Wildhorse Golf Club opened in 1999 on the northeast edge of Davis as the centerpiece of the Wildhorse neighborhood that shares its name. Architect Jeff Brauer, a past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, routed the course so that trees, bunkers, ponds and Covell Creek frame nearly every shot from the tee box. The club is privately owned but fully public; a 2017 ownership change brought extensive renovations to the course, restaurant and pro shop, and it is now run by a local family group, the property's fifth owner.

On the course

From the 6,828-yard Tournament tees the card reads 72.5/131, and the examination is more about wind and lies than raw length. Brauer moved plenty of earth on this flat valley floor - reviewers note you rarely get a level stance off the mounded fairways - and the open Yolo County site typically adds at least a club of breeze. The number-one handicap hole arrives early at the 460-yard par-4 3rd, the back nine hinges on the 13th, a par 5 stretching to 594 yards, and staked environmental zones plus five marked drop areas trace the creek and wetland corridors.

Who it suits

It is an easy detour off I-80 between Sacramento and the Bay Area, and Davis Enterprise readers have voted it the best public course in Yolo County. GolfPass reviewers score it 4.0 across more than 500 rounds, praising the creative, bunker-heavy design and an enthusiastic pro shop staff while noting conditions can run inconsistent, particularly in the bunkers. The club prints a 4-hour-16-minute pace-of-play policy hole by hole on the scorecard and enforces it.

The practice center includes a 28-mat driving range open year-round plus putting and chipping greens and a practice bunker, with teaching pros and academy programs on site; a bar and grill handles the post-round meal. Seven rated tee combinations from 4,565 to 6,828 yards let Wildhorse scale from a stern, windy 131-slope test down to an approachable everyday loop.

Architect: Jeff Brauer · Opened: 1999