Best golf courses in California.

Pebble Beach, CA

Pebble Beach Golf Links opened in 1919 on the Monterey Peninsula, routed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant, two California amateurs rather than professional architects. Their decision to push holes out to the edge of Carmel Bay is why the course is what it is. Holes 4 through 10 and the closing two run along the cliffs, with the par-3 seventh playing barely 100 yards downhill to a green ringed by ocean. The greens are among the smallest in championship golf, which matters more than the yardage. Wind off the bay changes clubs constantly, and the shared exposure means the same hole can play two or three different ways in one day. The par-5 18th bends left along the water for its full length. Pebble Beach has hosted the U.S. Open in 1972, 1982, 1992, 2000, 2010 and 2019, the 1977 PGA Championship, the U.S. Amateur in 1929, 1961 and 2018, and the 2023 U.S. Women's Open. It also hosts the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am every year, and is scheduled to hold the U.S. Open again in 2027.

Santa Cruz, CA

Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, California, opened in 1929 and is one of the few Alister MacKenzie courses in the country where non-members can get a tee time. It was founded by Marion Hollins, the 1921 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, who also brought MacKenzie to Cypress Point. MacKenzie liked the course enough to build a house alongside the sixth fairway and lived there until his death in 1934, and he called it his finest design. A barranca cuts through the property and shapes much of the strategy, crossing several holes and forcing decisions from the tee. The greens are large and steeply contoured, and the back nine is generally considered the stronger half. The par-3 16th, playing across a deep ravine to a narrow green, is the most talked-about hole on the course. Jim Urbina led a long restoration effort returning bunkers and green edges to MacKenzie's drawings, with the greens rebuilt and the work completed in 2024. Pasatiempo hosts the Western Intercollegiate, one of the oldest college tournaments in the country. Pasatiempo is a semi-private club. Members have priority, but public tee times are released in advance and outside golfers can book online.

Pebble Beach, CA

Spyglass Hill Golf Course opened in 1966 on the Monterey Peninsula, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. Its character splits cleanly in two. The first five holes run through sand dunes near the shore with ocean views and exposed wind, and the remaining 13 climb into the Del Monte Forest, tight and tree-lined with elevated greens. The dune holes are the ones golfers photograph, particularly the par-5 first, which drops toward the water, and the short par-3 third. The forest holes are where scores are lost: narrow corridors of Monterey pine and cypress, small greens and steep bunkering. It has long had a reputation as the hardest of the courses in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am rotation. Spyglass Hill is owned by the Pebble Beach Company and open to the public, with priority for resort guests. It has hosted the pro-am every year since 1967 and also serves as a qualifying venue for USGA championships.

La Jolla, CA

The South Course at Torrey Pines is a municipal course owned by the city of San Diego, sitting on cliffs above the Pacific in La Jolla. William F. Bell designed the original 18, which opened in 1957, and Rees Jones rebuilt and lengthened it in 2001 to prepare it for championship golf. The course runs along the bluff edge with canyons cutting inland, and the par-3 third and the par-5 18th, which plays to a green fronted by water, are the best-known holes. Coastal wind and thick kikuyu grass rough are the main difficulties, and the course stretches past 7,600 yards from the back tees, though everyday golfers play it considerably shorter. Torrey Pines South hosts the Farmers Insurance Open each January, and held the U.S. Open in 2008, won by Tiger Woods in a playoff, and again in 2021, won by Jon Rahm. San Diego residents pay a reduced rate, and anyone can book a tee time.

La Quinta, CA

The Stadium Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California, is a Pete Dye design that opened in 1986. It was built as a spectator course, with mounding and viewing areas shaped into the routing, and it was intentionally severe from the start. The bunkering is the defining feature, including deep, steep-faced traps and the greenside pit at the 16th. The par-3 17th, known as Alcatraz, plays to an island green surrounded by rock, and the 18th finishes with water down the entire left side. Tour professionals objected to the difficulty after early use, and the course was dropped from the desert PGA Tour rotation for years before returning. It now hosts rounds of the American Express and is open to resort play.

San Francisco, CA

TPC Harding Park is a San Francisco municipal course that opened in 1925, laid out by Willie Watson and Sam Whiting, the same pair behind the courses at nearby Olympic Club. It sits on the shore of Lake Merced in the southwest corner of the city. The golf is old-school parkland: tall cypress lining tight fairways, small greens, and coastal fog and wind that take distance out of the ball. The 18th plays along the lake edge to a green in front of the clubhouse. The course fell into poor condition before a major restoration completed in 2003. It hosted the 2009 Presidents Cup and the 2020 PGA Championship, won by Collin Morikawa, and remains open to public play at municipal rates for city residents.

Pebble Beach, CA

The Links at Spanish Bay opened in 1987 at Pebble Beach and was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. with Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum. The site had been a sand mining operation, and the project restored dune forms and native grasses across it before golf was routed through. The intent was a links-style course on the Monterey coast, with fescue turf, exposed dunes and holes running out along the shoreline. Ocean wind is the main defense, and the ball is meant to be played low and allowed to run into the greens. A bagpiper walks the property at sunset, which has become part of the routine there. Play is available to guests of the Pebble Beach resorts. The course closed after March 17, 2026 for a full redesign led by Gil Hanse and is scheduled to reopen on April 17, 2027 as a par 71. Note: Spanish Bay is closed for a full redesign by Gil Hanse and is scheduled to reopen on April 17, 2027. No tee times are available until then.

Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Pete Dye ocean-view drama on the Pacific bluffs: one of the most spectacular public courses in America.

Brooks, CA

Rees Jones masterpiece in the Capay Valley

Riverside, CA

Oak Quarry Golf Club sits in a former marble quarry in Riverside, California. Dr. Gil Morgan and Schmidt-Curley Design, led by Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley, laid out the course on the old Jensen Quarry site and opened it in 2000. The layout runs through sheer rock walls and large elevation changes left over from decades of mining. No homes border the course, so the quarry walls and open pits stay in view from tee to green. The par-3 14th plays from a high tee across a pond to a green framed by a quarry wall, and it is the hole most golfers remember. The course plays to 7,002 yards at par 72 from the back tees, with a slope of 137 and a rating of 73.9. Four sets of tees bring the yardage down for shorter hitters. Oak Quarry is a public, daily-fee course open to walk-up and advance-booked tee times.

Santa Barbara, CA

Spectacular ocean views on the Santa Barbara coast

Pebble Beach, CA

Poppy Hills Golf Course is located in the Del Monte Forest on California's Monterey Peninsula, near Pebble Beach, with views toward Monterey Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains. It sits among pine straw and native sandy areas typical of the forest setting. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and opened in 1986; it underwent a renovation completed in 2013 that adjusted several greens and lengthened the layout. It was built to use recycled irrigation water and to protect dwarf cypress trees on the property. Poppy Hills is public and owned by the Northern California Golf Association, making it one of the more accessible courses in the Pebble Beach area; it has been used as a rotation course for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in the past. Carts are permitted, and tee times can be booked directly through the NCGA-operated facility.

Carmel, CA

Quail Lodge Resort & Golf Club is a resort course in Carmel, California, set along the Carmel River in the Carmel Valley. The par-71 layout was designed by Robert Muir Graves and opened in 1964, then refined by architect Todd Eckenrode in 2015. From the back tees it plays 6,464 yards with a course rating of 71.3 and a slope of 128. The routing moves through mature oaks and willows with gently rolling terrain and river views. It is part of The Quail Lodge resort property and is open to resort guests and outside play.

Borrego Springs, CA

Rams Hill is a desert golf course in Borrego Springs, California, in the Anza-Borrego Desert near the Santa Rosa Mountains. Built in the early 1980s as a Ted Robinson design, the course was redesigned in 2007 by Tom Fazio, who reshaped the bunkering and routed holes up and back down a rocky ridgeline. The par-72 layout plays 7,232 yards from the tips with a slope rating of 141, and five sets of tees suit a range of skill levels. Elevation changes throughout the round open up views of the surrounding mountains and valley floor. The finishing hole is a par 5 that plays downhill to a lake-lined fairway before an uphill approach to a bunkered green.

Poway, CA

Maderas Golf Club sits in the rolling foothills of Poway, an inland San Diego County community northeast of downtown. Johnny Miller and Robert Muir Graves designed the course, which opened in 1999 and runs through native chaparral terrain with substantial elevation change from tee to green. Canyons and ridgelines separate the holes, producing a sequence of dramatic uphill and downhill shots rather than a flat resort layout. Bunkering and green complexes take their shape from the topography instead of manufactured hazards. At roughly 7,167 yards it rewards precise iron play into sloped, well-defended greens.

Lakeside, CA

Barona Creek Golf Club sits on the Barona Indian Reservation in Lakeside, about 30 minutes east of downtown San Diego. Gary Roger Baird designed the course, which opened in 2001 and runs through the rolling foothills and native canyon terrain of San Diego's backcountry. The layout settles into the existing grades with little heavy earthmoving, so holes are framed by scrub and native slopes rather than housing. Its inland, semi-arid setting produces firm, fast conditions that play very differently from the county's coastal courses. Running approaches and imaginative recoveries matter more here than aerial power.

Palm Desert, CA

Classic Club is a daily fee course in Palm Desert, California, in the Coachella Valley, designed by Arnold Palmer's design company and opened in 2006. The layout uses rolling, built-up terrain with elevated tees that give golfers views of the surrounding mountains, since the desert site had little natural contour before construction. More than 5,000 pine, olive and pepper trees along with roughly 30 acres of lakes and 14 stone bridges were added during building. The course played host to the PGA Tour's Bob Hope Classic from 2006 to 2008 and stretches to more than 7,300 yards from the back tees, with water affecting play on most holes. A large Tuscan-style clubhouse houses a restaurant and banquet space, and the course is managed by Troon Golf as a public, semi-private style operation with caddie service available.

Indian Wells, CA

The Celebrity Course at Indian Wells Golf Resort is an 18-hole, par-72 course in Indian Wells, California, owned by the City of Indian Wells. Clive Clark designed the course, which opened in November 2006. It plays 7,038 yards from the back tees with a course rating of 74.3 and a slope of 138. The layout is set against mountain views with rolling fairways, streams, and split-level lakes connected by waterfalls. The resort also includes the Players Course, designed by John Fought, and a lighted 18-hole putting course.

Palm Desert, CA

Firecliff is the tougher of the two courses at Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert, California. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry designed it with John Cook, and it opened in 1997. The layout plays through desert washes and native scrub rather than housing corridors, with wide fairways, sizeable waste areas and long views to the Santa Rosa Mountains. Its greens are large and heavily contoured, and the course is set up to stay firm. Desert Willow is owned by the City of Palm Desert and open to public play.

Ojai, CA

Ojai Valley Inn's golf course was built in 1923 on land developed by glass industrialist Edward Libbey, laid out by George C. Thomas Jr. with Billy Bell. Architect Jay Morrish renovated the greens and course in 1988. In 1999 the resort restored two original 1923 holes, lost after World War II, as the current 16th and 17th. The par-70 layout plays 6,292 yards from the blue tees with a course rating of 71.0 and a slope of 132, set among oak trees with views of the Topatopa Mountains. The course is open to resort guests and day guests.

Half Moon Bay, CA

The Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links, designed by Arthur Hills, opened in 1997 on the San Mateo County coastline south of San Francisco. It plays as a links-style layout with firm, wide fairways, native grasses, bunkers and undulating greens shaped by ocean winds and coastal fog. From the back tees it plays 6,854 yards to a par of 72, with a course rating of 72.5 and a slope of 132. The closing stretch runs along coastal cliffs, including a par-3 17th styled after Pebble Beach's 7th and a risk-reward par-5 18th along the Pacific.

La Quinta, CA

The Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West is an 18-hole, par-72 resort course in La Quinta, California. It measures 7,204 yards from the back tees, with a course rating of 75.3 and a slope of 143. The desert layout features two island greens, including the par-5 15th, nicknamed 'Long Island,' which plays 572 yards with a split fairway. Elevated, tabletop fairways and deep bunkering around the greens define the routing, set against desert brush and mountain views.

Dana Point, CA

Monarch Beach Golf Links sits on bluffs above the Pacific in Dana Point, one of the few oceanfront courses in Orange County. Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed the layout, which opened in 1983 as Salt Creek Golf Course, with the front nine built first and the back nine completed in 1985. A 2015 renovation added new tees and refreshed the bunkering. The course plays to a par of 70 and roughly 6,645 yards, with several holes running close enough to the bluff edge that the ocean shapes both the view and the shot. Wind off the water often matters more than length when choosing a club. The course is part of the adjacent resort property in Dana Point.

Last verified 2026-09-16

Newport Coast, CA

Ocean South occupies bluffs above the Pacific at Newport Coast, one of two Tom Fazio courses at Pelican Hill. It opened in 1991, ahead of its companion Ocean North, and closed for a substantial Fazio-led renovation between 2005 and 2007. The routing works downhill toward the water, with a stretch of holes playing along the coast and horizon views toward Catalina Island. As the shorter and more compact of the resort's two courses, it plays to a par of 70 and asks for accuracy and shot-shaping rather than length. Coastal exposure and steady elevation change give it a character clearly distinct from its sibling.