San Lameer

As part of a 470-acre residential estate where development is limited to 40% of the landscape, the San Lameer Country Club course was designed by Peter Matkovich and opened for play in 1992. Houses line the fairways at several holes but never intrusively.

A naturalist named Colonel Langeler who introduced more than 50 different types of trees to the property once owned a large part of the land at the modern day San Lemeer. His arboreal work now supports more than 200 bird species and the course is a veritable twitcher’s paradise!

The course was constructed around one of the few wetland forests on the south coast and was designed to veer away from sensitive vegetation, at the same time making full use of other local plants and shrubs in the layout.

Water plays a part in proceedings at almost half the holes (four on each nine). The downhill 9th, a 220-yard par three, features an elevated tee shot which must avoid a pond to the left and behind the green (and also the clubhouse on the right) to have any chance of marking a par on the scorecard.

On the back nine, the 500-yard 13th is a tough hole (rated stroke index 2) that swings to the left with an island fairway between the tee box and green, whilst the 370-yard 18th is another formidable hole which plays alongside the main R61 highway (hence its “Road Hole” nickname) to a peninsula hole green that’s fronted by water.