“. . . an important book for those seeking great new golf experiences in Northern California . . . offers excellent insight on which courses are either the best in quality, or the best in value . . . what better way to find an outlet for the joy of the game than using (Dawson’s) advice to find new places to play.”

Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

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About the author:

A native Californian . . . Pioneers and staunch golfing stock made 4th generation, Doug Dawson naturally seek new challenges from the game of golf. Starting at the age of 10, learning from Bob Stevens, one of Stanford University's legendary golf coaches, Mr. Dawson has enjoyed golf for over 50 years.

A competitive player . . . Dawson, a member of the Princeton University's freshman golf team and later the U.S. Coast Guard Golf Team in 1970, played at Menlo Country Club in Woodside for 63 years, even managing to win two Father-Son Tournaments and a Club Championship. Now a member of Spyglass Hill Golf Links on the Monterey Peninsula, Mr. Dawson delights in inviting low handicap guests to this difficult course and seeing them "blow their games to smithereens."

Always integrating golf into his life . . . Mr. Dawson, an engineer by training, spent the first 35 years of his professional life in the paperboard package printing business. Giving five years to corporate bosses, and the next 30 years selling for and managing folding carton plants in Santa Clara, CA, he often found ways to incorporate golf with business. This included many trips around the U.S., the British Isles and Southeast Asia. He has played at over two-dozen golf venues in 10 foreign countries, plus several hundred courses in the States.

Retired and still perfecting his game . . . Doug Dawson hits the ball about 200-220 yards from the tee, but relies on his short game (chipping and putting) to achieve good scores

. . . scores that are growing higher as time progresses. One of his goals is to shoot his age younger than his father did at age 81. Achieving this on a top course from the blue tees is problematic, but he did shoot a 61 on a par 63 course (Oakmont East in Santa Rosa) while researching the Best 100. This feat, scoring just below the course rating, may have to suffice as the pinnacle of his golf resume.