Gridiron golf? 5 public courses near this year’s Super Bowl site

From the golf course to the gridiron.

Sports fans can make that transition smoothly Sunday afternoon when the final round of the WM Phoenix Open gives way to Super Bowl LX.

The Big Game kicks off at 6:30 ET at Levi’s Stadium. That’s the home of the San Francisco 49ers, though the 49ers, of course, won’t be playing and the stadium isn’t in San Francisco. 

It’s an hour south, in Santa Clara, in the Silicon Valley, a very different place with a very different golf scene.

Where San Francisco punches far above its weight in public-access courses (Harding Park, Lincoln Park, the Presidio and the Golden Gate Par-3 Course are all within the city’s seven-by-seven-mile footprint), the South Bay’s offerings are relatively slim and spread out. Between San Francisco and Monterey, Pasatiempo is the finest public-access course, followed by the likes of Cordevalle (a former U.S. Women’s Open host site that offers tee times to resort guests) and San Juan Oaks, a Gene Bates-Fred Couples design on rolling, scrub oak-studded land.

But what if you’re camped out closer to Levi’s Stadium, tailgating in the parking lot, or trying to scalp a ticket? What are your golf options? Here are 5 recommendations within striking distance of the Super Bowl venue. As for the game itself, we suggest you take Seattle with the points.

Cinnabar Hills

Location: San Jose

Green fees: $80-$150

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 25 miles

Long before it became the Silicon Valley, the area around San Jose was known as the Valley of the Hearts Delight, a nod to the fruit orchards and farms that blanketed the region back in the day. Nowadays, it’s mostly bustle. But bucolic patches still exist and Cinnabar Hills sits in one of them, with 27 holes stitched into the foothills on the outskirts of the city. The three nines were designed by John Harbottle III, and their character reflects their names: Canyon, Lake and Mountain.

Coyote Creek Golf Club

Location: Morgan Hill

Green fees: $86 – $156

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 24 miles

Just off Highway 101, a straight shot south from the stadium, Coyote Creek has two 18-hole Jack Nicklaus designs, the Tournament Course and the Valley Course. True to its name, the former is a two-time host of the Champions Tour’s Siebel Classic, and it’s the more challenging of the pair, with a routing that works around lakes and waterfalls. The Valley Course is flatter and less penal but defends itself deftly with its greens.

Santa Teresa Golf Club

Location: San Jose

Green fees: $54-$79

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 19 miles

Santa Teresa opens with a stout dogleg left par-4, but there’s no excuse not to be ready as the property also has a large and well-run range. Those practice grounds help sustain the vibrant junior programs that are part of Santa Teresa’s appeal. The course itself is pleasant, too, with tree-lined fairways, mountain views and enough water to give you pause. If you’re on a tight schedule, you might consider the facility’s 9-hole par 3 course. With holes that max out at 130 yards, it can be played in less time than some Super Bowl commercial breaks.

Baylands Golf Links

Location: Palo Alto

Green fees: $50-$110

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 11 miles

You can barely swing a 9-iron around Palo Alto without knocking up against a billionaire. But Baylands remains priced for the rest of us. Designed in the mid-1950s by Billy Bell, it began its life as Palo Alto Municipal Golf Club and retained that name until 2016, when Forrest Richardson redid it. Invasive trees were removed, native trees were planted and soils were brought in to create a wonderland of movement. The course is walking-friendly. If you get out early, prepare to adhere to a pace-of-play policy that requires the first groups of the day to get around in under 4 hours.

The Golf Club at Moffett Field

Location: Unincorporated Santa Clara County

Green fees: $40-$80

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 7 miles

You’ve heard of army golf. This is golf at a former U.S. Navy facility that now operates as a joint civil-military airport. Though the course, which opened in 1959, was originally named the Hill Course, in honor of then-commanding officer, Arthur S. Hill, the site itself is fairly flat. But the layout itself — which sites on acreage that NASA leases to Google — has sweet greens and quirky charm. The experience itself is distinctive, too. To get there, you pass through a military checkpoint. And then you play a routing that spills past barracks and hangars, with views of San Francisco Bay in the backdrop, along with the sights and sounds of the adjacent airfield.