the first hole is the #1 handicap and is HANDS DOWN the hardest first hole in the bay area---at least of the public courses. I played the course about 100 times and birdied the hole less than 5 times, parred out around ten times, bogied countless, and worse from there.

if it were up to me, id flip the front nine for the back as the tenth hole would be a fabulous first and vice versa.

okay, firstly contrary to a below reviewer, the range is grass but you hit off mats.

I've played Franklin 20+ times and have really enjoyed myself there.

This is a really fun mix of moderately difficult holes mixed in with very scorable holes. The course is quirky with three par 3s in the first 6 holes---which contributes to the early tendancy for the course to back up.

I've found the greens to generally be in pretty solid public course condition and the fairways tend to be pretty lush. this course also has the honor of being home to my first eagle earlier this year (7th hole par 5s from the tips: driver, 3 iron, putter). feel free to commemorate the moment as you see appropriate if you visit.

Finally, the course has several tees from blind spots: I would recommend not playing the course without someone who has already played the track,

tilden was my home course for 3 years, so i am very fond of it despite some of its pock marks.

The positives: beautiful scenery, some very fun holes (i love the twelfth hole from the blues (nothing special from the whites though)), very good super twilight $7 rate.

The negatives:
in the winter the coruse borders on unplayable,

- even in good conditions, the greens are never better than middling,
-the holes are relatviely short even from the blues---very few +400 yard par fours besides the magnificently sloped 3rd hole.
-the course can play at a snail's pace and the ambassadors do NOTHING to speed up play
- many of the tee boxes are less than level

in summary: When this course is dry and on a quiet day, i just love this place---despite being short, the course is challenging as well: even when you flush the ball dead center cut, don't expect your lie to ever be level as the fairways roll and undulate. as of early september ('06), when I last played, I thought that the course in total was in the best condition I had ever seen it.

played this course many times this year alwyas in the afternoon. there's a lot of two things on this course: duck sh$t and wind.

be prepared to be stepping in one of the above the entire round and to have your ball swatted out of the air by the other on several of the holes.

i've found that tthe greens roll pretty quick here and the wind can be a 3 to 4!! club wind (never thought I'd have to hit four iron for 150). Mind you, not all the holes are dominated by the wind, but several, especailly on the back nine are.

all in all a good course to play every once in a while, though the holes lack variety---but isnt that sort of how it is with linkls style courses?

I had a very pleasant experience golfing at peacock for the first time this week. The round took a bout 3.5 hours and I shot my lowest score to date (76).

The course doens't stand out to me as being super interesting in layout but is basically a well put together course that rewards you for hitting str8 (but isn't that almost always the case?). They are doing some major reconstruction and two holes have temporary greens that convert one o the par 4s into a par 3 and one of the par 5s into a short (sub 300) par 4---making the course a par 69 for the time being. Besides the shoddy temporary greens, the grens were in good form---not country club, but solid public.

Definitely a course worth trying as the "vibe" at the course was very comfortable and was well kept: the golf carts were well equipped (club cleaners etc.), a barbeque grill was running and the staff was friendly. not to mention, the weathe rin SF was totally overcast that day, but it was pure blue skies in san rafael. always a plus!

this course annoys me: from the overpirced range balls (and range mats angled diagonally facing the range (try alligning)) to the non-existent club house.

Played the course last week on a golfnow 40 dollar special. Admittedly there are some beautiful moments around the course, and I played in the morning and was basically undisturbed.