The best courses you can play in California

“Stunning views, top-notch history and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With that said, the course needs renovated. Green complexes need rejuvenated and serious love. I know they are slowly redoing greens, but they need a full scale effort.”

Written by

@notaburner105

• ❗️Must play
• |🏞️Views
• |✨Pristine

“Pasatiempo is one of those rare courses where the round ends and you realize you can recall all 18 holes without effort. There’s no filler anywhere. Every tee shot presents a decision, every approach punishes indifference, and every green demands full engagement.”

Written by

@KAbbassi

• ❗️Must play
• |🚶🏻Walkable
• |✨Pristine

“Wow. Still speechless over Spyglass in the very best way. It starts wide open. I was cruising along, loving the scenery, and thinking, “What’s so tough?” Then I turned back from the ocean and into the forest and things got very narrow. Can you hit the ball where you want?”

Written by

@playpure

• 🏞️Views
• |❗️Must play
• |✨Pristine

“after playing it several times, the novelty has worn off. its in nice condition, but not worth the price they charge. its ok if uou get it for the replay rate of 100.00, but the nicklaus course is nicer with more challenging holes.”

Written by

@ESP

• 😅Challenging
• |🏌️‍♂️Driving range
• |🟢Putting area

“A really beautiful Fazio course that doesn’t not get enough love because of where it is located. Middle of nowhere in the desert. The property was really barebones but that also meant it felt like we had the course to ourselves!”

Written by

@Dawgattheturn

• ✨Pristine
• |💎Hidden gem
• |👋Friendly

“If this local “muni” were anywhere else in the world, it would be talked about all the time. The problem is it’s surrounded by some of the best, well known courses in the world so it’s an afterthought for most. This is a really enjoyable course to play.”

Written by

@RLavernia

• 🏌️‍♂️Driving range
• |🟢Putting area
• |🍔Restaurant

“First off… US Open track so there’s history here. It’s a very solid track that makes you think about every single shot you take. The fairways are tight and lined with fairway bunkers throughout.”

Written by

@KAbbassi

• 🌊By water
• |🚶🏻Walkable
• |🏞️Views

“Layout was top notch with ocean scenery as the backdrop for most of the holes. Difficult track, even in the fairway it would frequently be an uphill/downhill lie. Greens were lightning fast. Played at twilight for $175 about a year ago - saw rounds going for $400+ now.”

Written by

@KirklandBomber

• 🏌️‍♂️Driving range
• |🏞️Views
• |🌊By water

“Beautiful setting and scenery, the holes that play into or along the hillside the clubhouse sits on tended to be the most memorable. Wish there was more land movement down in the valley, great sense of place though.”

Written by

@alpino

• ❗️Must play
• |😅Challenging

“Playing Spanish Bay was an awesome experience, and we got incredibly lucky with perfect weather for the round and the starter even told us it was the first time they had seen the sun in 3 weeks.”

Written by

@Flopfather

• 🏞️Views
• |🟢Putting area
• |🌊By water

“The bones of this course are great, well kept and well thought out and intentional design all the way through. Each hole provides a very difficult problem to solve to keep your scores low. Winding through the San Ynez mountains results in large elevation changes and some great views.”

Written by

@GIR

“I played here in the winter - probably a mistake given the main draw to the course is the landscaping. Solid resort track but would only go back in-season.”

Written by

@Jolfer

• 🏞️Views
• |🟢Putting area
• |✨Pristine

“Lands right in the middle of the “beautiful but bank breaking” and “underwhelming but budget friendly” tracks in the Palm Springs area. Was lucky enough to get perfect weather conditions, Palm Springs golf is at its best later winter/early spring.”

Written by

@GIR

• 🏞️Views
• |✨Pristine

“A really good public course in SoCal about an hour and fifteen from LA. The conditions were really really good and the pace was terrific, finishing an 18 in under 4 hours (unheard of for public golf in SoCal). While the front 9 is good, only a couple holes stand out.”

Written by

@KAbbassi

• ✨Pristine
• |💎Hidden gem
• |♟️Strategic

“It isn’t the south course, but it’s still golf on the ocean. That is as much as I can say about it. As a Minnesotan I played here in the winter so my view was skewed as I was just thankful to be playing golf, but this is a glorified muni.”

Written by

@Dawgattheturn

• 🏞️Views
• |🌊By water
• |🚶🏻Walkable

“Brilliant use of completely uninspiring land from Gil Hanse and Geoff Shackelford to create a minimalistic masterpiece. Rustic rewards the ground game through width and angles, firm and fast conditions, and extremely subtle contour.”

Written by

@shahbaz-hashmi

• ❗️Must play
• |🚶🏻Walkable
• |💎Hidden gem

“This felt like a really lazy design out of Pete Dye. Overall a fun play and the holes through the mountain are really gorgeous but I left a bit disappointed as I had higher expectations”

Written by

@Dawgattheturn

• 🏌️‍♂️Driving range
• |🏞️Views
• |💎Hidden gem

“Firm & fast. Nice views over the rolling East Bay hills. Definitely a new age/“woke” course with bounding hills to refocus shots hut wide of target (on the proper side).”

Written by

@hammerinhank

• ❗️Must play
• |💰Great value
• |🏞️Views

“A very manufactured space and typical desert golf. I would say for the price go play any of the PGA West courses over this though.”

Written by

@Dawgattheturn

• ✨Pristine
• |🏌️‍♂️Driving range
• |🏞️Views

“Good golf course, hard golf course. Good terrain movement elevated greens good conditioning. Only played it once need to go back”

Written by

@GRaleigh 77

“Very hilly take a cart good conditions tight driving areas between tall trees and elevated greens. One of my favorites in the area”

Written by

@GRaleigh 77

• 😅Challenging
• |🏞️Views