This article originally appeared in the October issue of NCGA Golf Magazine
Have you checked out the new Poppy Ridge yet?
Fall is a great time to play, or to enjoy a libation at the new The Outlook.
Golf Digest---Sleeping Giants: Five public courses that could be transformed into major championship venues
“Poppy Ridge, 45 minutes east of Oakland, has already gone through the transformation needed to become a major tournament site. Owned by the Northern California Golf Association, the course was remodeled last year by architect Jay Blasi, who converted three nines into one original 18-hole course with new holes moving in opposite directions and tumbling into new green sites. Broad, flowing, flexible and highlighted by tight turf fairways and surrounds, it plays across the site’s prodigious ridges and can be lengthened well beyond the current 7,345 yards if needed for a PGA Championship.”
Forbes Travel Guide
“Fans of Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach will be thrilled to know that its owners, Northern California Golf Association, have opened a sister golf course in Livermore, California. The Jay Blasi-designed Poppy Ridge is done with warm-weather turf that requires less water and makes for exceptional playing all year round. The fairways are wide, thanks to the location’s dramatic elevation changes and windy nature, while the greens are of various sizes and shapes. The course is also more walkable and features a new fleet of golf carts equipped with the latest technology.”
Jason Lusk, Golfweek
“Sometimes it’s better to start over than to start trying to fix things. That was the approach architect Jay Blasi took in renovating Poppy Ridge Golf Course in the wine country of Livermore, California.
Blasi was tasked by the Northern California Golf Association, owner and operator of Poppy Ridge, with totally reimagining an amazing piece of ground. Poppy Ridge opened in 1996 with an original design by Rees Jones, but time had caught up with the layout. A renovation to much of the infrastructure was in need, and since shovels were going to be in the ground, the NCGA decided to consider a complete remodel to better serve its hundreds of thousands of members and the players who rack up more than 50,000 rounds a year on the layout.”
Jeremy Walsh, Pleasanton Weekly
“This championship course is immaculate, a unique gem in the golf-rich Tri-Valley. Unlike anything I’ve seen in this area before, and certainly a contrast to the property’s predecessor.
Located among the vineyards and hills off Greenville Road in southeastern unincorporated Livermore Valley, Poppy Ridge is one of two golf facilities owned and operated by the Northern California Golf Association (the famed Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach is the other).”
Josh Sens, Golf.com
“t a time when most new courses are centerpieces of private clubs or add-ons to top-dollar resorts, Poppy Ridge is a welcome exception — a high-pedigree, public layout priced for everyone. On rolling terrain in Livermore, Calif., about an hour east of San Francisco, the architect Jay Blasi (his recent credits include a first-rate restoration of Golden Gate Park Golf Course in San Francisco) took the best land from three existing nines to create a compelling 18-hole design. Poppy Ridge has been a relative bargain since its birth in 1996. But its original three nines were undermined by severe shifts in elevation and endurance hikes between holes. Blasi got rid of those egregious features. In his new routing, the 18-hole walk is a mile-and-a-quarter shorter than it was before, and while there’s still plenty of movement from tee to green, the transitions have been mellowed (there’s now 400 feet less elevation change across the property). And a course that once cried out for you to take a cart now counts as a great place to hoof and carry.”