Gleneagles Golf Course at McLaren Park

Gleneagles Golf Course at McLaren Park is one of San Francisco's most pedigreed hidden-gem public rounds, a 9-hole Jack Fleming design that opened February 2, 1962 inside McLaren Park in southeastern San Francisco. Fleming's design voice carries direct architectural lineage: he served on Dr. Alister Mackenzie's team that created Cypress Point, which influenced his design philosophy at Gleneagles and makes the course one of the few American layouts by a Mackenzie associate open to walk-on public play. When the course opened after decades of classic San Francisco political battles over the land, Gleneagles was the most expensive 9-hole course ever built, the tab exceeded $500,000 (extraordinary in 1962 dollars). Mayor George Christopher and Recreation and Parks President Walter Haas presided at the first tee. The 3,195-yard par-36 layout plays full-length 9-hole championship golf; a 1980 expansion by leaseholder Erik de Lambert added a second tee box for every hole, making it possible to play Gleneagles as 18. The first hole sets the tone, narrow fairway lined by trees, tilted right-to-left, curving downhill to a tiny undulating green. For the San Francisco Bay Area trip visitor, Gleneagles is the architect-pedigree bargain round of SF muni golf, pairs naturally with Lincoln Park (Neville/Bendelow/Fowler, 1902) and Presidio Golf Course (Robert Johnstone, 1895) for a three-round SF public-architectural tour.