It had been a couple months since I last played Poplar because I was avoiding it after they punched their greens back in March. Fast forward a couple months and the greens are fully healed and in amazing shape for a local muni. Honestly, some of the best greens I've played on a public course in the Bay Area. The best part is that it's still affordable compared to other public courses. I played a round with my dad and lifelong friend this past weekend. It was a holiday weekend and we didn't have a tee time on Thursday, but I kept checking back on the website and was able to book a sunday tee time at 8:30AM. We checked-in and the course was empty-ish and was able to tee off 15 minutes early. We didn't have a single play with us so it ended up being a great round with just the 3 of us. While the greens are good, there are some dead spots in the fairways from all the rain that came over the winter but overall still in great shape. Poplar Creek is the golf course where you go for an ego boost because they have so many driveable par 4s. The caveat to that is there are a lot of tough par 3s. Pretty much all the par 5s are reachable in 2, so there's birdies to be had all over the course. My personal best here is 67 with 6 birdies! The prices increased since lasts year. Weekday is $45 and Weekend is $62. Either way, still very affordable by Bay Area golf standards. The course is very walkable as it's super flat. Looking forward to playing many rounds out here over the summer! read more

Poplar Creek Golf Course - Golf Near Me - San Mateo, California

See all

Greens were very good today. Firm and getting fast with all this sun recently after pouring rain just a couple of weeks ago!! The course is drying out and almost back to the forgiving fairways I'm used to, but I have to say that the rough over the last 2-3 rounds I've played here since those rains has been a little thicker than I'm used to...but I actually like it! Makes the course more interesting and challenging. Maybe I'm a masochist but I also kind of liked some of those big ponds that were out there right after the heavy rains...definitely made you focus more on driving accuracy vs just bombing away (but it would be nice to put a warning flag or something on a few holes where those ponds are hidden (like on #1, #10 and #14)...nothing worse than hitting what you thought was a great tee shot only to find out you lost your ball in a huge pool of standing water you could not see from the tee box or fairway (no penalty but cost me a $4 premium ball a few times!). It's also taken awhile to fix the driving range fence (going on about 2-3 months now) so that's a bit disappointing (I heard it will be ready by April 1 though)...however, the short game practice area is one of the better ones in the area for a public course (it's free if you're playing a round that day). What I do miss is the Par-3 Restaurant and Snack Bar. Hope they sort out that messy situation soon and get another great proprieter in there soon. Anyway, you can't beat the price here, especially on a weekday! It's my go to course when I need to work on my game and build up my confidence!! read more

This place is the slowest golf you'll ever play. Everyone in the pro shop is 85+ and should be in a nursing home. Do not come here please. Save yourself the stress. 0 stars. Awful. read more

Board member for the Bay Area Golf Tour, head of membership and community. Our league had a blast playing this course for our inaugural open tournament this month. The course helped get the driving range ready for us. They had amazing service from start to finish. They were all extremely professional and accommodating. Course conditions were phenomenal and the greens were unbelievable! Truly a fun an challenging tournament. We highly recommend this course for any tournaments out there. Thank you to the staff for all their hard work and for hosting us. read more

Poplar Creek Golf Course - Bay Area Golf Tour - Golf Near Me - San Mateo, California

This was our very first time at this course. We lucked out and were grouped with 2 amazing ladies. We decided to play best ball since it was my first time and wanted to keep up with the pace. From the start, it was really backed up. When our time slot started, there were still 2 groups ahead of us waiting to tee off. It took us 40 minutes to start the second hole because we were always waiting for the groups ahead of us. By hole 4, the group behind us were starting to get impatient and nearly hit us twice while we were waiting of the fairway for the group in front us to finish on the green. A man from that group started yelling at us to hurry up but we clearly could not hit because of the group in front of us. The marshal had to come by the calm the man down and explain that it was backed up all the way hole 9. Overall, I gave it a few stars more than I would have because we had a great group and the marshal was responsive when the man behind us was getting heated and nearly hit us TWICE. Otherwise, not sure we'll come back if it's always back up like this. read more

Play this course a couple days ago. Good course was fun. The fairways are wide open. Reservations that were made were booked online really easy to do. Did not have a slow down at all with a teatime of 6:20 AM. I will definitely come back to this place. If you're a San mateo resident, I would suggest getting a resident card. Which you would have to show an ID and a form of identification and utility bill with the address on it. read more

See all

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am low low maintenance when it comes to golf courses. Poplar Creek is super casual & laid back and I love that. I'll start with the downsides, it's freaking hard to get a tee time here. My boyfriend is in charge of booking our tee times lol but this ain't the place to book the day before. We've played with some walk on people, so that's definitely on option but when we play just the two of us, it's a little tougher. Pace of play could be a downside to some. It depends on the day if this is going to be bothersome to me or not but definitely expect to play 4.5 or 5 hour round here. It's busy and people tend to walk so the pace is v slow. Now the upsides! Like I mentioned, it's super casual. I love that I don't have to wear a polo. The fairways are wide and it's a doable and fun course for whatever golfers like me. They also have their own version of a burger dog. A lovely turn snack. The greens are in great shape! They are also a little tough to read, it seems like a straight shot then it surprises you. lol Also a great value for the bay, will be back for sure. read more

Fun and walkable course. Green fees are fair/reasonable. Challenging enough for me, though those that do not like flat courses will be disappointed. Right now the restaurant and snack bar are closed due to sewage issues. That's a bit disappointing. Last week Sam's Chowder truck was there. However, that is a bit too pricey for me. read more

This golf course has come down a great deal over the last five years. Slow play (with no marshalls), terrible course conditions and both the restaurant AND the snack bars closed. For over a year. You cannot even get a glass of water. Kinda makes you wonder if anyone is in charge there anymore. It used to be a much better club and a much better gathering place for friends for meals. read more

Disorganized pro shop, Long weights for your teatime well beyond the scheduled start. I would suggest another course rather than this place which has very poor organization read more

Muni course that is just decent; some fairways were definitely rough brown spots. Played Twilight for $30 and it was very crowded, waiting at each hold to play! Very slow play, took us over 5 hours to finish! Just my opinion, but very rude golfers play at this course. More than half the holes we had players drive on to our hole to hit their out-of-bound balls, even when we were about to hit. No golf etiquette among these players? Course is not the greatest maintained, pace of play is terrible. Beware when paying for your round of golf... the screen they show you for your charges is not the total you pay. When I put my credit card to pay it showed $60 for two Twilight players, but I received my receipt there was a $1.26 service fee for using my credit card. Shouldn't you show on your screen the total charge or at least post a sign that using a credit card to pay will incur a service fee??? Right, a $1.26 charge isn't going to kill me, but I should see exactly what I'm paying! Customer Service from the pro shop is not you friendliest staff! read more

Poplar Creek Golf Course - Not until you get your receipt do you realize you've been charged a Credit Card Fee? - Golf Near Me - San Mateo, California

This public golf course is amazing. It's great course for all levels and the staff are really nice and helpful. The putting green is in great condition for a public course and there is a small range to practice as well! read more

Booked a twilight tee time and told it was $36. arrived early and told it was $50. Went to hit balls and came to first tee 4 minutes early to find. 4-some playing out of only 3 bags! Said their time was also 6:52. Went into pro shop and guy obviously didn't care and said we'll just go off after them. Horrible golf etiquette and service. Will not return. read more

Booked twilight tee time at 5:52. Showed up early ; hit some balls and arrived at tee 4 minutes early. Found walking 4-some playing out of 3 bags. Stated their time was also 5:52. Went to clubhouse and was told oh well go after them!!! Poor golf etiquette and service especially when you are trying to get in as many holes as possible. Not to mention it was not cheap. $50 pp for twilight Never come back here. read more

Happened to go here on a beautiful day. Sunny with a tad of chill air. Got invited for lunch and relax. We got lucky since it was a nice winter day. Lunch time yet the place wasn't packed. Ordered coffee and chicken buffalo salad and shared chicken wings for appetizer. Chicken wings were okay. My company didn't like it because of a distinctive spice added to it. I liked it. Coffee was okay. Salad was disappointing. I should have asked for salad dressing on the side because the salad was soggy from too much dressing. The chicken on top of it wasn't that great either. The service was pretty good tho. The golf course as expected was clean. Besides the relaxing view: the reason my company brought me here, I'd give it another try but I wouldn't really come back for the food. read more

I just went to hit a few balls at the driving range for practice. There was plenty room. The tee's go right into the mat. I lost a favorite tee. I have had food at the outside area and it was nice. I'm not from the Bay Area and want to check out foster city next time. I'm looking for a 3 par 9 hole place. read more

Poplar Creek Golf Course - Outside resturant - Golf Near Me - San Mateo, California

See all

Poplar is a course I frequent and all my previous times have been decent but today was definitely the worst by far. I'm aware of the geese and their poop here but there was geese shit literally everywhere today. On the tee boxes, on the fairways, on the path, on the GREENS. read more

What a disappointing experience! Came here with a group of 13 and reserved 2 tee times with 7 players and 6 spectators. We called in advanced and the associate confirmed this was okay to do. Additionally, others have played at the golf course with spectators, so we did not expect to encounter any issues day of. We heard how good the course was, so a few of us travelled a few hours and some from across the country to enjoy a day on the greens. UNFORTUNATELY, the supervisor did not allow ANY spectators, nor did he offer the option for all of us to golf. Therefore we ultimately took our business to elsewhere. Might I add, we are all Asian American. I beg the question, would we have received the same customer service (or lack there of) should we have been of a different demographic? read more

I like that you are not likely to fall of their golf carts. Pro shop is as big as Philz coffee. Awesome view. But the flags are too far away. read more

The golf course took six hours to play. They did not tell you that they had no food service or drink service. There were no Marshalls to speed people along. We had a high school reunion people came in from Alaska and it was so disappointing. I will never play there again and one star is giving them the benefit of the doubt. read more

Always a lovely venue. Food is good, staff helpful. Nice for large gatherings. Parking is good

Nice course- good layout. Biggest problem- depending when you go, it's can be SUPER WINDY in the afternoons. I've been several times and do enjoy playing here. Playing twilight can be cheaper than playing a 9 hole course depending what day of the week you go. Staff is always friendly, as is the clientele. Course is walkable or can cart it. Bring a jacket or wind breaker for sure.... read more

I'm glad I don't live that close to this course because it's incredibly crowded. I hated having to wait on almost every single hole - maybe because a lot of high handicappers play here as well and they jam pack the tee times way too close. The course conditions are okay, typically muni conditions but with decent fairways. Be warned though at least in late summer when I played, there were a lot of geese and even more geese droppings all over the fairways. It's not the worst option but there are better out there. I don't condone animal violence so please don't harm geese, but perhaps if the tee times got stretched out more, I would come back. read more

pretty short (5600 from gold tees, second longest) and a bit cramped but with some interesting holes that require placement shots off the tee. I saw recent complaints about the bunkers, but I was in quite a few and thought they were in good condition and played true. some strong wind occasionally, but my playing partners, who are regulars here, said the wind was unusually light course was very crowded. we played on a friday and had to wait on almost every hole. the interval should be longer. 4.5 hours at this length is at least 30 minutes too long. weekends must be brutal water in play on a few holes. greens were in great shape, fairways and tee boxes pretty good. it could be a little cheaper considering how crowded and short it is. the bar/restaurant (reviewed separately) is a notch above for a public course and helps make this place a good choice, especially if you're planning on hanging out after the round read more

I have never played this course, but from the reviews complaining about pace, I figured this would be a good course to try and play with some buddies who were new to the game. We had 2 tee times for 7 people on a Saturday morning. From the outset, things were a disaster. First, the starter yells at our second group for pace off the first tee. The problem, however, was that our pace was slowed by the group before us (and theirs was probably slowed by the group in front of them). So we got yelled at for pace after being delayed by about 4 minutes off the first tee before we could even hit through no fault of our own. Then, throughout the round, we had marshals again continue to hound us for pace. This is despite me working to keep my 2 groups on pace the whole time, even going as far as making some of them pick up if a hole was taking too long. It feels like they identified that we had some bad golfers, so any pace issues on the course were automatically our fault. I do want to be fair and say that we weren't blameless--there were multiple mistakes on our part and quite a few blowup holes on account of this being a few of the guys' first times on course. So we finished in 4:14 (my golf GPS times it), but based on the stress and attention our group received, you would have thought we were playing above a 5 hour pace. Now with all of that, you may think this is a well-run course with good conditions. Not so! This course had by far the worst fairways I have ever seen, and the greens weren't much better either (though to be fair, the greens looked to still be recovering from fall aeration, so hard to judge their normal condition). I am also not a fan of the cramped layout where it's easy for an errant shot to end up in another fairway since many of the holes are generally parallel to one another. Anyway, sorry we sucked, but furthermore, I am also sorry this course sucks. I'd rather pay $75 per person to play a nicer course that's worth all the trouble we had playing here. I've had great luck playing some of the cheaper courses in the Monterey area around this price point, and they sure as hell are more laid back than this one was. I leave you with a quote from my buddy who was playing for the first time: "I thought golf would be a leisurely sport, but that was stressful." read more

Updated: I've played here a few times and I have to say that I love this course. Fairways are wide, the course is well maintained, greens can be a little bit tricky but that's what makes it fun and also challenging. The pace of play is pretty good, I never found myself waiting for the group in front of me. I've always been lucky to be paired with cool people. Not a fan of the hot dog at the turn tho. Also, please fix your phones. I still cant reach the pro shop whenever I call in. read more

Poplar Creek Golf Course - Golf Near Me - San Mateo, California

See all

It's a muni course but over all is pretty decent. The prices are great for what it is and it is super walkable. The staff has also always been great in my times attending. The bar/restaurant also is a great spot to hang out with buddies and watch sports. The negatives - if you want to ride carts almost double the price for a twilight round which in my opinion is dumb. The range also is terrible - the matts are low quality and the range balls are the worst in the Bay Area. read more

On 11/1/24, around 4 PM, I called to inquire about the twilight fee because the daylight savings time ends on 11/3 The recording says if you want to talk to someone at the pro shop press zero. So I pressed 0. It rang for three or four times and then it goes back to beginning of the recording something about. Thanks for calling Poplar creek blah blah blah. Press zero again it rang for another three or four times and then goes back to the beginning of recording. this happened four times. I gave up and called the Harding Park golf course and made a reservation there. read more

We booked 2 tee times and called ahead to confirm if it would be okay to have 7 players and 6 spectators. The lady on the phone said that it should be no problem and that we didn't need to book any golf carts ahead of time to ensure that we had it for the round. We arrived to play and the supervisor told us that he can't let ANY spectators be there!! He also said that we're not allowed to have a party that big play and that he's not sure why the previous lady said that was okay. Insane. Supervisor was rude and obnoxious. We decided to cancel and have them issue us a refund of $500. They need to have better communication between the staff. Supervisor seemed like he was having a bad day and was not willing to accomodate or even explain why we couldn't have a big group play. It just seemed like he wanted us gone. What a terrible experience. read more

This is a beautiful course and golf range with great views. Definitely enjoyed it. Looking forward to visiting again soon. read more

See all

Terrible course management and pace of play. Dry fairways and awful bunkers. Stay away, spend your time and money elsewhere

Definitely not worth the price of admission. Some fairways are nice and others are a hot mess. Nothing better than hitting your second shot on a patch of dirt. Definitely not worth even $15 to play twilight. No flow to the next tee box after each hole. Would be helpful if there were signs pointing you in the right direction. Only bright spot is that my group played in about four hours, but the marshal kept watching over us when it was the group in front of us that was slowing play. read more

Another Friday post, another golf review! Although, in this case, it's mostly because I just didn't know what else to write about. Which is kind of shocking, given how my life of reviews to write is just overflowing with restaurants and eateries. One day, I'll catch up. Although, to be honest, I've been waiting for that day to come for a number of years now...whoops. In regards to the golf-related reviews on here (I can't comment on the wedding/private event/restaurant ones), it genuinely surprises me to see that so many people have had mediocre experiences here. I get that this isn't the most glamorous or challenging of courses, but I never thought of it being just "average" either. Even if we haven't played on a ton of other courses, I really don't see what's wrong with this place! As a whole, the facilities at Poplar are pretty solid. The pro shop is stocked with everything you might need, the carts are decently nice, and the course is well maintained (save for the assorted areas around the course they are doing repair work on). Even the biggest problem I would have noted had I written this right after my first trip here has been corrected, as they've added a driving range in the last few years (to go along with the putting green they already had). In terms of the course itself, I won't detail every hole, but it's definitely on the simpler and more basic end of the scale. In a way, it's kind of like a links course, as there isn't a lot of brush/boundaries in between holes and it's common to see people hitting off your fairway to get back onto theirs (and vice versa...ha!). Along those lines, it's also rather forgiving, as you get a lot of chances to recover your wayward shots. Unlike a links course though, there isn't much in the way of elevations or slopes, as it's very flat. In fact, the only real challenges come on the handful of holes with water hazards. Given how forgiving the play is here, along with how the course isn't super challenging (though the winds can kick up as the day goes on), Poplar is perfect for both beginners as well as more experienced players to practice/mess around on. Yet, despite the wide range of skill levels you're likely to see, the pace of place is actually pretty steady. Of the numerous times I've been here, only once were we bogged down behind a group and that's only because the four idiots ahead of us deemed it acceptable to hit multiple tee shots on every hole (FYI, it's not). Between all of those pros, their convenient location (right off 101), and relatively cheap rates (~$60 with cart on GolfNow), Poplar is a great spot to squeeze in a round, especially compared to its nearby competitors (like Shelter Creek...ugh). FOUR AND A HALF STARS rounded up. read more

Full disclosure I live very close to this course. That said, this course imo is the best deal on the Peninsula. The course itself is in decent shape considering how many rounds are played here. The greens are in general in good shape and plays a bit faster than most munis. Holes 2 (#1 rated hole), #3 and 18 are challenging holes, otherwise it's flat, easy to walk and playable course. I don't understand the hate with some of the reviewers, this is a municipal course, not a CC!! Muni courses averages 4.5-5 hours. WTF do you guys expect? You wants to finish here under 4 hours? Tee off before 8am. Go diss other courses, Poplar is a great option at a very affordable rate in the peninsula which is rare. This is a fun course to play and if you're a beginner, it is very forgiving. The guys in the shop are all cool and the food and service at the par 3 is awesome. Don't hate, appreciate!! You're playing golf, FFS! read more

Great bar amazing practice area good little course can be windy but an enjoyable experience

Great. Easily accessible and easy to play. Laid back. Just what a beginner needs. Looking forward to my next round.

Flat. Has some interesting holes and the greens are pretty nice. I just can't give this course any more than 3 stars. $80 with cart on the weekends is just too much for this course. Slow play....EVERY time I go there we have to wait. Maybe if they had a starter or spaced out the ttimes more. It is always so friggin slow! Did I mention flat? I'd rather play Sharp Park, or Crystal Springs... or pay $50 more and play Half Moon Bay! They need to lower their prices and spread out their ttimes....but I doubt either will happen. read more

Played here a bunch. Course is over priced and always too busy. The staff is terrible. The front desk lady is always so mean. You know it wouldn't kill you to be nice to your loyal customers. It's honestly sad because the course is nice but I dread going here just because I have to deal with the staff. read more

Made a reservation on 3/14/23 for 3/15/23 and made a payment through online. I arrive at the course and the course was closed because of electricity outage. They didn't give their customers of any notice that course was closed and the worst part is that they are refusing to give my money back because it is non-refundable purchase. read more

Course maintenance is awful and the pace of play is even worse. The only time I play there now is if it's my last option.