Contra Costa Country Club

Contra Costa Country Club sits on 145 acres of rolling terrain in Pleasant Hill, at the heart of Contra Costa County in the East Bay, its fairways threading between native oaks, tall eucalyptus, deodar cedars and redwoods with views of Mount Diablo framing the skyline at almost every turn. What began as a modest farmer's field purchased for $70 an acre in 1925 has grown into one of the most admired private clubs in Northern California — a course that has been continuously improved across ten decades while retaining the strategic bones laid down by its Golden Age architect.

The club traces its origins to January 1925, when a group of Contra Costa County businessmen incorporated the Contra Costa Golf Club, led in part by W.A. "Daddy" Rigg, the owner of what would later become the Contra Costa Gazette. Having acquired 314 acres of marginal farmland in Pleasant Hill, the founders hired A. Vernon Macan — the foremost golf course architect working in the Pacific Northwest at the time — to lay out the course. Macan, an Irish-born lawyer turned designer who had already built a strong reputation across British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, was a contemporary of Donald Ross, Alister MacKenzie and A.W. Tillinghast. His philosophy centred on strategic layouts that rewarded "golfing brain power" over raw power, and his work at Contra Costa reflected that sensibility entirely. The first nine holes opened in the spring of 1925, with just seven playable in time for the inaugural Directors' Cup Tournament in May of that year. The second nine was completed on 4 July 1950, following the construction of the club's water-retention dam and the arrival of affordable canal water from the Contra Costa Canal.

The club was renamed Contra Costa Country Club in 1964, formalising its evolution from a golf-only club to a full-service social and sporting institution. Major improvements came in 1959, when architect Ben Harmon supervised a course renovation that reshaped several greens and lengthened the layout, and again in 1992, when Robert Muir Graves redesigned the greens in bentgrass. The most comprehensive modern intervention came in 2015, when Robert Trent Jones Jr. completed a full course renovation that extended the layout, improved playability across all ability levels, and introduced new bunkering and contouring that interact with the natural topography. A further RTJ II project, completed in 2025, overhauled the practice facilities — delivering a new putting green more than twice the size of its predecessor, expanded grass and artificial-turf hitting bays, and a two-bay instructional centre with modern teaching technology.

The course plays to par 72 at 6,528 yards from the back tees, and the terrain ensures that the difficulty is never simply a function of length. Elevation changes appear on virtually every hole, demanding accurate distance judgement and a disciplined approach to club selection. The fairways are lined with native oaks whose canopy narrows landing zones and sets a premium on the tee shot, while the bentgrass greens — renowned in the region for their quality and pace — add a final layer of challenge with large, undulating surfaces that reward precise approach play. Slope ratings in the 120s across most tee levels reflect the genuine difficulty of a course that regularly confounds golfers who underestimate it.

Named holes give a sense of the course's personality: the second, called "Lone Oak," is a par three framed by a single towering oak at the far end of a short but demanding carry; the third, "Creekside," is a par five where the creek weaves into the routing. The seventh — the number one handicap hole on the men's card — is a par four that combines a demanding tee shot with a tightly defended approach. The par three eighth plays 242 yards from the back markers, one of the longer par threes in the East Bay and a genuine test of distance and accuracy. The signature twelfth features a celebrated oak tree perched on its own natural mound in the fairway, a remnant of the 1959 renovation that has become one of the most recognisable landmarks on the property.

The clubhouse, rebuilt in 1996 to a design that prioritises views of Mount Diablo and the oak-lined landscape, houses dining rooms, locker facilities and event spaces used year-round by a membership that places as much emphasis on social life as on competitive golf. Swimming, junior programmes and an active tournament calendar — including PGA Junior League and the Bay Cities League — round out the offering. The club is managed by Troon. Access is reserved for members and their guests, but the course's reputation among East Bay golfers is such that it regularly appears on regional lists of the finest private layouts in Northern California.