Rancho Solano Golf Course held its opening day in March 1990, giving the City of Fairfield the first of its two municipal courses three years before Paradise Valley arrived. Gary Roger Baird designed the layout through oak-studded hills above town, where it winds among the hillside Rancho Solano neighborhood and carries a polish closer to a private club than a typical muni.

On the course

Baird's calling card here is scale. The greens are routinely cited as the largest in Northern California, big tiered surfaces where hitting the putting green is only half the job and where the day's pin position can swing club selection on the approach. Elevated tees, rolling terrain, scenic lakes, and well-placed bunkers do the rest, and the undulation running through both fairways and greens keeps dead-flat lies rare. Lag putting is the skill this course examines most.

Who it suits

The course has collected the Daily Republic's Readers' Choice award for best golf course in Solano County since 1993, and Greenskeeper.org tagged it Worth the Green Fee in 2015 and again every year from 2018 through 2021. At 6,688 yards and par 72 it gives most handicaps a fair test from a sensible set of tees, though the hilly routing and the climbs between elevated tees mean many regulars ride rather than walk.

Practice facilities cover the essentials: a sixteen-stall mat driving range, a putting green, and a chipping area, with a clubhouse that handles tournaments and events. The course operates alongside sister facility Paradise Valley under City of Fairfield Golf, and the two make a natural pairing, Rancho Solano for hills, elevation, and enormous greens, Paradise Valley for creek-lined parkland. Pick this one when you want country-club conditions and a serious putting examination at municipal rates.

Architect: Gary Roger Baird · Opened: 1990