Aetna Springs Golf Course

Few California golf courses carry the historical weight of Aetna Springs. The layout traces its origins to the 1890s, making it one of the oldest golf courses in the state — a relic of the era when the surrounding Aetna Springs Resort drew San Francisco society to the volcanic hills of Napa County for mineral baths and outdoor recreation. The course itself is a period piece, a short, rustic track that reflects the game as it was played in the 19th century rather than the manicured resort golf of today.

Pope Valley sits well off Napa Valley's wine-tourism circuit, tucked into a dry, oak-studded interior valley where summers run hot and the landscape feels genuinely remote. The golf here is unhurried and unpretentious — walking a course where the geometry is simple and the history is everything.

For the right kind of golfer, that history is the entire point. Aetna Springs is less a test of modern scoring than a chance to play ground that connects directly to California's early golf culture.