Santa Clara Muni is one of my favorite muni courses in the bay area. It is generally in good shape and has some challenging holes and some good birdie opportunities.

Holes 6 and 7 are up on a hill away from the rest of the course. Both are dog-leg right and are driveable if the wind is right and you really crush it. I generally lay up with a 3 iron on 6 and try to go over the bunkers on 7.

I had considered the par 5 14th on the back 9 pretty much unreachable, but when I played with Nils last weekend, we had the wind behind us and both got our second shots hole high to the back pin placement. We had both aimed a little right since the green is back left from the fairway – next time I’ll go right at it.

The par 5 18th is reachable with a driver, 3-4 iron if you hit two good shots and the green is pretty accessible. Close your round with a birdie. 🙂

Santa Clara can get slow in the afternoons, especially on the weekends. Morning tee times can be hard to get, but are worth trying for.