Green Hills Country Club

Green Hills Country Club is a private club in Millbrae, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula, home to a classic 18-hole golf course designed by the legendary Dr. Alister MacKenzie. Built on rolling former orchard land, the course is celebrated as one of MacKenzie's Bay Area gems, sharing its architectural lineage with nearby Cypress Point. Beyond golf, members enjoy fine dining, social events, and first-class amenities in an intimate, tree-lined setting just minutes from San Francisco International Airport.

Quick Facts

Course History

The course was built in 1929 as the home of the Union League Golf and Country Club of San Francisco, which retained Dr. Alister MacKenzie to design the layout. After roughly $540,000 was spent on the course and clubhouse, the club opened on April 27, 1930, and local media quickly hailed it as one of the finest courses in California and Northern California.

The timing was unfortunate: the stock market crash and the Great Depression devastated the membership, which had shrunk to about 60 members by 1932. The club reorganized in 1933 as the Millbrae Golf and Country Club, and in 1945 it adopted its present name, Green Hills Country Club. During the 1990s, many of MacKenzie's original design features and bunkers were restored.

The Design & Architecture

MacKenzie, with help from Robert Hunter and H. Chandler Egan, used the existing rolling topography and minimal grading to sculpt the 18-hole routing across former orchard land. The design epitomizes his trademarks: small, undulating greens and strategically placed bunkers. The original layout featured close to 100 bunkers, and the bunkering was said to rival that of MacKenzie's celebrated Cypress Point. MacKenzie himself reportedly considered Green Hills among the top three courses on the West Coast. Over the decades many bunkers were filled in for economy, but restoration work returned much of the original character.

Playing the Course

At a par 71 measuring 6,211 yards with a course rating of 70.7 and a slope of 138, Green Hills places a premium on precision rather than length. The small, contoured MacKenzie greens and strategic bunkering demand thoughtful positioning off the tee and a sharp short game, rewarding golfers who plot their way around the tree-lined, rolling terrain.

Know Before You Go

• Green Hills is a private, members-only club; access is generally limited to members and their guests.

• Located at 500 Ludeman Ln, Millbrae, CA 94030, just minutes from San Francisco International Airport.

• An authentic Alister MacKenzie design, prized for its undulating greens and historic bunkering.

• Bring accurate iron play; the course favors positioning and a strong short game over raw distance.