A golf vacation to Southern California in the spring normally yields moderate temperatures, little rain (most years) and an almost mind-boggling number of quality golf courses to choose from. And that’s just counting the public and resort courses.  There are an equal number of great private clubs to play, but unless you know a member or find a charity tournament that has secured one of these exclusive golf courses for the day, then you are pretty much limited to those designated for public play.

Two of our favorites that are located south of the Los Angeles area in Orange County and San Diego cater to visitors and yet have a top-level ambiance and private feel to them that make you feel like you are at your own home club.

The Resort at Pelican Hill in the Newport Coast and the Grand Golf Club at the Grand Del Mar Resort in North San Diego are two “must-play” courses during a visit to the Southern California region.  Both offer first-class resort accommodations, great golf layouts, top line service complete with country-club locker room and dining facilities and an excellent staff of forecaddies for each group to guide you and help you get to know the course.

Pelican Hill, which was developed by the Irvine Company and features two championship 18-hole courses that meander along the Pacific Ocean, was built in the early 1990s before being closed in the mid-2000’s, remodeled and then reopened in the fall of 2007.  The courses now are capped-off with a spectacular 44,000-square foot club house with separate men’s and women’s locker rooms and lounges with a full array of appointments and amenities: acclaimed Pelican Grill restaurant and its popular bar; Caffé II, an Italian coffee bar; and a world-class golf shop offering the latest golf fashions and accessories.

The clubhouse is impressive with its dramatic combination of comfortable, elegant California style and the large, arched Palladian-style windows that open up to magnificent coastal panoramas. Dining al fresco on the terrace with its spectacular ocean and golf course views and hidden heaters and sunscreens for year-round comfort is the quintessential California dining experience.

The full-service practice facility is one of the better that you will find—located just outside the pro shop and including target greens, sand bunkers, approaches, roughs and fairway turf – designed to give players an advance glimpse of the design elements of the two Tom Fazio courses.

Of the two courses, the Ocean South provides the most spectacular ocean views that rival anything in the state and a golf experience to match. Stretching to only 6,580 yards from the back tees and a slope of 134, the Ocean Course is plenty challenging from there or the Blue Tees at 6,323 yards because of the ample bunkering and tour-like green speed that can bring even good putters to their knees.  Reading the subtle breaks—and the help of the forecaddies here is critical—is the key to scoring since the fairways are pretty manageable on most holes.

On the Par 3 fourth hole you can see a house that Tiger Woods has built on the bluff above the green and the Par 3 seventh hole is so spectacular that you feel that you can simply reach out and touch the Pacific Ocean. The 18th is a 453-yard Par 4 with an uphill approach that can ruin a round if you are not careful. Keep it right on that hole and forego the temptation to take on the dog-leg left unless you are capable of an extremely long drive.

Both the Ocean South and its sister the Ocean North course are great experiences and were named to Golf Magazine’s Top 20 Courses in California.

The Bungalows and Villas at the Resort were added in 2008 as part of the remodeling of this outstanding facility, and offer exquisite luxury accommodations with breathtaking ocean views.

About an hour or so further south, the Grand Golf Club is located east of the I-5 in Del Mar just minutes from the pristine beaches, restaurants and boutiques of this quaint area north of San Diego. One of the newest resorts in the area is The Grand Del Mar, which is adjoining the golf club that is another Fazio design dating back a decade, but like Pelican Hill has been redesigned and made over into one of the finer public access courses in the area.

This is a shot maker’s course, especially from the Black and the Grand Tees. The spectacular fairways that wind throughout the scenic valleys of the beautiful Peñasquitos Canyon Reserve deftly captures the essence of Southern California’s coastal beauty with its varying elevation, diversity of its bunkering, and impeccable manicured fairways and greens.

You will find a lot of uphill carries on this course until the back nine and the greens are fairly quick.  You will want to get advice from your forecaddie in reading these, along with how to play some of the holes that are rather tricky the first time through.

The club has added a new set of tees that measure 4,824 yards that enable one to play a much easier course, but the back tees at 7,160 yards and a slope rating of 139 should be reserved for those that can handle a good challenge.  The Black Tees at 6,688 yards will do for most players and still comes in at a slope of 135, while the White tees at 6,043 yards also get a lot of play.

A luxurious, Mediterranean feel prevails in the 55,000-square-foot clubhouse that features a member’s locker room and Addison, the resort’s signature restaurant. In a unique twist, this resort also has 90 private members who share the course and amenities with resort guests and daily fee golfers.      

Both Pelican Hill and the Grand Golf Club are two very unique resorts—built and operated to private club standards—that should be on any itinerary when visiting the Southern California Coast to play golf.  For more information, visit:

www.PelicanHill.com     and  www.TheGrandDelMar.com