Stanford Golf Course

Stanford Golf Course spreads across the foothills on the west side of campus, a tree-lined layout where San Francisquito Creek comes into play on nearly half the holes. It opened in 1930 and has been home to some of the biggest names in golf history. It is also a private course in practice: you need a Stanford connection, a membership or a host to play it. The good news for visitors is that the driving range next door is open to everyone.

This page covers the course's history, the rules on who can play, the public Learning Center and the varsity training complex. For other places to play nearby, see our guide to golf in and near Palo Alto.

How Stanford got a golf course

In the 1920s Stanford's golf team practiced at the Burlingame course. Students lobbied for a course of their own and found an ally in Almon E. Roth, class of 1909, the university's controller and a keen golfer. In February 1929 he persuaded the Board of Trustees to provide the land and money. Stanford Athletics' history of the course says Roth and athletic manager Al Masters hired the architects George C. Thomas Jr. and William "Billy" Bell, a well-known design team of the era.

Construction started in May 1929. The builders took care to save the oak trees. Only 75 had to come down. Irrigation was a bigger problem. Campus water came from Searsville Lake at the time. A golf course needed far more, so Stanford enlarged Felt Lake to hold 278 million gallons. The course was ready by December. Opening day was January 1, 1930.

The layout has been reworked many times since. The course lists remodeling by the Robert Trent Jones II firm in the 1980s and 1990s, greens and bunker work by John Harbottle, a redesign of the third and fourth holes by Knott Brooks Linn in 2004 and a rebuild of every bunker in 2018, when several holes were also modified.

The course today

The course is par 70. From the back Cardinal tees it plays 6,742 yards with a rating of 73.7 and a slope of 138, according to the club's scorecard. Shorter tees bring it down to a little over 5,300 yards. Big oaks frame many holes and the creek runs through the property. The club says San Francisco, about 30 miles north, is visible from the elevated 18th tee on clear days.

The course has drawn praise for decades. Golf Magazine ranked it No. 88 in the world in 1993. Golfweek rated it the No. 6 college course in the country in 2015, according to the club's history.

Who can play

This is the question most visitors ask. The answer is short. Stanford's membership page says the course is open to Stanford constituents, meaning students, faculty and staff and alumni, plus members and their guests.

• Students, faculty and staff: Current benefited faculty and staff can play as daily fee players without a membership, or join a faculty and staff membership that runs September 1 to August 31.
• Alumni: Alumni have playing privileges and can apply for a regular membership.
• Non-affiliates: The regular membership category is open to non-affiliates through a formal application.
• Juniors: A junior membership exists. Applications for 2025 to 2026 had closed and the club said to check back in September 2026 for the next season.
• Guests: Anyone can play as the guest of a member.

Fees and tee time rules are set by the course and change each season, so check with the golf shop at 650.724.0944 before you plan a round. The course lists Monday as closed. Tuesday through Friday it opens at 6:30 a.m. On weekends and holidays it opens at 6 a.m. Play runs until dusk.

The public driving range

If you just want to hit balls with a view of the foothills, head to the Stanford Golf Learning Center and Driving Range at 51 Campus Drive. The course says it is open to the public seven days a week.

• 50 well-spaced driving stations
• Five target greens
• Lights for evening practice
• Clubs available for use if you did not bring your own
• The renovated Arrillaga Golf Shop on site

Winter hours took effect on Sunday, November 1, 2026. The range opens at 7 a.m. most mornings and at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. The last bucket is sold at 8 p.m. and the Learning Center closes at 8:30 p.m. sharp. Outside winter it stays open to 9 p.m. on most days. Maintenance can close the range for part of a day, so check the seasonal schedule and notices on the Learning Center page before you go. The course also offers golf instruction through its teaching staff.

The Siebel Varsity Golf Training Complex

Stanford's men's and women's golf teams practice at the Siebel Varsity Golf Training Complex, a private facility for the varsity programs. According to the men's golf program, it opened in 2008 with a design by Robert Trent Jones II. The goal was a place where players could practice every short-game shot from different grasses and from uphill, downhill and sidehill lies. Players can also hit full shots from tee blocks to a variety of holes.

In 2015 the complex was upgraded with new greens, hitting bays, a golf team building and training technology. The architect Jay Blasi designed the new greens. It is not open to the public, but it helps explain why Stanford keeps producing top college golfers.

Famous players and tournaments

Stanford golf has a long list of notable names. The club's history says World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Watson and Mickey Wright honed their games on the course, as did Tiger Woods, who played for Stanford in the 1990s. Former USGA presidents Sandy Tatum, Grant Spaeth and Walter Driver also called it home.

The course has hosted men's and women's NCAA Championships, U.S. Open qualifying, USGA Junior Amateur qualifying and The Gathering, a former senior tour event. Each year it hosts The Goodwin, a top men's college event. It also hosts two women's events: the Stanford Intercollegiate, hosted by Professor Condoleezza Rice, plus the Peg Barnard Invitational. Check the schedule on our Stanford sports guide and GoStanford if you want to watch college golf in person.

Stanford's cross country teams also race on the course. Stanford Athletics lists course entry for meets on Electioneer Road off Campus Drive, near the first green.

The neighborhood around the course

The golf course has some odd footnotes in local history. Perry Lane, the street of cottages where Ken Kesey lived in the early 1960s, sat beside it. Our page on Palo Alto in the 1960s tells that story. In the 1980s a 20-acre site near the course was earmarked for Ronald Reagan's presidential library, a plan Stanford dropped in 1987 over a dispute about a policy center.

The Red Barn and the old stock farm grounds are a short ride away. With a free afternoon, combine a bucket at the range with a walk past the barn, then hike the Dish before sunset.

Frequently asked questions