Bishop Country Club – Golf Guide
Intro
The Bishop Country Club is located in one of the most beautiful settings in California – the Eastern Sierra. The fairways are picturesque, the views are uninterrupted, and the scenery is spectacular. Set in the broad expanse of the Owens Valley with the snow capped Sierra Nevada to the west and White & Inyo Mountains to the east, the Bishop Country Club is open to the public and enjoyed throughout the year – weather permitting.
This championship, 18-hole, public golf course was designed by Joe Williams and built in 1963. It is a Par 71 course with 36 on the front and 35 on the back. The course features 6,595 yards of golf from the longest tees and has a slope rating of 130 on Rye grass. Take a look at the specific ratings here.
What Makes It Great
This course is regarded by players as one of the most gorgeous, lush, and scenic golf courses around. It is surrounded by large tracts of open land with breathtaking views of the mountains to the east and west. Mature cottonwood trees dot the emerald green grounds of the course and provide lush green foliage in summer and a brilliant display of yellow, orange and gold during fall. In addition to the picturesque fairways, with water on all but two holes, the facility has practice bunkers, lighted driving range, chipping area and beautiful putting greens. The Pro Shop has all you might need for a round of golf, from full sets for rent to additional gear for purchase. It’s a super shop for great golfing gifts. A full service restaurant and bar is open to the public from 7:30am to 3pm, serving breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks, and the venue has one of the most lovely outdoor patio dining spots in the Owens Valley.
Who Is Going to Love It
The Bishop Country Club course is well suited to both beginners and experienced golfers alike. It’s a wonderful course to test out some new skills or put your already good skills to the test. Whether you’re a scratch golfer or just getting into the swing of it, PGA Pro, Steve Shibley, can help you with your game and fine-tune your swing. The club has regular tournaments for adults and juniors and is a great course for golfing with the whole family. Green fees are very reasonable and golf membership is a great option to discuss with the club manager. Bishop Country Club is a member of both the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) and the Northern California Golf Association.
Best Season
Spring and fall are arguably the best seasons to play at Bishop Country Club when the days are long and daytime temperatures are generally mild to warm. However, both these times of the year can be somewhat unpredictable and that means you can expect almost any kind of weather from hot and sunny to cold and windy, perhaps some snow or a little rain, and sometimes all of it in the same day.
Summer is almost always hot, dry and sunny. It’s during this season the course offer of ‘super twilight = last 3 hours’ is a marvelous option for stunningly beautiful play. The Eastern Sierra is well known for its magnificent sunsets and sundown on this course is definitely a unique experience.
Most winter days are bright, clear and crisp and a round of golf on this 18-hole championship course is an experience not to be missed. Winter weather can sometimes even be balmy.
Directions. Parking. Regulations.
Bishop Country Club is situated on US Highway 395 just 1.8 miles south of downtown Bishop in the heart of the Eastern Sierra. The beautiful grounds are obvious on the west side of the highway as you approach or leave Bishop and the entranceway is clearly signposted halfway along the grounds. Ample free parking is available at the entrance to the club building and restaurant.
This is a wonderfully casual club with an easygoing atmosphere. The regular rules and regs of golf apply and members and visitors are requested to conduct themselves with appropriate decorum. If you’d like to rent a golf cart you must have a valid driver’s license.
The city of Bishop has 21 great lodging facilities and loads of camping options nearby – one of which, Brown’s Town Campground, is adjacent to the club. The town also boasts a great variety of eateries and many other wonderful activities to do and sights to see.
Visit the Bishop Country Club website or call the club on (760) 873-5828 to book a tee time or find out more about current conditions, tournaments, or booking the venue for a special event.
For loads more information on the area pop into the Bishop Visitor Center at 690 N. Main St., or call (760) 873-8405, or go to our homepage www.bishopvisitor.com. We’ll help you plan what to do, where to go, and how to get a great deal out of your time spent in the Eastern Sierra.
Written by:
Gigi de Jong
Gigi is “crazy mad in love with Bishop.” Since moving here in 2006 she has made it her mission to participate in as many of the outdoor activities as possible. She learned to snowboard, improved upon her very average climbing skills, took long hikes, has driven up and down innumerable mountain roads and 4x4 tracks, cycled and occasionally tumbled down mountain bike trails, taken to the roads on a bicycle or motorcycle – sometimes for fun and sometimes to commute, and successfully completed her first attempt at a triathlon. She spent 10 months touring the western US and Canada on a bicycle and after 4,000 plus miles returned to Bishop – for the beauty of the place and the spirit of the community. “My soul belongs here,” she says.
