Mare Island Golf Course

Groupon had a deal for 18 holes plus cart for two at one low price of $ 40! That’s a steal considering it’s usually $ 40 for a cart alone.
Aside from the deal, the locations surrounded by water with spectacular views on almost every hole. When I say spectacular, it’s not your typical view of a tropical beach (it’s the Bay Area), but you can see neat ocean views, the seaport, and the old naval base.
The staff are fairly laid back and friendly, as is typical at a course. The guy at the snack bar even made a joke. When my brother and I were figuring out what we wanted after finding the kitchen was closed, we ended up with a Snickers, which often has some funny adjective. At first we got one, that said, «GOOFY», but then I decided we should get another. The snack bar guy smirked as he grabbed the next one, set it on the counter, and I just laughed. It said, «COMPLAINER». We got a kick out of it ten went out for our back 9.
My only reservation is with their carts that are a little finicky. As we were going up the hill on hole 11, it seemed like he battery cut out and we thought we were going to have to push it back. After some effort with pushing, we eventually realized that the cart had accidentally been shifted into neutral in the switch under the seat. One we shifted it into gear, it was fine. We did notice some guys on the last hole pushing their cart up the last hill, but we didn’t find out the cause of their trouble.
Overall, it was such a deal for $ 40 and I would love to go back (with another groupon)!

Love the new deli/​meeting area! The wood floors are beautiful and the small tables with chairs add a cozy touch to the room.
This continues to be one of the best courses in the Bay Area. The course is challenging and there is variety from hole to hole. The only reason why I continue to give four and not five stars to the rating is because of the lack of products for women in the pro shop. It’s almost exclusively men’s clothing and shoes, but there are always women out playing the course. How about giving us some stuff to spend our money on!
I’ll be back! Mare Island is a fabulous course and we’re lucky to have it here to enjoy.

Please don’t say «breakfast served all day» when it isn’t. It says it on your website. It says it on your menus. I eat here because it’s convenient since it’s so close to work. Downside, I’m often left disappointed. Especially when it’s 11:15 and I call in for a breakfast burrito and the answer is no. Why would you do that? Such false advertising!

Traffic was bad, showed up about 5 minutes before our tee time and the pro shop and starter were awesome. Not real crowded with it being kinda cold in the morning but felt good. Course was in good shape and challenging. Played in about 3.5 hours. Windy towards the last nine but your playin on the bay. I’ll go back again.

The oldest golf course west of the Mississippi. Located at the former naval shipyard.
Our first and definitely last time playing here.
The Marshall asked us «did they tell you about the course? Ever play here before?» Then he proceeded to warn us about the rattlesnakes and the ticks. I heard there were also mosquitoes. Oh, none today as it’s not very wet today.
He neglected to warn us about the hornets and/​or yellowjacket. On the 18^th hole, I was either bitten or stung by what looked like a yellowjacket.
Course conditions were terrible. Granted we are in the middle of a drought.
Crossed off our list.
Some views of Vallejo.

First all you get what you pay for here, and understand why there so many deals to play here. We had a pre-​paid time, but arrived about an hour early not knowing how traffic was from SF, upon arrival I asked if they were busy, not seeing many cars in the lot. They informed they were booked and playing early wasn’t possible, but after watching the first for about 30 minutes, no one was even there, And after my second attempt for an early start he said they couldn’t change my time due to the groupon. So we waited for our time, nice and backed up now.
Anyways course is decent, few nice holes and challenging ones, overall it’s worth the money.

Great price, beautiful surroundings and a fair test for all players. What it lacks in today’s distance standards, it makes up for in it’s demand for accuracy and creative shot making. Loads of fun! Will be back often!

Just discovered this place and thought it was very cute! I like how some of the holes backed up to the water, and others had views of the city. There was a lot of brush, so if you had the misfortune of hitting into it, it was probably gone because there were signs to watch out for rattle snakes, so didn’t want to chance it. The café was nice, loved the sleek floors, it seemed very clean, and everyone’s food looked delicious. The drive to this course was interesting, it was an old military base and it looked like the city was in the process of renovating the area.

This is the perfect place to golf if the weather is unbearably hot. The location by the bay makes the weather cooler with a light breeze. The golf is pretty nice considering the California drought. The new remodeled café is great and you have to order the Tavern burger; it is absolutely delicious !
Everyone on the course was cordial (both golfers and staff). The pace of play was great — we were done in a little more than 4 hours !
Note: bring mosquito repellent just in case.
We will definitely be back !!!

Not to be biased or anything, but every course with such friendly and easy going pro shop staff, including driving the lunch order to the 11^th hole, and an absolutely epic back nine with year’s first birdie is a must go again! It is a bit out of the way but more than makes up for it in quality.

Have played twice in the last month, unfortunately both days were windy and it really makes the course tough. The layout is good and with all the trees you got to play a smart game, not just grip-​it-​and-​rip-​it. Greens are well groomed but the bunkers are a hard clay.
Pro’s: challenging course worth about $ 25 to $ 35 with cart. Staff is friendly, they take the money, get you started and from there you are on your own.
Con’s: Very slow play. not sure why as it seemed everybody was moving. The first nine took a little over 2 hours but the back nine was a full 3 hours, this was with a 1:25pm tee time. Only thing I can think of is there is a lot of chances for lost balls and some take more then 5 minutes to search.
Good course, I will be back.

I don’t golf, so this review is purely for the café and the vibes. I attend school on the island, which means I am a starving student on a budget. The golf course happy hour is my savior when it comes to post testing celebratory events! Three beers on tap: Sierra Nevada, Coors Light, and Mare Island Brewery Saginaw. Happy hour is 3−7pm daily and tap beers $ 2.50, well drinks $ 3, appetizers half off. My roomie likes the torpedo burger/​hotdog. I like the wings.
Vibes: chill and casual. Mostly older golfers on the weekdays who don’t mind a couple of students gettin crunk and giggling over nerdy medical jokes. Newly remodeled café is pretty cute. Wifi available if you ask for the pw. Outdoor patio gets windy so hold onto your napkins and beer. Watch out for swinging patio umbrellas! Overall great low key drinks and crowd.

I agree with Mark’s review and it looks like he played a few days before I did.
I hate giving a bad review but this isn’t the first time I’ve experienced some of these problems at Mare Island.
18 Hole Pace of Play — SUCKED. We arrived at 2PM on a Wednesday, paid for a full round, got to the 8^th hole at 4:30. The guy up front made no mention of the 4 fivesomes that were in front of us from a 9 hole tournament they had. A single player behind us quit after the 5^th hole and another group skipped us to try to play ahead. Needless to say, we played 9 holes for the price of 18 that day.
Course Conditions — It’s not the best maintained course around. For most of the course, if you hit it off the fairway by a few feet your ball will be lost. Trust me you DO NOT want to go trudging around in the thick brush. Snakes and ticks are present. Much of the fairway was either missing grass or just not getting enough water.
Staff Friendliness — Ha, how about Staff Un-​friendliness. This isn’t pebble beach and I’m not expecting top notch service. I politely asked for a price match from
but got a pretty rude response telling me to go book it online. Since the price was $ 8/​person cheaper, I did. The staff just stood there looking at me like well, are you going to pay me or book online. I ended up walking out booking online. If I had more time that day, I would have drove over to Blue Rock. After booking on golfnow, I went back in to pay. There was absolutely no other conversation between the clerk and myself. After he swiped my credit card he just placed a key on the counter for me. I’m sure the owners aren’t paying the staff to sell the items (golf balls/​tees/​etc) in the golf shop or thank the players for spending their day there. No… that would be asking too much of the employees. When I got out to the cart area all I got was a comment from one of the employees (and you only have 1 out there, so you know who it is) telling me to make sure I get back by 5.
Quality of Food — Wouldn’t know. I didn’t want to spend any more money than I had to there. There is not cart service for food/​drinks at Mare Island.
Condition of Overall Facility — Driving range is in poor shape. No up-​keep whatsoever and the balls are not updated the course was in fair to poor condition.
Don’t kill yourself Mare Island over the bad service because it’s everywhere. I’ve realized, not only at Mare Island but almost everywhere you go, the golf industry is full of snobs that don’t do much to promote the game. (I worked in the golf industry for 3 years so I’ve see it everywhere.) The approach to the players/​customers has to change. Treat people with respect, give them a few tips about the course they are about to play on, or a «thank you, have a good game why don’t you stop back in after the round and let me know how you shot», or simply say, «come back to see us again». All these would go a long way for the day to day player.
Overall — I think I’m done playing here. For about the same price, I can play at Blue Rock.

This has been one of my favorite courses since it reopened. I have bragged to my friends and recommended it enthusiastically. No more ! It’s not in my top 5 places in Solano County.
It’s still a beautiful and challenging layout. The problem is… there is NO on course supervision. And they let anyone play (which is fine). But it makes for a very very long day. This course prides itself on being the oldest course course west of the Mississippi… well, it might be the slowest !
You will need to pack a lunch as there are no on course services, and the snack bar isn’t particularly friendly or fast. The only staff on the course is the guy how drives around picking up the bottles from the trash for recycling.

This review is for the café, not the course itself.
Went here on a foggy Wednesday morning for breakfast (bird watching since 6am on the island, rate bird alert) and walked in around 8:40am. Very few people in the place — perhaps 4 other customers?
We ordered (there are a couple vegetarian things), sat down and waited … And waited. As stated before it was slow. It took 30min to get the food. Hmmm toast, eggs, hash browns bacon and a breakfast burrito (no meat). It was tasty, portions huge (took over half home), staff friendly, yet very slow.
In the end I guess I shouldn’t expect much from a dinky golf course … But slow service is the reason for a middle score.

Not a fan.
This is one of those courses that can easily get in your head if you let it. Dry fairways, coupled w/​small, convex greens surrounded by woods and virtually no fringe and oh, did I mention the ever present wind!
In all fairness, my 96 «coulda, woulda, shoulda» been closer to an 86, but i just left too many putts on the course.
The staff (1^st tee Marshall and restaurant) were great, but we never saw a cart girl all day. Every 3^rd hole or so had a water cooler which adds to the plus side since water coolers are not necessarily a given these days (i.e. Franklin Canyon).
Recommendation: if you slice, like I have a tendency to do, work on your «knock down» shot. On this course, it’s not how far you can drive the ball off the tee, but more so keeping the ball out of the high winds and headed for the tall tan and brown stuff.

Piece of shit course that doesn’t seem to have a sprinkler system. Don’t aim for the fairway it’s not worth it

There’s nothing great about the café on Mare Island Golf Course, except that its a café, that’s close to Touro where you can grab a quick beer and sandwhich before you head back to another interminable 4 hours of lecture.
The service is fast, the prices are reasonable, you won’t leave hungry… what more can you ask for a facility that’s on Mare Island?
You’ll find typical diner food style sandwhiches, and all the beer and liquor basics you need… nothing to overly wow you, but the beer is beer, and there’s a decent view.

It’s absolutely gorgeous if you don’t mind the wind.
The restaurant is more like a snack bar. The pro shop is small but, very friendly staff. The new ladies foot joys are out and the bottoms are super. Nike also released some smart shoes.
The play itself was great. Don’t mind the rattlesnakes. Bring your bathing suit as there is quite a bit of sand!
Enjoy

I enjoyed playing this course.
The weather started out a bit cold around 10:30 but once the sun came out it was perfect. The drive after getting off the freeway was a little crazy. I didn’t think anyone was around. Thought I was driving through Chernobyl. It had all the looks of a ghost town. Nothing around but abandoned building with shattered windows with what looked like old furniture that was visible through some of those windows.
On to the golf course. The starter was very friendly and informative. He gave us all the information we would need. Also warned of rattlesnakes and ticks. It seemed like a simple course made difficult only by me and my horrible golf game. The course was a pleasant surprise. HAd some great views. The fairways and greens were well kept. The greens ran fast. I liked the different elevations the course provided. A few holes you hit up and a few down. The angles of the fairway made it difficult. Some holes you have to aim towards the left or right because the ball will roll the opposite direction after landing.
Overall this was a nice course and a fun 18. The food was actually pretty good. I had an email for $ 40 which included golf, cart and hot dog or polish. I ordered the polish and it was twice the size of the hot dog and good tasting. At the turn I ordered the chicken tenders and fries and that also tasted good and fries were crispy. It almost tasted as they breaded and fried the chicken fresh. Which I highly doubt but tasted like it.