Gridiron wave? 5 places to play near the Super Bowl venue this year

From the golf course to the playing field.

Sports fans can make that transition smoothly Sunday afternoon as the final round of the WM Phoenix Open gives way to Super Bowl LX.

The Big Game starts at 6:30 ET at Levi’s Stadium. That’s the home of the San Francisco 49ers, although of course the 49ers won’t be playing and the stadium isn’t in San Francisco.

It’s an hour’s drive south, in Santa Clara, in Silicon Valley, a very different place with a very different golf scene.

While San Francisco punches well above its weight in terms of publicly accessible golf courses (Harding Park, Lincoln Park, the Presidio and the Golden Gate Par-3 course are all within the city’s seven-by-seven-mile footprint), the South Bay’s offerings are relatively small and spread out. Between San Francisco and Monterey, Pasatiempo is the best public course, followed by Cordevalle (a former host site of the US Women’s Open that offers tee times to resort guests) and San Juan Oaks, a Gene Bates-Fred Couples design on rolling, scrubby land.

But what if you’re camping closer to Levi’s Stadium, tailgating in the parking lot, or trying to scalp a ticket? What are your golf options? Here are 5 recommendations within striking distance of the Super Bowl venue. As for the game itself, we recommend taking Seattle with the points.

Cinnabar Hills

Location: San Jose

Green fees: $80-$150

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 25 miles

Long before it became the Silicon Valley, the area around San Jose was known as the Valley of the Hearts Delight, a nod to the fruit orchards and farms that used to cover the region. Nowadays it is mainly busy. But there are still rural places and Cinnabar Hills is in one of them, with 27 holes stitched into the foothills on the edge of town. The three nines were designed by John Harbottle III and their character reflects their names: Canyon, Lake and Mountain.

Coyote Creek Golf Club

Location: Morgan Hill

Green fees: $86 – $156

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 24 miles

Just off Highway 101, directly south of the stadium, Coyote Creek features two 18-hole Jack Nicklaus designs, the Tournament Course and the Valley Course. The former lives up to its name, hosting the Champions Tour’s Siebel Classic twice, and it’s the most challenging of the pair, with a route that loops around lakes and waterfalls. The Valley Course is flatter and less punishing, but deftly defends itself with its greens.

Santa Teresa Golf Club

Location: San Jose

Gcosts: $54-$79

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 19 miles

Santa Teresa opens with a solid dogleg left par-4, but there’s no excuse not to be ready as the property also has a large and well-managed offering. These training grounds help maintain the vibrant junior programs that are part of Santa Teresa’s appeal. The course itself is also pleasant, with tree-lined fairways, mountain views and plenty of water for a break. If you’re on a tight schedule, consider the facility’s 9-hole par 3 course. With holes of up to 450 feet, it can be played in less time than some Super Bowl commercial breaks.

Baylands Golf Links

Location: PaloAlt

Green fees: $50-$110

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 11 miles

You can barely swing a 9-iron around Palo Alto without bumping into a billionaire. But Baylands remains priced for the rest of us. Designed in the mid-1950s by Billy Bell, it began life as Palo Alto Municipal Golf Club and kept that name until 2016, when Forrest Richardson re-established it. Invasive trees were removed, native trees were planted and soil was brought in to create a wonderland of movement. The trail is hiker-friendly. If you get out early, be prepared for a pace of play policy that requires the first groups of the day to be completed within four hours.

The Golf Club at Moffett Field

Location: Unincorporated Santa Clara County

Green fees: $40 – $80

Distance from Levi’s Stadium: 7 miles

You’ve heard of army golf. This is golfing at a former US Navy facility that now functions as a joint civil-military airport. Although the course, which opened in 1959, was originally named the Hill Course in honor of then-commander Arthur S. Hill, the terrain itself is fairly flat. But the layout itself – with locations on an acreage that NASA leases to Google – has sweet shades of green and a quirky charm. The experience itself is also distinctive. To get there, you pass a military checkpoint. And then you play a routing that passes barracks and hangars, with views of San Francisco Bay in the background, along with the sights and sounds of the adjacent airport.