Course Guides
The best public golf courses in San Diego
As a native San Diegan, I’ll admit to my bias upfront. I happen to think San Diego is the most livable city in the country, maybe the world—even if we pay a handsome price for our famously fantastic weather. In my travels around the world, when I mention my hometown, there are two predictable responses—“I love San Diego!” or “I’ve heard great things about it!”
There are plenty of reasons for that, beyond craft beers and fish tacos, and those include several dozen public golf courses that are mostly reasonably priced and well-conditioned. Indeed, it’s always surprised me a bit that San Diego doesn’t get mentioned more often as a specific golf destination alongside communities like Scottsdale, Ariz., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., where either heat or humidity make them all but unplayable for months of the year. San Diego is inviting for golf about 350 days a year, with most of the rounds played in shorts and short sleeves. Meantime, forget about trying to play much public golf in L.A., because it’s either munys or privates there, and nothing much between. Orange County? Sure, if you want to spend a car payment to play a round.
Anyway, that’s my rant, but in getting back to San Diego golf, I wouldn’t say there are a lot of truly great courses in the area, but plenty of good ones that can easily fill a vacation or business visit.
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San Diego is rightfully known for the Torrey Pines South and North courses that have hosted two U.S. Opens and the PGA Tour since 1969. (The South was ranked No. 35 in Golf Digest's most recent 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses.) For a certain generation, the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, which held tour events for decades, is recognizable, but it has only recently returned to the national spotlight with a Gil Hanse renovation that will allow it to host the NCAA Division I Golf Championships.
There is so much quality golf beyond those venues. When someone asks me about where to play, my first response is not Torrey Pines, but the municipal Coronado Golf Course. Coronado is a semi-island across a bridge from downtown and its golf course is quintessential San Diego, with a view of the skyline, San Diego Bay, historic Hotel Del Coronado, and a yacht club. And the green fees are relatively reasonable—under $100—whether you’re from Dallas or Tokyo. (This was President Bill Clinton’s San Diego course of choice when he was in office; President Barack Obama preferred Torrey Pines.)
As noted in the listings below, the beauty of San Diego golf is the variety, from courses with seaside views such as Torrey Pines, Encinitas Ranch and Aviara, to Balboa Park near downtown and the zoo, to the eastern hillsides, with gems like the 36-hole Singing Hills Golf Resort by Sycuan and the spectacular, rock-strewn Mt. Woodson. Further east but still in San Diego County, in the Anza Borrego desert, is the fantastic Rams Hill Golf Club—the only course in the region besides Torrey South to be on Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Public Courses in America. You want to play a public course frequently by San Diego's numerous tour pros? It's the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, where the regulars include Phil Mickelson, Xander Schauffele and Charley Hoffman.
A further benefit: All of these just listed, other than Rams Hill, are no more than about 30-40 minutes from San Diego’s airport. Truly, it’s unlikely to find more variety of land, sea, mountains and desert in such proximity anywhere in North America.
Before we get to the list, a word on Torrey Pines. It is extremely hard to get on either course without an advance reservation, so it’s best to plan months in advance—though if you’re going out as a single, walk-ups are a viable and encouraged option. As for the courses—the South is an absolute beast and lives up to its major championship pedigree in difficulty. If you’re OK getting pummeled by a golf course and loving it, go for it. But if you want an enjoyable round with just as much incredible scenery, choose the North. The late Tom Weiskopf did a wonderful job making the course—still played for two rounds during the Farmers—more interesting and playable. From the correct set of tees, you’ll truly have a blast for much less dough than the South.
With that, our choices for the best courses in San Diego:
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Ranked among Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Public Courses in America, this golf development within Anza Borrego Desert State Park, on the western edge of the Sonoran Desert about an hour from La Quinta, Calif., was revived by San Diego ownership in the mid-2000s with an entirely new course built by Tom Fazio. Some of Fazio’s spacious holes are molded into the desert earth and others ride the up and down rocky elevations, leading to a finish that includes the short par-4 17th and gambler’s par-5 18th that streaks uphill around a water feature.
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Coronado Golf Course is arguably one of the best municipal courses in the country, with reasonable green fees and spectacular views of the San Diego downtown skyle and historic Hotel Del Coronado. The layout, featuring wall-to-wall kikuyu grass, is straight-forward and the conditioning is always top notch.
Aviara, part of an upscale Hyatt resort, hosted the LPGA's annual tournament for a decade. The only Arnold Palmer design in the area, this resort course meanders through rolling hillsides and is landscaped with native Southern California wildflowers. In the spring, it is arguably San Diego's most beautiful course that's not directly on the water.
There are 36 holes at Singing Hills, located about 20 miles east of San Diego. Willow Glen has hosted two U.S. Junior Amateurs, first in 1973 and again in 1989, when David Duval defeated Austin Maki in the finals. Both courses offer beautiful views of the surrounding hills and feature narrow fairways often guarded by Sweetwater River, which comes into play on many holes.
Mt. Woodson features one of the most spectacular golf settings in San Diego. It sits in hills covered with large boulders and is a short, target course with a number of forced carries and greens on the edge of cliffs. if that sounds challenging, it is, but there are no tricks here, just a lot of fun views and shots to play. Woodson also features its own wooden bridge that runs for a couple of hundred yards and is, alone, worth the price of the green fee.
Even if you're playing the Fairmont Grand Del Mar for the first time, you may recognize some holes. It has been the site of numerous TV and magazine commercial shoots with the likes of Phil Mickelson and Xander Schauffele, who play regularly here. The Tom Fazio layout sits east of the seaside town of Del Mar, in the rolling hills, and it challenges with tight fairways and rolling greens.
North of San Diego in the coastal community of Carlsbad, La Costa hosted 37 PGA Tour events through the mid-2000s. The Nouth Course (previously knowns as the Champions Course) was renovated in 2011 by Steve Pate and Damian Pascuzzo, but it got a much larger redo in 2023 by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner so that Omni La Costa could host the NCAA Division I Golf Championships. Hanse/Wagner added many of their signature features, including native areas, barranca and falloff areas around thre greens. With six sets of tees, there are plenty of options for the public to take on an exciting new design. With the North Course completed, Omni now has its sights set on a renovation of the South in the next few years.
From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten: Overall, Encinitas Ranch has an appealing landscape that promises playability and delivers a decent score. Perhaps its most distinctive feature involves its graceful fairway bunkers. All are set in mounds and are raised slightly above the level of the fairways. ... Encinitas Ranch is not a perfect course. It definitely favors a cart and is not an easy walk.
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