Bay View Golf Club

Bay View Golf Club sits high in the rolling hills of Milpitas, at the northern edge of Silicon Valley, and lives up to its name: the front nine looks out over the Bay Area skyline and the back nine over the Milpitas valley. It is an 18-hole, par-72 public course with four sets of tees, and the club bills it as one of the toughest tests in the area, with a rating of 72.7 and a slope of 133 over 6,580 yards from the blue tees.

Hills shape almost every hole. The opener, The Farm, is a short downhill par four beside a neighbouring horse farm, and the 2nd climbs uphill to a three-tiered green you cannot see from the fairway. The 8th, Up the Bend, is the hardest hole on the course, with a green guarded by two bunkers and a false front. On the back, the 12th has a creek down its whole right side, the 574-yard 14th is a true three-shotter from the tips and the downhill 16th, Drop Zone, plays across the wind from an elevated tee. The 18th finishes along a lake. Greens are poa and bent, and fairways Bermuda and rye.

Every rate includes a shared power cart fitted with GPS, a touch screen and USB charging, and you can order food for the turn from the cart. Practice facilities, open daily, include a grass driving range, a TrackMan virtual range, a putting green and a chipping and pitching green. Custom fittings use TaylorMade, Srixon, Mizuno, XXIO, Titleist and Cleveland gear, with two TrackMan bays.

Bay View Academy is the club's teaching arm, with a large junior programme that has trained Division 1 college golfers, and the course hosts junior events from the AJGA, JTNC, FCT and JGANC. The Restaurant at Bay View, run by Chef Kreg, serves grill fare on a patio facing the Milpitas Hills.