Tilden Park Golf Course

About Tilden Park Golf Course

Tilden sits up in the Berkeley Hills inside Tilden Regional Park, above the Cal campus, and the drive up gives you the Bay and the Oakland and San Francisco skylines before you've hit a ball. Once you're on the course it's all trees: rolling, tree-lined fairways, contoured, well-guarded greens and real elevation change. It's only 6,294 yards from the back tees, but the park district's own summary is that accuracy is needed, and that's the right way to think about it.

The hole people talk about is the 16th, a 206-yard par 3 from an elevated tee to an elevated green with a bunker on each side, and from the tee you can see the whole course. Carts are available, but the course says walking is popular.

William Park Bell Jr. designed it, and the East Bay Regional Park District built it in 1936-37 with Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps crews. It opened in 1937 and turned 85 in 2022. The SF Guardian's Best of the Bay named it the best golf course in Oakland and the East Bay in 2010, and it's a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. The course record is 62, held by Luke Wasson.

The practice setup is better than most munis: a lighted, covered and heated three-tier range with more than 60 stalls, two putting greens and a chipping area. The Overlook does food, beer and wine, with a patio over the course.

It's one of 71 courses Yoink watches in the San Francisco Bay Area area, and the closest alternative is Montclair Golf Course, about 5 miles away — handy when your first choice is booked solid.

Booking a tee time at Tilden Park Golf Course

Tee times open 7 days ahead online, by phone at (510) 848-7373 or in person. If you want to lock in further out, you can book 8 to 21 days ahead online for a non-refundable $10 a player, and Players Club members ($65 a month, two-month minimum) get an 8-day window. 2026 prices move with demand: $37 to $56 for 18 Monday to Thursday, $44 to $68 Fridays and $56 to $86 on weekends and holidays, with twilight from 2 p.m. and super twilight from 4 p.m. Cancel early if your group changes; no-shows and short-shows cost $25 a player.

How to get a tee time at Tilden Park Golf Course