Old Brockway opened in 1924 as the golf amenity for the Brockway Springs Resort on Lake Tahoe's north shore, built by Harry Comstock to a design by John Duncan Dunn, one of the premier golf architects of the game's early American era. A century on, the nine holes at Kings Beach still play much as Dunn drew them — small, turtle-backed greens, tight fairway corridors framed by Jeffrey pines, and short green-to-tee walks that date to the hickory-shaft years before carts existed.

On the course

Its place in golf history was sealed in 1934, when Bing Crosby, performing across the state line at the Cal-Neva, began hosting a small tournament and clambake here for his celebrity friends. The gathering returned in 1935, then outgrew Tahoe altogether, moving on to become the Crosby Pro-Am and eventually the AT&T event at Pebble Beach. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, President Eisenhower, and Joseph P. Kennedy all teed it up at Brockway over the years.

Who it suits

The card reads 3,314 yards and par 36, with two par 5s, five par 4s, and two par 3s — a fuller mix than most nine-holers manage, and the course counts lake views on every hole. The crowned greens are the real defense: miss on the wrong side of those turtle-backed surfaces and a routine par disappears in a hurry. Golf Channel has cited Old Brockway among the top nine-hole courses in the country.

Family-owned for more than three decades, it remains an easy, pleasant walk with minimal distance between green and tee. Plan around the season: sitting above 6,200 feet near the lake, the course closes under snow each winter and reopens when the spring melt allows, so the playing window runs roughly from late spring into fall.

Architect: John Duncan Dunn · Opened: 1924