Monarch Bay Golf Club - Tony Lema Course

An experience starter “Ed” in the morning very nice and he knows what to do.

The driving range mats need to be replaced! Pro shop staffs are not friendly!!!!

Additional bathroom on the course would be nice!

You'd better wear your big boy pants to play this place. And I do mean pants, because it was very windy. The course is located a club's throw away from the bay in San Leandro. It bills itself as a Scottish links style course and performs as advertised in both weather and layout. It was 58 degrees, cloudy, and a steady 12-15 mph breeze for my round that did not relent.

The architecture was what really impressed me. Every hole is a challenge. There are short par 4s, long par 4s, narrow and wide fairways with landing zones that make you think twice about just grabbing the driver. The bunkering is excellent both in placement and condition. One short par 4 on the back has 10 bunkers, and number 12 (I think) has a six-foot deep greenside bunker. There are dips and swales in the approaches and green surrounds. Greens are firm and while not overly fast provide a challenge to read.

Facilites were OK. The restaurant offers basic snacks and canned beers. The tap was down and there were no hot dogs.

This was the best golf value I've found in quite some time. I was not prepared for how much of a challenge this place would be and it gave me a beat down, and I left swearing I would be back to redeem myself.

Been coming here for years and it was always one thing or another. Pleased to report greens, sand, fairways and tee boxes all in good shape. Not too much goose poop. They’ve worked on the place and it shows.

Wind is the story here. Plays much harder than 118-120 slope indicates. Get to hit driver on a lot of holes. When pace of play is good really an enjoyable round.

Been playing here since it opened, only twice has the course looked better. First, when it was new. Second, around one or two years ago and the last time I played here...the greens were very fast, while today they were fast and true. Fast and true is a good golf course.

Back then they offered a great deal with lunch and golf, since it’s no longer being offered we don’t come out much. That will change if the course conditions are as good as they were yesterday, and if they bring that lunch deal back!

Then it makes sense to stop at the turn and grab the bite and drink and if another group gets on the tenth tee it’s theirs. That’s most courses policy? Won’t happen here as no one seems to know etiquette or course rules.

Problem is groups are not ready to hit on the tenth tee and are not even getting food or drink. Fourseomes think they own the place. They need to know course etiquette and let faster groups play through especially at the turn and when they are slow there too. It’s a short par three that takes experienced players a few minutes . You cannot hold up groups all day on the front for two hours and expect to take a ten minute break on the tenth. Bad management here as the turn is right in front. Don’t seem surprised if someone complains. Groups need to stay on the group in front of them as on time means little here at this short turn.

All in all, It’s a Solid track with real golf from the back tees links style. Calm mornings usually and windy afternoons usually if you want the practice it’s good for that as on course it’s rolling terrain and mostly flat and very well laid out right in front of you. You will use all of your clubs.

Fast paced or slow this place is worth it. Just adding two cents.

Nice course. Fairways were decent and the rough a challenge. Greens were near perfect although a bit firm. Only complaint was took a bit over 5 1/2 hours to play. Waiting on every hole. One issue is all but one of the park 3s areomg and into the wind.

This is a typical American Golf run golf course.

Range mats crappy, balls worse.

Golf shop was ok. Staff was nice.

First tee starter was nice.

Course layout was good. 1 water (maybe 2) cooler out on the course. 1 bathroom that I saw (on the course). Goose crap EVERYWHERE which made walking a awful experience. Greens in ok condition. Fairways in ok condition. Rough was US Open tough (no need for that at a muni). Great views of the bay throughout the course.

Over OK experience except for the crap everywhere and the rough.

Probably won’t come back

I've played this course a few times before, during the weekday, and played my first weekend round here yesterday. The course was in great shape, and its not terrible challenging to a mediocre golfer if you can keep the ball in play. I'd play here again, but only on a slow weekday. The tee times aren't spaced out enough for the course to avoid getting backed up after the first hole. When our pair finished the first hole, we caught the pair in front of us, and decided to play in together to avoid waiting even longer. Overall, We waited on every tee box for the group in front of us, who were waiting on the group in front of them, and so on. We became particularly frustrated when we arrived to the first Par 3, there were three groups ahead of us, still waiting for the green to clear. I believe we sat for at least a half hour before we were able to play the hole. It ended up being just shy of a 6 hour round to play 18 holes. I know it can always be worse, but it's very clear that it could be better.

TL;DR:

I'd play here again, but only during the week, unless the course spaces out their tee times better. Unfortunately on this course, 8 minutes or less per group is only hurting the pace for everyone.

This is a pretty straight forward no frills track with minimal elevation changes and many back to back holes.No doglegs just straight forward basic holes with sandtraps,for some its perfect for me a little boring but maybe good to get used to some brand new clubs instead of going to the range.No Beverage cart,decent food with a phone on the ninth.

I saw a Hot Deal for a very reasonable price so decided to book and try Monarch Bay out.

I was blown away by the conditions and the greens.

The greens were in phoenomeal shape, I played TPC Harding Park last week and Monarch Bay’s greens were 100x better.

I heard from others that the pace of play is horrendous here. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact it was the FASTEST ROUND OF GOLF I’VE EVER PLAYED, 2hr 15 min for 18 holes. I’m a 10 handicap and played 2 balls (played by myself).

There is a lot of wind coming off the bay so I suggest packing a light jacket in your bag just in case it becomes too much.

I HIGHLY RECCOMEND this course.

They do have a nice driving range as well but you cannot hit clubs over 230.

Course was in great shape and the staff was excellent!

Booked the Marina course for 11:42 tee time when we got there was told the Marina course was closed till 2:00 so they put us on the Tony Lema course . No big deal until we were told had just sanded the greens. We were disappointed that all this information wasn’t given to us until we got to the course. . Would like to come back and play the Marina course But would like to be informed of any maintenance taking place before we book

Be prepared for a 5+ hour round and an unfriendly staff. Course is nice and in good condition though especially for 40 bucks.

Had a 11:18 tee time on Saturday the 10th of February.

Tee'd about 5 minutes late.

Was very crowded but the starting marshal was great, friendly, and organized.

However, once you pass the first hole things change for the worse.

The pace of play was not poor is was extremely poor.

We started our round at 11:22 and did not finish until about 4:45 pm

There are no marshals out on the course to ensure people are moving along which makes a round of golf rather painful and hard to get in any sort of rhythm when waiting 5 minutes in between each shot. (course is not that long/challenging for a 5.5 hour round)

With that said the course its self is great.

The tee boxes, fairways, and greens were is great shape.

Expect to lose a few balls if you do not stay on the fairway as the native grass is extremely long and thick.

The views of San Francisco and the Bay are amazing and if the pace of play was not so terrible I would highly recommend this course to others.

However with the pace of play being so slow and no marshals keeping watch would advise avoiding the course, unless you are going to play early morning on a week day.

We played Tony Lema's Monarch Bay on Friday

morning as a foursome about 10:00 am and we

finished in about 4.5 hours. The pace was steady.

Greens were in good condition, mowed and rolled,

and fast.

Fairways were good by comparison but had some

bare spots.

Great views of SF bay, lots of birds, limited number of trees but lots of sandtraps.

Overall a great course, and very walkable.

Highly recommend.

Excellent course with beautiful views. Was not windy when we played.

Course is well maintained.

Pace of play was extremely slow - 5+ hours. I am told that is atypical.

I will play here again. Overall, it was fun.