CALLIPPE PRESERVE GOLF COURSE

The rolling hills east of San Francisco Bay create natural elevation changes that architect Gene Bates exploited brilliantly, routing holes through oak-studded valleys where strategic bunkering punishes wayward drives more than penal rough. Water comes into play on seven holes, but it's the wind funneling through Pleasanton's gap in the coastal range that transforms this daily-fee track into a thinking player's course. When conditions firm up in summer, these bentgrass greens reward local knowledge and precise iron play over pure distance.