A 1928 Alister MacKenzie design (the architect of Augusta National and Cypress Point) laid out among 150-foot redwoods on the Russian River. Nine holes, par 36, walkable, affordable.
MacKenzie, in redwoods
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Visit WebsiteNorthwood Golf Club opened in 1928 as a nine-hole course designed by Alister MacKenzie, the architect whose work the same period produced Cypress Point and Augusta National. MacKenzie laid the course out along the Russian River across from the Bohemian Grove, routing nine holes through a stand of coast redwoods that reach more than 150 feet over the fairways. Travelin' Joe Passov of Golf Magazine has placed Northwood among the top five MacKenzie courses in the world, a claim that sounds outsized until the drive down Highway 116 delivers a golfer to a course that plays exactly as its pedigree promises.
The course is par 36 over 2,893 yards, a genuine MacKenzie test of naturally contoured fairways and undulating greens rather than a long-yardage slog. The redwoods do the defending: they line every hole, narrow the landing areas, and occasionally kick an errant ball back into play. The signature ninth is the hole golfers remember. Resident PGA professional Vern Ayres handles instruction by arrangement, solar-powered carts are available, and green fees stay genuinely affordable for a course of this provenance. Northwood is the rare MacKenzie design open to anyone who calls the golf shop: a public round on a course most golfers only read about.
Vern Ayres is the resident Head PGA Professional at Northwood Golf Club, the Alister MacKenzie–designed nine-hole gem tucked into the redwoods along the Russian River in Monte Rio. He handles everything from individual and group lessons to custom club-fitting, and his small-group "Learn with Vern" clinics have a devoted following. He calls the course "a great walk in the redwoods", and players tend to leave saying the same.
Gaylord Schaap is the General Manager of Northwood Golf Club, carrying on a family stewardship that traces back to when the Schaaps helped bring the historic Monte Rio course out of foreclosure in 1970. Beyond running Northwood day to day, he serves as secretary on the board of the National Golf Course Owners Association, lending a national voice to the kind of small, independent course Northwood exemplifies.
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