Baylands Golf Links

Pace of play is often horribly slow, even on weekdays. As a regular customer, I've frequently spoken about the slowness with several employees. It turns out Baylands' (OB Sports') director Matthew Malloy prohibits their marshals/rangers from trying to keep a reasonable pace of play. The marshals are not allowed to say anything to the slow groups that are holding up the rest of the course. NOTHING. Apparently Malloy/OBS thinks having active marshals would result in bad experiences for the people in the slow group... but in reality all of the players BEHIND the slow group are actually the ones who end up having bad experiences due to the excruciatingly slow pace of play. It's just a really poor management decision by Malloy and OBS executives. I dread playing there knowing that a 5+ hour round is very likely.

Really enjoyed my 1st trip to Bayland’s Golf Links.
You need every club in your bag to get around
this course. Course is maintained perfectly.
Hats off to the grounds crew & greenskeeper.
I’m visiting from Las Vegas. Definitely will be back.

We played on a very warm day, which created a 20 MpH wind that seems common here. The course was interesting, with well-bunkered holes and wide fairways consistent with the windy conditions. The greens were also interesting, large, and featuring tiers and rolls that were intimidating without being unfair.

The only complaint ID have is that it was somewhat hard to interpret the holes without a yardage book or a clear picture of the yardages. And perhaps they have that available, but my late arrival prevented me from figuring it out. Take the time to find that (or buy it in the pro shop) and you will have a fun and interesting challenge to enjoy.

I'd consider giving 5 stars except for goose poop everywhere. Excellent greens, tees, fairways.

Don’t know why thru Golf Now the cost is 88 but the check in staff said if we would have only paid 50? Not a good reason to use Golf Now?

Baylands opened as a new design from the old Palo Alto Municipal course. It is a welcome change and addition to the region. Baylands opened to some fanfare a couple of years ago. Upon opening the course clearly suffered from significant issues that remain but that hopefully can be mitigated or eliminated over time.
1) Geese. Geese droppings are all over the place and unavoidable. It is disgusting and a real problem that distracts from the experience and I never would pay the course “rack rate” just on this factor alone. The City and their contractors were supposed to commit to Geese mitigation strategies esp since the course is next to the airport. Those efforts either dont exist or are not effective.
2) Construction and maintenance. Clearly the City and the firms responsible for building the course and doing the “grow in” had some significant issues that have left portions of the course in bad shape already.
3) Design. Overall the design is above average but not really good, and hardly a “links” experience. Too many blind shots into greens. There is, unbelievably, a downhill par-3 that is a blind tee shot. Several of the Par-5s are very weak and boring. . Several of the green complexes are woefully “under-designed” and some are woefully overwrought.
4) Staff in general are very pleasant but several challenges need to be addressed: inadequate Starter and Ranger staffing to facilitate pace of play. Policies prohibiting single golfers even during afternoon, twilight play.
5) Rates. Comparing to other courses and experiences, this design and course is a $50-$70 green fee course. This course and experience is not a $80+ value. Good rates are available on a limited basis if you buy an annual “links card”

In the positive side the current staff and management in general are quite pleasant. This facility has been improved from the old parkland muni course it once was. The bent grass greens are in great shape and roll nicely.

The new Baylands is a marked improvement over the old Palo Alto Muni. The layout is better and the green complexes are fantastic. The only negative is fairway condition: they are bare in some spots and many lies end up similar to what a lie in an old divot is like. That being said, I enjoy playing there for the challenge of the new greens, and their great chipping/putting practice area.

nice setting next to a small airport with planes taking off all day. links style course makes it pretty fun to play, greens were really nice, true and very quick.

The day was cool to start but end up beautiful.
The course was in good shape, Fairways were thin and the grass was patchy but playable.
The greens were fast and fantastic. I love fast greens.!!

I am an adamant golfer with a single digit handicap and, in this area, there is no other course within 30 or 40 minutes that is as fun to play as Baylands. It is challenging, it is welcoming to new or golfers, and it is in all-around great shape.

It may be slow at twilight time but any course is in the bay area. Expect to play a bit slower in the afternoon but you get what you pay for

Excellent course

Over a 5 hour round is too long. Unfortunate to have beginners ahead of playing the back tees and driving in out of bounds areas for lost balls. 5 minutes allowed by rule but spending 8-10 minutes in sensitive grass area. The Marshall should supervise this. Should never take this long on a Wednesday afternoon. Would have also been nice to have beverage cart.

5 hours is too long for a mid day Wednesday. Marshall needs to move people along.

Baylands in Palo Alto checked a lot of boxes for me. - - solid routing with great bunkering
- bold green complexes
wide fairways and no rough
firm and fast
very links-y feel w/ constant 15 mph wind
great conditioning
4 hour rd, walking
$28
fun and challenging.
If I lived in the Bay Area I’d be here twice a week and 46 times on Sunday.

Wow what a course! Great layout, tough conditions with the winds in a beautiful setting. I highly recommend.

What a great fun course. You control difficulty by choosing the tees. We chose white as we wanted to enjoy a course we had never played and we aren't much longer than 200 yards on most drives. Really beautiful links style course with wide fairways, true greens and bunkers with actual sand in them. I thought I couldn't play out of bunkers anymore because I've been playing courses who don't tend them. Not Baylands. Nice fluffy lies. The wind was pretty constant at 15MPH...not enough to make the round torturous...but if you don't strike it well, the wind will play with it. Round was around 4 1/2 and bogged down around 15...but candidly...didn't bother me...my back may have had a different opinion. I loved the round...fun, challenging, great staff. we will be back.