Our final stop of the trip was at Cypress Lakes. When we mentioned playing here to other North Bay folks at other courses, we were generally greeted with blank stares. Hardly anybody knows this place ... Continue »

Our final stop of the trip was at Cypress Lakes. When we mentioned playing here to other North Bay folks at other courses, we were generally greeted with blank stares. Hardly anybody knows this place even exists. It is the Travis AFB course, but it's not actually on the base and is open to the public. It is a bit off the beaten path and the layout isn't anything terribly exciting, though, so I can understand why it's not well-known. We teed off a little before 4:00 and zipped around as quickly as we could. We had to make up our own routing to avoid players lightly scattered around the course, but we finished all 18 in about 2:20. The twilight rate was $29 with cart. I was pleasantly surprised with the conditions. It was pretty nice from tee to green—other than the bunkers. Tee boxes good. Fairways very good. Rough had just as many weeds/clovers as grass, but it was cut consistently and played fine. Bunkers were not good. One I was in had pretty soft sand (though I was in a footprint) and the other was hard as cement. The greens were good, though, rolling well at medium speeds. The layout is about what I expected. It's a military course that's surrounded by farmland, so it's long and straightforward. There are some good holes, water hazards and decent features throughout, so it's not completely boring. I would compare it to the Navy Course in SoCal or a number of "classic" rural parkland courses I've played throughout the Central Valley. Fine layout, decent value, good conditioning and probably easy to get a round in most days. Not a destination course, but perfectly fine for what it is.