Depends on where you live.  I recommend you visit NCGA.org (Northern California Golf Association) and look at the course directory.  Northern California is littered with hundreds of courses.  I may be partial, but I can't think of a better plavce to live if you are an avid golfer.  If you have questions about any specific courses png me back.  You can also visit greenskeeper.org for reviews on public and resort courses (not private).

This guy knows whats up. There are so many options in the bay area and each course has its own character and style. I seriously travel all around this place depending on price, what kind of challenges I want, the temperature, etc. So many options, I don't think I even have a "home course". (FYI over 90 degrees is considered hot and under 70 degrees is considered cold around here, so try and contain your laughter.)

THIS is why I want to move to California 

hey man! Congrats!!

Ok, so are ready for some visitors later this year?

Congrats on the new job Tupac!!   Well I cannot give you any course advice, but I am jealous.  I live in the midwest and I am suffering as well.  But good luck with the new job and warmer weather!

Hopefully it will be warmer than when we played Barona! LOL

Congrats AJAR!  That's gotta feel a bit better than Jersey.  There's a little track called Harding Park that's fairly decent, and by fairly decent I mean freaking sweet.  I really enjoyed it the one time I got to play.  Once you get your Cali license it's very affordable.  If I lived in SF that's where I would play.

Not that this would be your home course, but not far is Half Moon Bay.  About an hour south is Pasatiempo ($$$$) or SeaScape in Aptos. SeaScape is a very fun affordable course.  And if you don't mind driving another 45 minutes south you'll find the best golf on the planet.  A brand new Poppy Hills, Spyglass, Spanish Bay and of course Pebble Beach.  Poppy is affordable if you have your NCGA membership or golf with a member.  The others?  Be prepared to throw down.  Like I said before, there are some nice courses north of San Fran and definetly some as you head into the Valley (Napa, Fairfield, Livermore)

Thanks guys!

Chris, mi casa su casa! And you too Josh.

Eddiemeister thanks for the informative post! I will certainly be driving round and look forward to the course exploring.

I'm so going to take you up on that offer.  San Francisco is one of my favorite cities.  Great food, friendly people, and of course cool architecture 

Harding is definitely your #1 choice for public course.  Especially if you are actually living in the city (SF).  Make sure to get your resident card ASAP!  The other main option in the city is the Presidio.  I actually love the course itself - it's a great design and really beautiful.  But it's generally the worst weather in the city (worse than Harding - SF has micro-climates so the weather really can be very different depending where you are), the range sucks, and the rounds are almost always very slow.  Outside of the city there are definitely some good options but you need to drive a bit.  I haven't been in a couple of years but Roddy Ranch is a good track with great greens.  Wente Vineyards is good.  And there's Poppy RIdge.  All of those are in the east bay.  I'm not very knowledgeable about courses on the peninsula or further south towards San Jose other than to say The Ranch sucks (although I have friends who don't mind it).  There are also some places in the north bay that are decent.  Stonetree is the one I've played the most.  I think all of those offer some sort of membership option in addition to being daily fee.  If you want to step down a little in terms of layout and conditions, check out Crystal Springs or Tilden Park.  Lastly, at some point you should hit up Lincoln Park and Sharp Park (both are public SF courses).  Lincoln is primarily famous now for its views.  Sharp is actually an Alister Mackenzie design that has been overly neglected and burdened by some environmentalist issues.  I still maintain that it could be rehabbed in to a world class course (like Harding) if none of the environmental and sort of political stuff came in to play.

Good luck with your move!

Harding Park, the presidio, and Olympic after you meet some members.  Otherwise there are a ton of nice courses in the South Bay, 27 holes at Cinnabar are my favorite and I've been here my entire life golfing over 30 years.

Congrats!!

Harding is always a good course, but I believe that the presidio golf course is a good course that suits many different kinds of shots.