Gleneagles GC at McLaren Park is both a 9 hole course, with two sets of tee boxes, which allows one to play a full 18 holes. Set on the south side of McLaren Park in San Francisco, it’s the only course on the eastern, less foggy side of San Francisco. It is a course defined by it’s location on the southern slope of the park. This dominant elevation change leads to uneven fairways throughout much of the course. This elevation is paired with challenging greens peppered with sand traps. The front 9 is played from the blue tees, and the back 9 is played along the same fairways, but from the yellow tees.

The course has a slope of 130, making it one of the toughest courses around San Francisco for high handicappers. Keeping the ball in the fairway will be difficult, as is made immediately apparent on the first tee shot. The fairways flatten out for a few holes midway through, but begin sloping again for the last few holes.

The course is paired with a cozy bar full of golfing decor. There isn’t much of a pro shop or much food, but you’ll often find members there spending their afternoons discussing the morning’s round.

About the architect, Jack Fleming:

Some of Fleming’s other best works include Sierra View, Sharon Heights, Boulder Creek and Adams Springs. Fleming said of Sierra View, “I left everything as it was and added a little grass. The hills were just right, and I didn’t have to cut down a single tree.”

But none of those layouts may beat out San Francisco’s Gleneagles at McLaren Park for overall playing interest. While a number of bunkers have been added and shifted, the two main staples of any design — the routing and the greens — remain largely intact from Fleming’s original design. The medium-small putting surfaces are quick and tilt in all directions, with contours both subtle and bold.

It is this variety in the shapes and strategies of the greens that set the course apart from its 1960s contemporaries, which often repeated similar greens concepts (plain back-to-front tilt) for all 18 holes. Rather, it feels more like a course built in the 1920s — The “Golden Age of Golf Course Design.” With the architect’s background, it is not hard to see why that is.

Brett Hochstein, Jack Fleming: Golden State’s link to golf’s ‘Golden Age’, Pacific Coast Golf Guide.

About Erik de Lambert’s infuence:

“We’re going to try to create a genuine Scottish golf course feeling,” de Lambert proclaimed when he signed the lease. “We want an entirely new image.”

De Lambert, a formidable golfer who had once threatened the course record at McLaren, launched an impressive array of improvements — starting with a lofty new name, Gleneagles International Golf Course, after his favorite track in Scotland.

He built a second tee box for every hole, making it possible to play Gleneagles as 18. He sprinkled new hazards throughout the course. He improved drainage and conditions, especially those dastardly greens. And he opened as Scottish-style pub he dubbed Old Peculiar’s.

Steve Proctor, “The Speakeasy of Golf Courses”, gleneaglesgolfsf.com, probably from 2014 according to Archive.org.