Torrey Pines South - Trying to walk on with 7-8 guys?

[venand]

I have read through most of the Torrey posts from the last year and I need you guys to weigh in with your expert so cal opinion.

 

I am headed to San Diego for a bachelor party April 25th-28th. The groom has stated that he "will be playing the south course before he leaves southern California." We are planning to play Maderas Saturday the 26th as a group of 12 and we have our sights set on Torrey for Sunday.

 

One other detail. I called Torrey already and they are aerating 4/15-4/17 on the South course and 4/8-4/9 on the North Course. Will the locals be staying away due to conditions?

 

Here is where you guys come in. We know we could probably get a tee time with advance booking but with fees that is somewhere around $260 for the south course.

 

If we were to show up Sunday morning the 27th with 7-8 guys is there a chance we could get a twilight rate? Could we get a rack rate? What time would we need to be there in the AM? Any specifics I need to know about sitting in the parking lot and what to do? We are coming from Minnesota so we aren't very familiar with sitting in a parking lot to wait and play golf.

 

Thanks for your input.

[atouchoverrated]

Hopefully I can help. It's always busy regardless of conditions. That's mainly due to the fact that it's extremely affordable to anyone with a residence card and the influx of out of towners who show up and walk on just like yourself. If you get there bright and early your group will get out, just not together. The most likely situation I see happening is that your group get's broken up into groups of twos and you guys will all have to play with someone outside of your Bachelor party.

The parking lot situation may be a little bit different than you think. Unfortunately their speaker system doesn't really carry out there so you'll have to hang out around the club house and the putting green in order to hear your name. The lodge does have some outside seating right now next to the putting green which will be nice. You guys can put and grab some drinks and wait with everyone else.

Enjoy your time in this beautiful city!

[venand]

Thanks for the note. We are beyond excited to be visiting San Diego.
What would you consider bright and early? 4am? 6:30am? When do people usually start showing up on the weekend?

[sandiegonative]

There is ZERO chance you will get any "gentle men's" discount. The course is ran by city employees who must scan a resident's ID card before they charge you. Without it, you ring up at full price. The only discount you will be able to get is at the Cart Barn. Offer them CASH and you could save some money. With that said, the prices can be found here:
http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/golf/torreypines/reservations/fees.shtml

Twilight rates apply to twilight time, no ifs ands or buts. Like the previous poster said, the likelihood is slim that your group of 8-12 will be able to go out back to back to back regardless of the courses conditions.

I'm too cheap to play anything but twilight. I don't know how early you have to line up. There is a local group who have always gotten the first few tee time, known as the Dawn Patrol.

I would recommend grabbing the groom and two other guys who want to play the most. Getting one group on is more plausible then two or three groups. You guys are doing good with Maderas. You could always do another course like Barona or Crossing at Carlsbad.

GOOD LUCK.

[venand]

Thanks for the post. Anyone else have some local knowledge to add? How early should we get there to grab one of the first twilight tee times? 4? 5am?

[Clambake]

The only local knowledge I'll add is why are you guys leaving so much to chance just to avoid paying the $43 non-resident booking fee? Yeah, it turns a $230 round into a $270 round, but how often does your buddy get married? What is it worth to not be sitting in the parking lot at 4am and instead driving in at a reasonable time knowing you're going to play instead of speculating? It's hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime buddies event - shell out a few extra bucks and make it special instead of risking walking out of there bitterly disappointed because you couldn't get out or had to hang for 6 hours and then couldn't finish your round because of darkness.

[sharkiesj]

[quote name='Clambake' timestamp='1393219170' post='8732636']
The only local knowledge I'll add is why are you guys leaving so much to chance just to avoid paying the $43 non-resident booking fee? Yeah, it turns a $230 round into a $270 round, but how often does your buddy get married? What is it worth to not be sitting in the parking lot at 4am and instead driving in at a reasonable time knowing you're going to play instead of speculating? It's hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime buddies event - shell out a few extra bucks and make it special instead of risking walking out of there bitterly disappointed because you couldn't get out or had to hang for 6 hours and then couldn't finish your round because of darkness.
[/quote]

Nailed it. While reading the OP's post, I couldn't help but think, man, this guy is doing backflips and growing a 2nd beard just to avoid paying about 50 bucks??? You guys are coming an awful long ways to basically be at the mercy of pure and blind luck. Just pay it and sleep in peaceful bliss. Do you really seriously care if you pay 240 or 290? I"m a local and I even paid the advanced non-res. booking fee when I played it 3 months after the renovation. Is it really that big a deal?

[venand]

Clambake and Sharkie, you guys are right on. I can't disagree with almost all your comments. We have about 4 guys that want to play no matter what and 3 that really only want to play if we can play twilight. The 4 that want to play no matter what almost got an advanced tee time, but we found out that the course is getting punched the week before we are planning on being there. Personally I think $290 is too much to pay for a course that is recovering from spring maintanence. That was a key factor leading us to all try for twilight. We figured that we would all just show up that morning and see what happens. If we can't get twilight a few guys might go play the north course as that that will be in better shape.

What would you do? Play the north at rack rates or punched up south course at twilight with the possibility of not getting in 18?

[Clambake]

Personally, I'd go ahead and set up an advanced reservation on the South course with the earliest time you can get and snag the twilight rate. You'll get the whole group of guys together, save a little cash, and still get to experience a challenging course.

The North is an OK course and has several holes with great views, but most of the rest is kind of average - it's why Mickelson is doing a remodel on it. But why are you wanting to play Torrey? Is it to have some nice views on a few holes, or is it to play a US Open course? Is it to play a little golf near the ocean, or to experience the same shots faced by top pros at one of the most compelling majors in many years? Yeah, recently punched greens might be a bit of a letdown, but are you coming on this trip for an experience with your buddies or to try and put on a putting exhibition?

Here's another way to look at it. When you get home you'll tell other friends you went to San Diego to play Torrey. You can tell them about the lovely tee shot on the South's #3 par three, or flirting with the cliffs along #4, going for it in two on #13 just like Tiger, they'll go ooh and aah and say how lucky you were and how jealous they are. If you say you didn't play the South but played the North instead, they'll say "Oh, that's nice. Too bad you didn't play the South" and change the subject.

[venand]

So, I was lucky enough to catch a very helpful guy last Friday on the Torrey advanced tee time line. He laughed at me when I asked about twilight and basically said it would be very hard to even get a twilight slot as a single because San Diego residents could pre-book those times. He also told me that ONLY the first hour after sun up is held for walk ons. So, if we happened to show up early on the weekend and were say 10th in line. There is a chance would might not get out and would have got up at the butt crack of dawn for nothing. He also explained the difference in trying to getting in line on the weekdays vs weekends. Durring the weekday you show up and line up your bags next to the cashier. On the weekend you pull into the parking lot next to the first car with it's lights on. Then somehow everyone tells each other what place in line they are based on when you arrive in cars.....Sounds rediculous and he said he laughed the first time it was being explained to him. In summary, we are making advanced tee times. I litterally feel like we are getting robbed because we will end up paying $270 for recently aeerated Torrey South, but we don't really have a choice. I hope it is all it is cracked up to be....Thanks to those that posted above.

[Hawkeye77]

[quote name='venand' timestamp='1393863997' post='8787316']
So, I was lucky enough to catch a very helpful guy last Friday on the Torrey advanced tee time line. He laughed at me when I asked about twilight and basically said it would be very hard to even get a twilight slot as a single because San Diego residents could pre-book those times. He also told me that ONLY the first hour after sun up is held for walk ons. So, if we happened to show up early on the weekend and were say 10th in line. There is a chance would might not get out and would have got up at the butt crack of dawn for nothing. He also explained the difference in trying to getting in line on the weekdays vs weekends. Durring the weekday you show up and line up your bags next to the cashier. On the weekend you pull into the parking lot next to the first car with it's lights on. Then somehow everyone tells each other what place in line they are based on when you arrive in cars.....Sounds rediculous and he said he laughed the first time it was being explained to him. In summary, we are making advanced tee times. I litterally feel like we are getting robbed because we will end up paying $270 for recently aeerated Torrey South, but we don't really have a choice. I hope it is all it is cracked up to be....Thanks to those that posted above.
[/quote]

The many holes that are incredible more than make up for the few that are okay. Too bad about the greens.

[sopel10]

I just recently played the North course. Actually liked it more than the south. $270 to play south is just too much.

[pat007]

Is there a rate hike upcoming? I'm booked on the 18th, and it's $183, not $270

[venand]

Didn't you have to pay the $43 advanced booking fee? Also, weekday play (Mon - Thurs) on the south course is $183. Weekend play (Fri-Sat) is $229 + advanced booking fee of $43 for non-residents.

[Sand-Save]

I would rather just play Aviara personally. You can easily get 12 guys out there, less crowded and a better track. They treat you like royalty and it should be in amazing shape since the Kia is here this week. Walking on with 12 guys is impossible so do not even attempt to try, ive seen 2 guys wait till 1 pm who checked in at 6. Torrey is going to have punched greens and for 200+ i would be pissed.

[jdhallissey]

Screw that both those courses do not hold any weight on borona creek casino. Steel canyon is another great track. Take your group of guys up to pechanga. torrey is not worth more then the local rate.