Played 1/7 while visiting Livermore last week and I must say this course met all my expectations. A recent winner of Greenskeeper.org’s best playing conditions in the East Bay area, and despite the so... Continue »

Played 1/7 while visiting Livermore last week and I must say this course met all my expectations. A recent winner of Greenskeeper.org’s best playing conditions in the East Bay area, and despite the somewhat wet conditions from the previous 10+ days of rain, The Course at Wente Vineyards played deserving of the award. Unknown to me before our round, Wente Vineyards recently became a stop for the Nationwide Tour. The tour will be there the week of March 27th and according to course staff, they have lengthened the back tees to over 7400 yards. Regardless of what tees you play from, the layout is a real treat. The front nine winds it way through the vineyards highlighted by the closing three holes. Hole 8, my personal favorite, is just a sensational par 5 lined with vineyards on your left and hillside to the right. The hole plays slightly uphill making it virtually unreachable in two. For the really big hitters, a gamble for eagle could quickly spell disaster as an enormous amount a trouble awaits 100 yards and in. The back nine is quite different from the front side as the majority of holes are narrower and provide many dramatic elevation changes. What I really love about this course is its risk reward nature. Wente Vineyards allows the player to be aggressive or conservative on over half of the holes. There are drivable par 4’s and tempting par 5’s. There are many ways to play the course making for a very interesting round. Rather then rave some more, take a look at the photos and judge for yourself (sadly we teed off late and ended up playing hole 18 in the dark…no photo… however the pace of play was excellent along with the service).

Highly Recommended!