Sea Ranch Golf Links

I've seen The Sea Ranch Golf Links advertised on Golfnow and EZLinks. If you've had a chance to read any of my other reviews in The Epic breakdown of NorCal Golf, you know I weight my ratings heavily on bang for the buck.

I hate to admit it (I'll explain), but TSRGL is excellent bang for the buck... If you happen to be up on the northern Sonoma County coast or if you've got a day to kill. It's not close - to anything. But that's probably part of the charm. If you hit this place on the shoulder seasons (which probably have the best weather anyway), you'll most likely have the course to yourself. At least that's been my experience today (post Labor Day September).

The course itself is probably what I expected. A poor man's Pebble is probably a stretch, but the course does have some great Ocean views. The layout is more challenging than the yardage suggests. You can tell they put a lot of their energy into maintaining the greens and surrounding areas. The fairways and bunkers... Not as much. I haven't played a whole lot of links style golf to benchmark the conditions against, but don't expect crisscrossed now lines or anything. The bunkers were crap... Mostly mud. The greens really were in great shape.

I got a Friday afternoon round for $40 and some change. It was definitely worth that.

My biggest gripe with the place...

I play the first six holes and just had a few really bad bounces... Good shot that just caught the wrong tuft of grass. Seeing as there was nobody else out there, and being the golfing prima Donna that I am, I stopped by the pro shop and politely asked if he had an issue if I started over. Pretty much verbatim, "Actually yeah, I do have an issue with that". Looking back on it, he was probably in the right - even though the parking lot was empty, I was probably the only one on the course, I had only played 6 holes, I had driven 3 hours to get there, etc. It would've been a cool gesture, but instead he came off as a dick and immediately ruined my attitude about the place. I 100% realize that I probably sound like a little bitch right now, but whatever... It's my review dammit :).

The course was fun. The views on the front nine were great. The little paths and bridges between the holes on the back nine were cool. The guy in the pro shop rubbed me the wrong way, but I probably didn't get enough sleep last night. It was worth the $40 round.

Amazing day of golf!!
Beautiful course, fantastic greens!
Definitely worth the trip. We will be back to golf this amazing course.
Love the pro shop and lunch at the turn for the back 9 holes. Incredible Ocean views from most every hole. !!!

What an absolutely beautiful course.

It's so well maintained and each hole provided some challenge and made it so fun! There were 3 of us playing and nobody in front of us or behind so being a slight beginner it was really nice to be able to play fully through and actually enjoy the course in its entirety.

For the price and for some of their deals I highly recommend playing this course if you like golf at all. Cannot wait to come back and play again! We'll be stopping by for a round every time we visit Gualala!

This was an incredibly fun, challenging, Pebble Beach vibe golf course. $60 for an ocean side course that was every bit of golf if you could ever want. The fairways need a little work, but the greens were spectacular and some of the ocean views were amazing. today was the only nice day that we had while we were here so I took advantage of it went out and played at 8 AM and had the entire course to myself.

Yesterday we played golf with tee time at 9:30am. We checked into the pro shop earlier and was able to go on earlier.

There was no one in front of us and no one in back of us for many holes. Then we caught up with a foursome who were pushing. That was a bad idea. The course is spread out west & east of Hwy 1.

The course conditions - fast greens. But gravel or dirt cart paths from hole to hole 80% of the time. And not much green fairways. Lots of dirt and barranca as it's a links course.

Thank goodness we had a Golf Moose voucher. Reduced green fees.

Playing here once was fine. I don't see myself returning.

All about the sea views.

Sea Ranch is already known as an architectural wonder of the west coast, but what I most appreciated about their golf course is the phenomenal coastal views and natural cypress groves. Journeying across 9 holes (I'm not quite skilled enough for the full 18) felt like an adventure to remote coastal oasis. We saw deer, fox, rabbits and even a baby skunk!

The winds can pick up in the afternoon, especially during the summer months, so be sure to secure a before-noom tee time!

Excited to have such a magical course in my backyard.

Want to play golf on a Scottish links style course with dramatic ocean views? Skip the uber expensive courses down in Carmel and come up to the Sea Ranch. Dramatic views and abundant wildlife to either distract you and complement your round, depending on how well you play. Is it difficult? The way I play golf every golf course is difficult. But either way you won't be disappointed. Recommds playing early in the day when the wind is not as active as it can get pretty active along this stretch of coast as the day goes on.

Fairways are a cow pasture
Greens are in pretty good condition
Gas powered ancient golf carts will give you a backache
Grill has no food to grill
No waiting on the course between holes (I wonder why)

The golf course is so beautiful and a little golf shop has beautiful clothes as well. Most of the golf course has an ocean view. Absolutely stunning.

What a cliff hanger drive to this beautiful gem of a golf course! It was a rainy day on 12-27-22 but I was able to be the first one off at 8am...constant wet conditions but was able to play amazingly from the white tees ...lots of natures animals like deer, cranes, ducks and other habitats throughout the round. Great staff...was very warm and hospitable to the end. Highly recommend this course and feel privileged to be able to finish 18 in less than three hours on this stormy day......Can't wait to come back next time with the fiancé!

So this review is not to bash Sea Ranch but more of just a warning or heads up for anyone thinking about golfing here in the near future and spending $95 dollars. The people were very nice and we did speak with a very nice guy who said they are working hard to get the course into shape but they are still charging resort type fees and the course is far from being that. There was literally no grass in the fairways, the bunkers were a 3 out of 10 for condition and tee boxes were literally dirt or tall dry grass. Again, for $35 you could say what the heck but for $95 I would advise not to go here until next year at soonest. A buddy and me made the best of it and it was his birthday just feel a bit cheated. Will post pics if I figure out how to do that.