Southern California golf is like displaying as much as a celebration the place everybody’s insanely handsome and also you’re simply making an attempt to not spill your drink. In every single place you flip, the fairways are flawless, the greens are manicured to near-perfection, and the views – oh, the views – are jaw-dropping.
There’s historical past right here, positive, however principally there’s golf that makes you wish to shut your laptop computer eternally and e book a one-way ticket…like, yesterday. So, buckle up, these are the very best golf programs in Southern California, and when you play them, in every single place else would possibly really feel a bit, nicely, unusual.
Greatest Golf Programs in Southern California
1. Stadium Course at PGA WEST
La Quinta
Rated by Golf Digest as certainly one of “America’s 100 Biggest Public Programs,” the Stadium Course at PGA WEST is 7,300 yards of pure problem with the very best stroke and slope scores on the property. However don’t fear in the event you’re not a scratch golfer; 5 units of tees make it playable for everybody.
Pete Dye’s genius shines in every single place, from the dramatic bunkers to the pure spectator seating constructed proper into the panorama, making a stage for a few of golf’s most memorable moments. Recent off a 2024 restoration led by Dye collaborator Tim Liddy, the course feels reborn, with greens expanded, bunkers sharpened, and each floor refined.
2. Torrey Pines Golf Course
La Jolla
Clinging to the cliffs above the Pacific in La Jolla, Torrey Pines is indisputably the most effective golf programs in Southern California. As soon as a WWII coaching floor, now a temple of turf, it’s 36 holes of wind, sea, and swagger framed by the uncommon Torrey pine timber that develop solely right here.
The South Course is the showstopper, host of U.S. Opens and the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance coverage Open. It’s lengthy, unforgiving, and completely breathtaking. The North Course is its cooler sibling: a bit simpler to like and capped with ocean views that make you overlook your rating, good or unhealthy.
Gliders drift overhead, sea spray lingers within the air. It’s golf on nature’s phrases, and that’s precisely why it’s unforgettable.
3. The Riviera Nation Membership
Pacific Palisades
Non-public, glamorous, and dripping with historical past, few locations can go toe to toe with Riviera Nation Membership. It’s hosted extra A-listers on its fairways than some purple carpets, however its legacy runs far deeper than superstar sightings. This course was one of many first to really put Southern California golf on the map.
The course was designed in 1926 by George C. Thomas, one of many period’s most revolutionary architects. Regardless of Thomas’s personal doubts that the comparatively flat land may produce a championship-level course, Riviera shortly proved him mistaken. What seems as pure rolling terrain is, in reality, the results of Thomas’s masterful earth-moving, a feat of design and imaginative and prescient. As Ben Crenshaw put it, Riviera isn’t simply good golf – it’s one of many most interesting “made” programs in the USA.
4. Pelican Hill Golf Membership
Newport Coast
With 36 holes of Tom Fazio-designed golf, Pelican Hill Golf Membership winds gracefully by the cliffs and canyons of Newport Coast. Each tee and fairway feels deliberate, formed to observe the land’s pure contours whereas framing sweeping views of the Pacific. It’s golf that blends structure and artistry in equal measure.
The Ocean North course affords broad fairways and panoramic ocean vistas that invite you to take your time and benefit from the setting. Ocean South, in the meantime, is extra exacting – elevation shifts, narrower targets, and compelled carries that reward precision over energy. Collectively, they strike a uncommon steadiness between calm and problem, making Pelican Hill certainly one of Southern California’s most full golf experiences.
5. The Mountain Course at La Quinta Resort & Membership
La Quinta
The Mountain Course at La Quinta Resort & Membership affords among the finest resort golf within the Coachella Valley below the peaks of the Santa Rosa Mountains. A Pete Dye masterpiece, the course has all of it: strategic pot bunkers, rugged rock formations, elevated tees, and well-guarded greens. Each gap challenges your talent and technique whereas treating you to sweeping mountain views.
6. Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Membership
Carlsbad
Many resort programs fall in that “ok” bucket, someplace between well-conditioned and nice to play, however missing a design that basically makes you assume. Aviara Golf Membership is…not that. Perched on the sting of Batiquitos Lagoon, one of many few remaining tidal wetlands on the SoCal coast, it’s breathtaking in a means that just about distracts you from the golf itself. However don’t get too snug staring on the water, as a result of this course doesn’t simply sit fairly. Water hazards are in every single place, intentionally positioned to check your nerve and your shot-making. Pack a ball retriever. Pack an additional sleeve. You’ll want them.
7. Monarch Seaside Golf Hyperlinks
Dana Level
Robert Trent Jones Jr. has designed loads of programs that make you’re employed for it, however few as straightforward on the eyes as Monarch Seaside. Set atop the bluffs in Dana Level, it’s the type of place the place you would possibly spend as a lot time staring on the Pacific as you do lining up your subsequent shot. The par-70 format winds by coastal terrain, the place you’ll hit pictures over canyons, play alongside surf breaks, and battle a prevailing ocean breeze. It’s equal elements postcard and proving floor.
8. The Traditional Membership
Palm Desert
Designed by golf legend Arnold Palmer, The Traditional Membership is certainly one of Southern California’s true gems. From 2006 to 2008, it co-hosted the Bob Hope Chrysler Traditional and has since welcomed a wide range of skilled and aggressive occasions. Although it’s typically labeled a desert-style format, don’t let that idiot you – over thirty acres of water hazards weave by greater than half the holes, preserving even seasoned golfers on their toes. Locals supply a number of sage ideas: keep cautious across the water, don’t be fooled by the putts (they break lower than they seem), and count on the course to play 200–300 yards longer than the cardboard suggests.
9. Rustic Canyon Golf Course
Moorpark
Aptly named, Rustic Canyon Golf Course, hidden in SoCal’s canyon hills, affords a very one-of-a-kind expertise. Constructed with out blueprints or inflexible plans, Hanse Golf Design let the panorama paved the way, crafting massive, contoured greens and bunkers that really feel as in the event that they’ve at all times belonged within the native barrancas.
As you wander down the vast, open fairways, you possibly can’t assist however really feel a connection to the untamed magnificence round you: sagebrush swaying within the breeze, cactus dotting the rugged panorama, and fescue-lined bunkers that body every gap like a pure murals.
10. Firecliff at Desert Willow
Palm Desert
There are greater than 100 bunkers on the Firecliff Course at Desert Willow, giving a complete new which means to a seashore day in Southern California. And whilst you may not anticipate finding a lot water within the desert, Firecliff serves up its justifiable share of that, too. The course earns excessive marks for its considerate design – a diverse mixture of gap shapes and routings paired with undulating greens that can take a look at each your wedges and your flatstick.
11. North Course at The Los Angeles Nation Membership
Los Angeles
Simply west of Beverly Hills and mere minutes from the enduring Sundown Boulevard, The Los Angeles Nation Membership sits on 320 acres of prime actual property, with an estimated land worth of over $8 billion. Its location locations it among the many most unique addresses on the earth, surrounded by luxurious estates and the colourful vitality of Los Angeles.
As for the course, LACC is pure parkland perfection – a showcase of greater than a century of considerate design evolution. From its 1911 origins to George C. Thomas Jr. and William Bell’s impressed routing, and most lately, Gil Hanse’s meticulous restoration, each inch of this format displays a deep respect for each technique and setting. The terrain ripples with character – hills, ridges, swales, and valleys – and it’s each bit as dramatic as town round it.
Between the cliffside tee packing containers, the desert sunsets, and the greens that roll like glass, Southern California golf is aware of learn how to make an entrance. So must you. Skip the bags traces and the “will-my-clubs-make-it?” nervousness – ship them forward with ShipSticks. You’ll land relaxed, refreshed, and able to take pleasure in the very best golf programs in Southern California.
