While this affordable Alister MacKenzie design in the redwoods has become a little less hidden over the past decade, it still represents a unique experience in the world of golf. The course is a bit scruffy and has more unrealized potential than realized, but for most of the country, playing golf around towering redwood trees is hypnotic. The idyllic setting along the Russian River carries the day and provides a golf experience that fills up your tank.

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Flooding issues. One of the course’s struggles is with Mother Nature, which can dump big rains in the winter and lead to the nearby Russian River spilling over the golf holes.

Old image. There is very little historical photography of the course, but in the clubhouse there is one old image of the sixth that shows how the course looked when it had MacKenzie’s original bunkering.