A sneak peek of Golden Gate Park Golf Course, America's first destination municipal short course

SAN FRANCISCO - A new 15-year lease. A new 1,162-yard design. A new beginning.

A village of golf supporters has given the Golden Gate Park Golf Course a new lease on life.

Facing an expiring lease to use Golden Gate Park as one of its two primary facilities, First Tee - San Francisco took a bold step, raising more than $2.5 million from 15 key donors to improve a city treasure that its young golfers can call home, too.

Golden Gate Park will reopen in early 2024 with a rebuilt clubhouse and a completely different routing by architect Jay Blasi. A sneak-peek party on a sunny December day showcased the course's incredible potential. Blasi's team of shapers (and Mother Nature's 2023 winter storms) removed more than 80 trees, opening up beautiful views of the naturally hilly terrain and even a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. They scraped away a foot of muck, mud and dirt used during the original construction in 1951 to expose sandy soil that's now blanketed by firm, bouncy fescue turf.

What was once a prisoner of its own environment, choked by towering cypress trees, Golden Gate Park is now equal parts fun, playable, affordable and gorgeous - qualities most city-owned courses can only aspire to.

It sits in a wonderful park decorated with windmills near the city's Great Ocean Road. With Golden Gate Park less than 20 minutes from TPC Harding Park, San Francisco Golf Club, Lake Merced and The Olympic Club, it will likely attract traveling golfers as well as the thousands of locals and kids who will learn the game here. It's not out of the question that Golden Gate Park becomes America's first destination municipal short course. Hopefully, continuing success will inspire other versions around the country.

"We will put this short course up against any in America," said Blasi, a Palo Alto-based architect who's worked on famous courses such as Chambers Bay. "Here we are in the heart of San Francisco in one of the great parks in the world. You can walk here. Ride your bike. Take a city bus. What we think is so special is that this is truly part of the community.

"This is a model that works everywhere. Every small town, every big city has got a public open space that is 20 acres and could serve this purpose. You can play it in 45 minutes. You can play it if you are age 5 or 95. You can play it if you're rich or poor. We think that's good for golf. There are so many barriers to golf. This is eliminating a lot of them."

The previous version of Golden Gate Park had lost much of its allure. Limited maintenance kept the grass two inches long everywhere except tees and greens, meaning topped and duffed shots never went anywhere. Beginners had to figure out how to chop their way out of U.S. Open-style rough to hit tiny circular greens.

Today, the ball will careen up, down and around the property. Wild slopes both on and around the greens promote short-game creativity. There's only one true bunker - guarding the front of the 7th green - although sandy scrapes lurk in several spots.

Blasi, who donated his expertise for the cause, maximized the 20 acres by creating a shared double green for holes 1 and 4 and using a ridge at the top of the property as a teeing ground for the 2nd, 5th and 7th holes, all aiming in various directions. There are two sets of tees on every hole.

The 8th hole requires a deft tee shot around a tree. After yanking a wedge, I climbed into a sandy area behind the green for my second shot. I immediately noticed a backstop behind the flag and dreamed up a bold plan. I banked a shot off the slope, allowing the ball to trickle down into the hole for birdie.

"The city is going to maintain the property, so the greens are never going to get super fast," Blasi said. "That's why we put a bit more contour in them. There's lots of fun slopes to use. Lots of times you can take three or four different routes and get to the flag."