeding up play, the ball is brought back in-bounds with a one stroke penalty. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of opportunities to "get in trouble" on this course that has water on four holes and plenty of mature trees that seem to attract wayward golf shots. You can come in with a decent score if you can keep your ball in the fairway and your putting is good. The quality of the sand in the traps leaves a lot to be desired as it is very inconsistent from one trap to the next, but so is my ability to make decent shots out of the traps.
The only negative is the green fees. These are probably the highest green fees anywhere for a public course...$35 Mon - Thursday for non-residents and $45 on weekends. That's the other thing that bothers me...Friday being considered a weekend. If most people have to work on Friday, then it is not a "weekend" day!
The restaurant is excellent! Their steak sandwich is worth every penny at $12.50 and the service is excellent.
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an easy, fun course to build up some confidence. not much trouble to get yourself into... gets windy sometimes, but not too bad.
usually in pretty shape.
no range, just some janky batting cage like contraptions.
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If you want a course that is not too expensive on the week days or wknds here is the place that has nice greens and quite flat to walk the whole course...otherwise hop on a golf cart and off you go...close to Hwy 101....
This course is ok. It is pretty short. Good to practice. It gets really windy at times. Very crowded. I don't care for the staff. Most are rude, but you get that at a lot of golf courses. If you can book a cheap round on the internet during the morning or early afteroon, it is worth a try.
I used to get up with the Republicans and golf here with some buddies at 630am. We'd squeeze in 18 before showing up for work at our dot-com about 930. Convenience is what this course is all about. Flat, small-tree layout for the most part with some crazy-assed water hazards here and there. If you just want to hit some balls this is not a bad place, but if you really want to enjoy the course, I think there are much better choices.
Very short track but not too far from the city and cuz its a muni its cheap.
Played this course after work today. Only $15 after 4pm sounded like a great deal until I showed up and had to be put on a hour long waiting list. The tee times for this course fill up fast and they only take reservations after 5pm. Don't plan on just showing up and walking on. A handful of very challenging holes and reachable par fours from the tees gives this course a good balance. Had a great time once I got on.
I just got back from playing here and despite the boring layout and lack of length this really isnt' that bad of a golf course. The good part is that it plays pretty fast. Even though it was a Sunday the round took about 4 1/2 hours which is pretty good for a weekend municipal course. There are a couple of very short par fours on the front nine. In fact, on the 261 yard 7th hole I managed to drive the green and made an 18 foot putt for eagle.
easy..flat...short....course for the novice golfers....18 holes...doesn't get easier...casual stroll to hoof it....minimal hazards...water hazards scarce....loss of balls rare.....discounted weekday special..averaging $20 to $30....cheap afternoon regular pricing after 2pm...even cheaper after 4pm....but, amenities lacking...steel fenced golfing cages...
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