Claremont Country Club

Its compact hillside routing is associated with Alister MacKenzie’s late-1920s redesign; bunkers, short corridors and uneven ground give the course its strategic character. Membership is the public route into the club, with no public tee-time booking offered.

Quick Facts

The 18-hole course plays to par 68, as the Northern California PGA reported when it held a professional event here in 2025. A current, edition-dated named-tee yardage, course rating and slope after the club’s 2023–24 renovation project could not be verified, so those figures are withheld.

Course history and design

The club traces its origins to the Oakland Golf Club in 1897 and its incorporation to 1903. Its first nine holes opened in December 1904, designed by George and Alex Smith; the club credits John “Pop” Smith with the original 18-hole design completed in 1909. MacKenzie planned a redesign in 1926 that the club says was completed between 1927 and 1929.

The club says its MacKenzie restoration began in 2001 and most work was done in 2004–07. The Alister MacKenzie Society’s club-supplied history attributes the 2002–08 restoration to Renaissance Golf Design under Tom Doak, with Jim Urbina managing on site, and records Urbina’s return for an eighteenth-green bunker in 2017. These are distinct from the later renovation project.

Playing and current-layout context

The MacKenzie Society identifies routing changes to holes 2, 3, 5, 6, 12 and 17 in the original redesign. The club’s own 2024 operating budget says a golf course renovation project was already underway entering 2024. Its scope, completion date and effect on the current card are not documented in a public club scorecard. A 2025 Northern California PGA event report confirms the course was in use at par 68, but its approximate 5,800-yard event description is not a named-tee card.

Access and arrival

The membership page invites membership inquiries, and the club contact page lists 5295 Broadway Terrace and (510) 653-6789. The public site has member login and no public tee-time engine. Guests should arrange any play through the club or a member host and check the current dress code before arrival.

Sources

Claremont club history; club membership; MacKenzie Society history; 2024 club operating budget; 2025 NCPGA tournament.