Ruby Hill

Routed around a high-density real estate development in the hills of Livermore Valley wine country, the course at Ruby Hill Golf Club – as it was originally called – is a mid-1990s Jack Nicklaus Signature design situated outside Pleasanton in Alameda County.

The Nicklaus Design website states the course “follows the natural arroyos and gentle contours of the setting” and “exceptionally wide fairways contribute to a feeling of ‘escape’ in the midst of a residential neighbourhood” but housing unfortunately lines every hole on both sides of the fairway.

Dallas-based Arcis Golf took over ownership of the club in April of 2015 and the first thing the company did was change the name to The Club at Ruby Hill. This was quickly followed by major renovations to the clubhouse and things have gone from strength to strength since then.

In The American Private Golf Club Guide, author Daniel Wexler says this about the course: “though little new ground is broken here, several holes are worthy of note, beginning with thee 450-yard 2nd, where a drive positioned close to or beyond a left-side bunker cluster opens up a better angle to a water-guarded green.

Perhaps the best stretch comes in the middle of the back nine and includes the 456-yard 12th (where the ideal drive flirts with a right-side bunker) and three holes which are affected by an old creek bed; the 549-yard 13th, the 193-yard 14th and the 436-yard 15th.”