Chardonnay Golf Club — Attraction in American Canyon

Played Chardonnay for the first time this last Sunday and it was truly terrible. Very disappointing because I had heard good things about it, the layout is interesting, and the setting is nice, but almost everything was bad from the time we checked in and I will probably never play it again unless someone I know tells me it has seriously improved.

We checked in for our round at about 8 and was told that they didn’t have any range balls to sell. No range balls available for the morning rounds at all. Rolled some putts while the range picker went around and ended up being able to get a small bucket about 10 minutes before we teed off.

The course is dry, and not in a fun “firm and fast” kind of way, just a “what is going on out here” kind of way. Greens were in (mostly) decent shape with only minor rough spots but the fairways, rough, tee boxes, and especially the bunkers were miserable. The fairways were pretty spotty so with a good drive you had about a 30% chance of finding a nice lie but it was just as likely to find a shaggy spot or just dirt. About half of the bunkers were dried out and hard as an absolute rock and the other half had standing water in them. None of them looked like they had seen a rake in years. Hole 8 is a par 3 and the front bunker, directly in front of this Sunday’s pin, literally had plants growing in it. That was about the time the course conditioning became comically bad to me, but even that wasn’t enough to make hitting off of straight up dirt in some of the tee boxes enjoyable.

At the turn I asked about 5 different ways if the sit down breakfast menu they had out & the candy bars sitting on the counter were the only food they had and ended up just getting a beer and a Gatorade. When my friend walked in behind me the guy at the counter finally revealed the did also have “hot dogs and stuff.” To his credit I did not ever directly ask for “hot dogs and stuff,” but I thought “do you have any other than this” mostly covered those bases.

Overall I am borderline offended that this course is charging almost $75 to walk and almost $100 if you want to ride because it is really, really trashed. Played Eagle Vines a couple weeks ago too and I’d go back to Eagle Vines 11 times out of 10 before returning to Chardonnay, even though I had been lead to believe it was the “nicer” of the two courses. I have already asked the person who told me that if he wants to grab a beer this week, at which point I will be physically assaulting him for lying to my face in such a bold manner, which really hurts because he’s normally a very nice guy.

In the interest of saying something nice, the beverage cart was run by a nice woman and the pace of play was pretty bad. Might be able to chalk up pace of play to others being better informed about present course conditions than myself but I don’t have anything to take away from the cart woman.

Save your money and play somewhere else until they put some energy into this course because right now it is a stunning example of a nice piece of property being mismanaged into the...

I’ve been playing Chardonnay (and neighboring Eagle Vines) for years, off and on, because I live about a half hour away. Last time I came to play we had to stop after playing 9 because they had the worse post-aeration conditions I’ve ever seen… the greens were like putting in bunkers they had so much sand on them. And the prices weren’t adjusted for the conditions, which were essentially unplayable. Flash forward to August 2025 and we just gave it another try. Arrived and paid $92 for our green fee only to hear they messed up with their scheduling and packed several additional groups into the morning tee sheet. So it was going to be a long day, and starting 15 mins late to boot. Fortunately we had a great cocktail at the bar and the weather was perfect, so we shrugged it off. Great views as always, so we tried to stay positive. Flash forward to hole 7 and still haven’t even seen a beverage cart after being on course for 2.5+ hours. Tee boxes were dry, uneven and well used. Fairways were decent. Greens looked okay but not all were rolling true. Bunkers were absolute garbage - most were hard pan dirt and others had areas of mud; completely unplayable. Driving through the course was an experience, as there were plenty of areas dried out and uneven with cracks in the dirt, not to mention the carts weren’t in great shape… plan for the added cost of a chiropractor visit after playing here if you take a cart. Maintenance doesn’t seem like a big priority overall. We saw no greenskeepers. A tree had fallen across a cart path and they just put cones up and left it there to dry out. But I digress. We finally encountered the beverage cart on 9, and were told that would be our only visit because they were going home. Grabbed 3 hot dogs and a bottle of water at the turn, for $39. Played the back 9 and finished the round after 5.5-6 hours. Disappointing to see what’s happened to what was once a destination Napa valley (ok, American Canyon) golf course. Whoever is managing this place must be pocketing all the profits because they’re definitely not staffing it properly or taking care of it. I won’t be back unless some major changes occur… lots of better golf experiences to be had in the greater Bay Area for less money and less wasted time. Fingers crossed they get their stuff together and bring back what was once...

Incredible scenery, excellent conditions from tee to green, great deal on Golf Now app...all made for a great afternoon. Be prepared for all aspects of your game to be challenged!

Tee boxes, fairways, greens, sand traps...all in excellent condition. While it's a par 72, it has 6 par 5's, 6 par 4's and 6 par 3's - I love it! I'm all for variation, and you get it at Chardonnay. The course winds through vineyards and has multiple elevated tees, which give you incredible, panoramic views. Take several deep breaths, enjoy the view - even on a day when I wasn't at my best I thoroughly enjoyed this course and definitely want another shot at it!

Here are the challenges: Greens: At least 14 of the 18 greens can be considered very narrow, so while distance control issues will be slightly tolerated, left/right misses will not! Most have several tiers, so the threat of a 3 putt is constant if you don't hit the right level. But they are fair, smooth and quick...just very challenging. Fairways: they are rarely straight, and certainly not wide, so they demand accuracy. So even though the holes aren't really long, meandering fairways present a whole different challenge. On par 5's the fairways narrow significantly as you approach the greens, forcing you to be extremely accurate with a fairway wood or lay up with a mid iron. Experience on this course to know the best spots to land and the trouble you can't see from the tee would be very valuable. Distance: Choose your tee level carefully. Yardage is one thing, but narrow distance is another. 18 is certainly a reachable par 5, but most of the others are not for us mortals but very playable with 3 decent shots. Most courses have one ore two short par 3's to boost your confidence...not here. They aren't super long, but they are anything but simple. Par 4's that are 380-410 yards might not seem too long, but when the landing area isn't straight, and the greens are narrow, those holes just got a LOT tougher.

I didn't see a marshall all day, but we played in 4.5 hours so pace wasn't an issue. Have a great time, enjoy...