I recently had the pleasure of playing The Fountaingrove Club, a private club located right here in Santa Rosa, California. They do have membership opportunities available, and I played with the cat you should talk to.
Ricky Potts, who’ll you be hearing a lot about in this blog post, is the Membership Director at The Fountaingrove Club. He invited me to play his course with a few other golfers. We played 18 holes, which means I owe him the back nine at Northwood Golf Club. Hopefully we will be doing both courses again soon.
But to the game, I lost. (Laughs.) While there was no betting going on, it was clear who would have cleaned up, but I won’t mention any names Ricky, maybe that young guy who can hit the ball a ton, but I forget his name.
As you can see in the pictures the condition of the fairways and greens are amazing and I am betting, oops guessing, that they are some of, if not the best in the area. The fact that it is a private course with fewer rounds played per day is a HUGE plus.
We took carts, which for me, I would have it no other way. With full on GPS, which I miss since coming back from Maui, towels, tees and they are zippy with that cool automatic break feature where you just take your foot off the gas and it breaks for you, even on steep hills!
It would be a beautiful walk, and Ricky tells me he does walk and write about it on this blog. He does a thing called “How Many Steps?” where he walks a course, tells you how many steps he took and reviews the course along the way. He has one up for Northwood Golf Club, The Fountaingrove Club, Marin Country Club and more.
And of course his golf podcast that comes out each Wednesday called The Wednesday Match Play Podcast. Look it up. OK, enough of the Ricky commercials. (Laughs.)
I played from the White tee, measuring 5,951 yards, while the rest of the group played from the Green/White combo, measuring 6,188 yards. The Green tee measure 6,439 and their shortest set, Burgundy come in at 3,164. Maybe I should have used those! (Laughs.)
It was challenging for me being from Northwood GC that on a lot of the holes I could not even see the greens! Again, a plus playing with Ricky because I would just ask him what’s around the corner, over the hill or behind the trees.
The greens were fast but fair and really I didn’t feel like any of the hole locations were wonky. Areas around the greens made for easy up and downs and my 60 degree got a workout.
I was only in one bunker all day, but the sand was GREAT! So nice to be in sand that you can work with and not the hardpan bunkers you find at some places. There was also water, but again, I was never in any but it sure helps the aesthetics.
As pretty as the course is, it is hard not to still see the devastation of the Tubbs Fire. Everywhere you look homes are being rebuilt and when you hit your ball out of the fairway, (umm, others do that don’t they?) you can even find burnt balls left over from the fire. I found two and it truly made me sad.
BUT they are rebuilding and since The Fountaingrove Club lost most of their buildings, they too are rebuilding and I am sure it will be spectacular! The semi-permanent dining facility behind 18 is huge and has these great chairs outside with a wonderful view of 9 and 18 as well as Fountaingrove Lake. A great place to chill after a round.
I liked the variety of holes, shots and greens. My game is my game and those that know me know that for me, playing someplace pretty, visually appealing with a beverage cart is the most important thing. My one bone to pick is that the cart didn’t have Dr. Pepper. Maybe Ricky can work on that.
Even with my high score 102 I had a great time and I left my mark on the course. Somewhere, if you look around, you will find 6 balls with my name on them. Please return them to me. Enjoy the pictures, feel free to ask questions and again, thanks Ricky.
