gregmcvey

The links style layout in the Livermore wine country sets up with wind as the primary course defense. From the white tees on a calm morning, pars and maybe birdies might be feasible, but the challenges magnify with afternoon gusts. Note that almost all putts "favor Mt. Diablo" to the north. Sometimes the effect is slight, other times the ball appears to break uphill. The greens are fast and fair and the pace of play is usually 4.5 hours or better, unless there is some type of tournament. I usually always leave the course satisfied that I played something fair yet challenging enough to test all parts of my game.

I have played Chabot only rarely in the past five years, so I was pleased to see that the greens were decent, and many of the fairways in pretty good shape.
There are some great deals to be had mid-week, especially on golfnow.com or their emailings, so check it out some time.

Having played Palo Alto several times in past years, I was disappointed to see they are doing a very gradual remodel, which appears will take years to complete. They have taken a few holes and made two holes out them, such as a short par 4 and par 3, from the original #9 par 5. It just seems unfair to be even charged a discount, playing a par 67 chopped up mess.