Baylands Golf Links

Forrest Richardson reshaped the former municipal course into a links-inspired layout with broad short grass, native habitat, shared green space and exposed Bay wind.

History and Design

The operator’s history dates the original William F. Bell Palo Alto Municipal course to 1956 and attributes the rebuild to Forrest Richardson. The City of Palo Alto’s 2024 performance presentation says the reconfigured course reopened as Baylands in May 2018. The 1956 opening belongs to the predecessor, while the current named layout opened in 2018.

The City describes a reduction in managed turf and potable-water use, added native habitat and a course integrated with the surrounding wetlands. Its presentation identifies a shared green for holes 3 and 15. The operator’s hole guide describes the alternate greens on 14 and the blind, mound-framed par-3 17th.

Playing the Course

The current operator-linked scorecard is printed 07/24. Its men’s Black row pairs 6,680 yards with par 72 and 72.4/127. Five par 3s and five par 5s break up the routing; choose tees for the wind and allow for approaches that can run on the ground. The operator’s turf guide identifies seashore paspalum on tees and fairways and bentgrass on greens. The direct USGA NCRDB Baylands row gives men’s Black at 6,657 yards, par 72 and the same 72.4/127; no rating effective date appears. The 23-yard difference is entirely No. 16: the operator’s scorecard printed 07/24 lists Black No. 16 at 377 yards, while the USGA-derived hole table lists 354 yards. That table has no rating effective date and does not establish today’s physical Black-marker location. The dated operator card remains the page’s complete Black yardage/rating/slope edition; confirm No. 16 markers before relying on exact distance.

Before You Go

Public tee times are linked from the operator homepage through its booking path, which redirects to the course’s EzLinks engine. The pro shop is at 1875 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, phone (650) 856-0881; the practice-facility page describes the driving range.

The linked 2020 Lukie At The Links front-nine video shows the post-reopening course but predates today’s conditions. The former on-page scorecard image is marked 05/23 and has older ratings; use the operator’s current linked PDF instead.