Best affordable public/private golf spots in SoCal?

Hkovo17 · February 8

What're the best areas to live for affordable, good golf in the SoCal area? Palm Springs is too far East. Would like to live near the coast. The Valley area looks to be a decent spot for somewhat affordable private tracks. Forget LA, right? Have heard good things about Long Beach but can't really find much online. Palm springs looks awesome but too far East as mentioned.

And lastly, if CA is generally not the best area, anyone who has lived in FL (specifically the SE coast) who has played a lot of golf in that area and SoCal, please weigh in with what you think is the better option!

TIA

tw422 · February 8

The short answer is a resounding no to your question(s) - there are no quality and cheap courses in the LA region. If you want to live near the coast be prepared to spend $1.5M+ to get (maybe) a 1 bedroom apt. In terms of golf (at least private) nothing is cheap and even the lower end private courses having gotten exponentially more expensive and crowded in the last 3-4 yrs. Muni's are overcrowded and while most are reasonable rounds are 5 hours and conditions are average to poor.

LA/SoCal is not a place to move for golf - for the weather yes, but for golf, absolutely not. I'm an East Coast transplant and have played way less golf here than I did when I lived in PA.

Expensive, crowded, traffic....all of the cliches are not cliches but are painfully true and make public golf terrible here. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer but definitely look at Florida and/or anywhere else other than SoCal for golf (either private or public).

toypor · February 8

If SoCal and West Palm are a little pricey, maybe you could look into Long Island? 🤣

SoCalTitleist · February 8

Inland empire is the best bet for SoCal , Amythimg reasonable in LA or OC is a goat track .

trilinkrealty · February 8

If you can get up into Ventura or even Pasadena then you have a lot more good public golf options within a reasonable drive.

RainShadow · February 8

San Diego County used to be it.

I haven't played extensively there in years, but there are some hidden gems sprinkled around if you don't mind driving a little bit.

My folks lived across the street from #1 green for many years at San Vicente.

Course was over hauled w/ new bunkers and green complexes ( now bent ) about 4 years ago.

I've played it a few times since and it's a blast.

https://www.sanvicenteresort.com

tw422 · February 8

4 hours ago, trilinkrealty said:

If you can get up into Ventura or even Pasadena then you have a lot more good public golf options within a reasonable drive.

This is a good point, I was thinking about the South Bay but if you can get out in the Valley it opens things up a bit in terms of cost and availability. Not sure on priviate though in terms of affordability.

zap311 · February 8

I agree with @tw422 that it will be hard to find "affordable" golf and cost-of-living in most of California. I think some areas that may be under the radar would be Temecula/Escondido near San Diego, which is pricey, but not ludicrous like coastal areas. Ventura and Santa Barbara area may be worth a look as well. Inland Empire will probably be most affordable (relative to SoCal), but also very far from the coast.

Schley · February 10

On 2/8/2024 at 9:51 PM, zap311 said:

I agree with @tw422 that it will be hard to find "affordable" golf and cost-of-living in most of California. I think some areas that may be under the radar would be Temecula/Escondido near San Diego, which is pricey, but not ludicrous like coastal areas. Ventura and Santa Barbara area may be worth a look as well. Inland Empire will probably be most affordable (relative to SoCal), but also very far from the coast.

Used to live in this area of the IE and a good suggestion I think. So Cal is such a unique place that everyone is looking for exactly what you are, but never find it.