Lake Chabot Golf Course

Oakland's public golf scene has a long memory, and Lake Chabot Golf Course sits near the top of that history. Operated by the City of Oakland, this is one of the oldest municipal courses in California — a layout that has served everyday golfers for well over a century, predating most of the celebrated private clubs in the Bay Area. It carries the honest, unpretentious character of a course that exists entirely for the public good.

The course occupies the hills above Lake Chabot in the Anthony Chabot Regional Park, which means the terrain is anything but flat. East Bay hills push and pull the layout in ways that demand real shot-making, and the surrounding eucalyptus and oak woodland gives the property a wild, rugged feel that distinguishes it from the manicured resort courses down on the peninsula. Views of the lake and surrounding parkland appear throughout the round.

For Bay Area golfers who grew up playing public courses, Lake Chabot tends to carry a certain personal significance — a place where the game was first learned or frequently returned to, rather than simply visited.