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Sharp Park is not what you would call a decent course. In fact, it's pretty awful in terms of course conditioning, but I love it. For starters, you cannot beat the price to play here on a weekday during twilight ($26). I'm not sure if any course in the Bay Area can match that offer, so playing golf at Sharp becomes a tremendous value.

The course itself was originally designed by the great Alister MacKenzie, who is more famous for designing Augusta National, Cypress, Royal Melbourne, Pasatiempo, and Crystal Downs amongst others. You literally pay less than $30 to experience history, and for that, I think it's worthy of checking out at least once.

The course is pretty shaggy as of 5/14. Several of the greens on the back nine have fallen victim to disease or squirrels digging for nuts, possibly both, but some of the greens required me to move my ball out of the path of a hole in the surface.

While it's impossible to compare Sharp to the better courses in the area, I do believe that the value is still there 'despite the playing surface. I use this course in order to hit the ball around and get some exercise, but I don't take my game too seriously there.

The clubhouse is ancient and doesn't have a lot of amenities, however the bar/restaurant inside is actually very solid! You can't go wrong with their food! Sometimes I will pop in there to have a beer and a burger when I'm running around.

Despite living in San Francisco for almost 3 years, I've never taken time to play the golf course located in the northwest corner of Golden Gate Park until today.

For the record, I never rush to judge a course until I actually play it, but I've had numerous friends give me reports about the course and its playability factor.

That said, I thought this little course was enjoyable and is probably the perfect venue to learn the game. The holes are all par-3's, with the longest being the 9th hole at right around 200 yards. We faced some uphill shots and some sidehill lies, but we found the greens themselves to be in fairly great shape. The rest of the course has longer grass than I'm used to playing, but it's still manageable to get the club on the ball and produce some spin.

The greens are tiny! You have to really put the ball where you aim it in order to setup a putt. I firmly believe playing smaller greens will elevate your game as a golfer because it introduces a need for accuracy you don't need as much on a traditional links or inland course.

All in all, I thought the course itself was a fun walk on a beautiful day. They have a hitting cage next to the temporary clubhouse, but you have to actually buy a bucket of ball to use the cage - and you hit into a big net. We were baffled at this, but decided against buying a bucket after they came out and let us know.

They do offer merchandise inside along with offer push cart rentals (ClicGear 3.5+) and they have a wide selection of beers behind the counter. I feel like this course is best enjoyed with your buddies while putting away a few beers.

Keep 'em straight!