One round (mid week) in San Diego area - best course

tw422 · January 8

I'm going to be in SD area mid Jan and want to get out for a round. Booked Maderas but wondering if there is somewhere else that is a must play? Or do I go get a lesson from Adam Porzak??

sharkiesj · January 8

Bruh, PM me for a discount on Maderas green fees. Good til the end of the month.

Pepperturbo · January 8

Stick with Maderas... I like it much better than either of the T.P. courses.

My fav in the area is pvt, but aside from Maderas, the other public favorite is Arrowood GC in Oceanside.

zap311 · January 10

Agree that you can’t go wrong with Maderas. I personally enjoy Aviara a bit more, but both are great.

hlca · February 27

Love Maderas. I also played Native Oak for the first time today. $69 tee time during the week, and had the course to myself. It was a lovely track.

achun88 · March 1

+1 for Maderas

parl112 · March 21

On 3/1/2024 at 3:25 PM, achun88 said:

+1 for Maderas

Yes. Maderas great, TP overrated. I also thought Coronado was overrated but enjoyable.

tw422 · March 21

I was the OP on this thread and ended up playing Maderas. I have to be honest, I didn't love it. I'm sure I will get a bunch a blow back for this post but the conditions were above average to good (time of year was Jan so I guess that it was you have to expect?) and I was not that impressed by the layout/architecture of the course. Felt like it was pretty tight and overly punitive. Some good holes but nothing that stood out as excellent. I don't have anything else to compare to in the area so I may be being unfair but to me it was not a must play for the cost. In terms of setting expectations it's a good course but not sure it's worth the premium then again that is the story with all public golf in CA.

sharkiesj · March 21

1 hour ago, tw422 said:

I was the OP on this thread and ended up playing Maderas. I have to be honest, I didn't love it. I'm sure I will get a bunch a blow back for this post but the conditions were above average to good (time of year was Jan so I guess that it was you have to expect?) and I was not that impressed by the layout/architecture of the course. Felt like it was pretty tight and overly punitive. Some good holes but nothing that stood out as excellent. I don't have anything else to compare to in the area so I may be being unfair but to me it was not a must play for the cost. In terms of setting expectations it's a good course but not sure it's worth the premium then again that is the story with all public golf in CA.

What gets lost when talking about Maderas is this. It was designed by Johnny Miller. If you’ve played any JM courses, you know they are incredibly difficult(on purpose), overly punishing, and to me, incredibly 1 dimensional. Hit it here or you’re screwed. Not very imaginative or fun. It makes for a long slog and not a very artistic day on the links.

All that being said, Maderas is usually kept in very nice shape, the conditions are Gary Koch, better than most. And the elevation can make for an up/down ride, it keeps you on your toes and the routing isn’t too boring. I like Maderas, but not for the golf. The conditions and the lack of riff-raff make it a more enjoyable experience than your local muni.

tw422 · March 21

25 minutes ago, sharkiesj said:

What gets lost when talking about Maderas is this. It was designed by Johnny Miller. If you’ve played any JM courses, you know they are incredibly difficult(on purpose), overly punishing, and to me, incredibly 1 dimensional. Hit it here or you’re screwed. Not very imaginative or fun. It makes for a long slog and not a very artistic day on the links.

All that being said, Maderas is usually kept in very nice shape, the conditions are Gary Koch, better than most. And the elevation can make for an up/down ride, it keeps you on your toes and the routing isn’t too boring. I like Maderas, but not for the golf. The conditions and the lack of riff-raff make it a more enjoyable experience than your local muni.

Totally agree with your assessment and you did a much better describing the look/feel of the course than I did. I think your overall sentiment is spot on. By no means is it a dogtrack just wasn't my cup of tea. That said I've never played a JM designed course. I feel the same about Pete Dye.

gripandrip · March 21

When I lived out there decades ago, Balboa Park was always a great course in great shape... is it still around?

arhhhhjay · March 23

On 3/21/2024 at 1:41 PM, gripandrip said:

When I lived out there decades ago, Balboa Park was always a great course in great shape... is it still around?

It's still around, just pretty difficult to get a tee time in the morning on weekends. Tee times go up on their website 1 week in advanced and as soon as they are released they are all booked within 1 minute.