I looked at what was once the most familiar place to me, a golf course I grew up 20 minutes from, and barely even recognized it.
I kept turning myself around, trying to find any signs of the Poppy Ridge I had first played with my dad all those years ago. Maybe a tree here, a creek bed there, or a boundary fence over there – but after rubbing my eyes for clarity, the first impression left me wondering if it was even the same piece of property. Trying to find old holes was a fool’s errand. I was witnessing a site that looked as though it should’ve always been this way.
Poppy Ridge Golf Course has changed, and its impact on public golf in the Bay Area along with it.
The lifespan of the course, originally a 1996 Rees Jones design consisting of three 9-hole layouts, was expiring. Antiquated irrigation systems weren’t performing, and the Bent and Poa Annua grasses weren’t allowing for adequate playing conditions.
The successful renovation of Poppy Hills in 2014, its sister course owned and operated by the NCGA in Pebble Beach, opened the eyes of many for what could possibly be a revamp project in the Livermore Wine Country. About 60% of the more than 220,000 NCGA members live within 60 miles of Poppy Ridge and the opportunity to service said members had finally come.
When architect Jay Blasi was brought in for his first thoughts on the project, he communicated two ideas: “Routing matters”, and “I’m not interested in band-aids”. A primary goal as well was to create a home to host both champions and the everyday player.
Following his graduation from the University of Wisconsin in 2000, Blasi moved from his home state of Wisconsin to the South Bay in pursuit of his dream job. What started out as a hobby sketching golf holes at the age of four resulted in joining one of the largest architecture firms in the business: Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architecture. In his 11 years at RTJII, Blasi served as Project Architect at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., The Patriot in Owasso, Okla., and Stanford University's Siebel Varsity Golf Training Complex in Palo Alto.
In 2012, Blasi started his own firm, Jay Blasi Design, based in Los Gatos.
It takes years of practice and unbound creativity but imagine rerouting a golf course like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle. One usually starts with edge pieces and works from the outside in. The same method was used at Poppy Ridge. Holes Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 maximize the space adjacent to the property line, which gave Blasi and his team the freedom to fill in the middle.
The first hole is a perfect example of what is to come in a round at Poppy Ridge: a wide landing area that sets up options for thoughtful approaches to an accessible green.
The design constantly weaves a theme of natural integration, taking inspiration from the surrounding hillsides. The par-3 3rd, which can be a stout test, would’ve been far too penal if nothing was done to cover up an old, raised irrigation pond situated behind the green. It was a small piece to the larger puzzle that needed to be solved, but important nonetheless to maintain the design’s natural flow and accessibility. Blasi would stand on the tee, hands on hips, and stare at a long, white pole in the dirt where the proposed green was. The solution eventually came when he looked towards the specific shapes and lines of the rolling hills in the distance, ultimately mimicking that same aesthetic for the backdrop of the hole.
Another example is the par-4 12th. An important piece to the routing as it subtly traverses the main ridge connecting the two different sections of the property, Blasi looked again towards the natural elements of the surrounds. This time it was three consecutive ridges resembling shoulders. While standing in the fairway after a well placed drive, the tiers on the 12th green match up perfectly with those shoulders, like a continuous staircase climbing up the horizon, as though it’s always been a part of the same landscape. The same can be said about the par-4 16th as the descending, right to left fairway copies the descending ridge to the north.
A great piece of property, combined with a great routing results in the absence of overt and disjointed connecting holes. Even though they’re present on the course--the best example being the long par-3 14th--no one would ever imply that they look like they weren’t supposed to be there.
“The 14th hole really became the key to being able to access that southeast corner of the property” Blasi explains, referencing the land that the par-4 15th and par-4 16th are situated on. It’s visibly striking and sneakily susceptible with a 40-yard-long slot of sloping short grass hidden on the upper left side, marked by a bush intentionally left as an aiming point off the tee.
No.6, a drivable par-4 with a punchbowl green wedged in between two of the largest bunkers on the course, was inspired by a trip to New Zealand. Blasi stumbled across Waverly Golf Club located in the town of Taranaki on the North Island, a course mostly played by locals and maintained by grazing sheep. The 12th hole, named “Tom Thumb”, holds a small green surrounded by two towering dunes. The simple audacity of the hole struck Blasi. The new No.6 at Poppy Ridge will go down as one of the most refreshingly new ideas in golf architecture this side of the Pacific, the possibility for a new template others will hopefully implement.
When a hole’s strategy works back from green to tee, it fuses every shot with strategic meaning.
"Some golf courses are a PhD level class in architecture. This is crystal clear risk partnered with crystal clear reward” Blasi explained. “It’s a simple but timeless game of angles implemented on almost every classic course that never grows tired even with familiarity.”
Although there had been more bunkers placed on the original plans in certain strategic positions, an important question was consistently raised in its development: “Who are the majority of players who will be in these bunkers?” The realization that these would only penalize the high handicapper rather than the scratch player minimized needless hazards and cemented an ethos of playability over defense.
The average fairway width at Poppy Ridge is 55 yards, fitting for a property elevated in the foothills of Livermore. The wind influence that comes predominantly from the San Francisco Bay, paired with the aiding undulated short grass around the greens, allows the course to feel different from hole to hole and gives more than just a singular aerial option for approach and recovery shots.
The 3,120-yard flexibility between the forward and championship tees as well as the 2,000-yard decreased walk is the answer to prayer for a course that can test the best at 7,345 yards while hosting someone’s first round of golf simultaneously.
The course's main goals are to be usable, approachable, and intuitive. Added Blasi, “If a golfer comes off the golf course, I’d love to hear three points made. That was a ton of fun, that was really unique, and that was really beautiful.”
This isn’t just a huge step for the NCGA. It’s also a huge step for the progression in quality, public golf in Northern California as a whole. It’s not just a new course that’s maintained at firm and fast conditions with great views. Although both are added selling points, Poppy Ridge at its purest holds the needed balance in forgiveness and intrigue to inspire players to find their own individual style, and how to enjoy the game. What players will find is a new home.