Callippe Preserve Golf Course

I think it’s time for a new starter. Had to argue for the cart I reserved and paid for. He suggested sharing with a stranger or walking… Our group was rushed through the round and told we were behind, even though the timer on the cart showed us 4 minutes ahead of schedule. Not a great experience.

I want to love this course but everytime I play it I end up just liking it.

First the pros of Callippe. It's set in the Pleasanton hills and is absolutely beautiful. The staff is very friendly and upon check-in, mentioned they were having cart issues and gave me a free bucket of balls as a token of their apology. The greens are in great shape as are most of the fairways and bunkers. The restaurant/bar is lively and the food is good and the patio is wonderful as you chill during the inevitable two-group wait on 10.

Now the cons. The round took 5:10 to complete and there were no marshalls to help slow groups along. We started at 2:20 and barely beat sunset in order to finish. We actually did get a cart but it died after the 10th hole, leaving us to hump our bags up the steep 11th hole, and carry the rest of the way. The layout is mostly good but the 17th and 18th holes are far more difficult than the previous 16 and 18 is one of the worst finishing holes in the Bay Area. The course has many target-type shots but not enough on-course markings to help those of us without range finders determine how far we should hit the ball.

I am lucky enough to live in Pleasanton and get to play this wonderful course a few times a month with my buddies. The course is in great shape. Get your birdies on the front nine as the back nine can eat your lunch. The finishing three holes are especially challenging. We eat lunch after our Friday morning round and the restaurant staff always makes us feel at home.

I booked this last minute, so I guess I should have known something was amiss. I arrived early, paid and went to the range. No hint that a teen tournament was in progress. I discovered that unpleasant fact just before I teed off. Of course all the kids were walking and being followed by their parents. This delayed my tee time 15 minutes. Not a major inconvenience. However, the front nine took almost 3 hours. At the turn, I discovered that the kids must have stopped for lunch. Three foursomes were lined up at 10 and two foursomes (not in the tournament) we’re waiting behind them. I wasn’t willing to wait another half hour to 45 minutes (it was now 3:25) to tee off on 10. The pro shop would not refund or give a rain check. The guy did offer me a free cart on my next round. I still paid for 18 holes and got a slow 9. I certainly not against tournaments, but If I had been told there was going to be a teen tournament, I would not have booked or would have eaten the booking charge and saved $60. Six to six and a half hour rounds are ridiculous. Enough said.

I have been playing here since the course opened and love the layout. The one consistent downside is the pace of play. You should be able to get off the course in a reasonable four to four and a half hour round. However, playing Callippe, you are lucky to get off in less than five. Again, great course layout and extremely friendly staff. The carts all have GPS for yard distances but the pace of play kills the rhythm of the round.

It pains me to write this review because i really do love this course overall. Have probably played it 40-50 times over the last ~8 years. It’s a challenging course with a layout that rewards good course management and has some really fun risk/reward holes (2, 8, 12, and 15 come to mind). Conditions over the years have generally been great, but the pace of play has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY worse over the last year. You’ll be hard pressed to finish a round there in under 5 hours, and 5.5+ isn’t uncommon, even on weekdays. There are routinely 2-3 groups backed up on the 4th and 10th tees. This is a course that any group following normal golf etiquette and playing ready golf should be able to finish in 4.5 hours. When I asked management what the deal was with the pace the response I got was a generic “we’ve tried everything, nothing’s worked, it’s a hard course *shrug*“. I can probably count the number of times I’ve seen marshals on course on one hand, and I’ve never seen them ask a slow group to speed up. Maybe it happens, I just haven’t seen it in all my times there.

Pace was never as much of an issue here 3-5 years ago, so clearly, SOMETHING has changed. I suspect trying to squeeze more tee times on the tee sheet (8 minutes apart) is to blame.

Supposedly new management has been in place for a year or so, and maybe they’re heavily goaled/incentivized to increase course revenue by x% each year, but they’re compromising the playing experience there in a big way by not managing the pace better. I get that demand for golf is insatiable now since the pandemic so they’ll still fill the tee sheet even with ridiculously slow rounds, but management really could and should strive to do better.

Some suggestions for management:

- Place pins in slightly more amateur-friendly positions. Most of the time I play there nowadays there are many pins in what I’d consider “Sunday positions”, e.g. at top of a ridge/spine, tucked in tight just over a bunker, etc. Difficult pin positions alone can significantly slow down pace as mid-higher handicappers (which there are a lot more of now since the pandemic) struggle.

- Place clearer signage recommending tees based on handicap: To be fair, this is a problem everywhere, but way too often people are playing tees they have no business playing from based on their ability. If you can’t drive it 200+, you should be playing from the whites, not struggling to make the fairway from the tips just because a low-handicapper in your group is playing there. Some courses have a sign posted by the first tee with guidance e.g. black tees 0-9, blue tees, 10-18, white tees 18+.

- implement interior out of bounds: I’m thinking specifically of the 1st and 10th holes, where players routinely hit their tee shots onto the opposite fairway, causing delays as people walk all the way across to the other hole (1st hole is cart path only), and wait for cross-crossing traffic to clear before they hit. This is as much a player safety issue as it is a pace issue.

- place sign and menu on 8th tee asking folks to call ahead to order food if they want to get grub at the turn. The backup on 10 tee is often multiple groups deep, party because folks are waiting for food.

First time playing here . The pro shop and starter where excellent host for the course . Answered all my questions and gave done well needed pointers on playing the course . I paired up with a couple other single players that have played the course multiple times . My group was awesome and I played really well . Over all just a great day .