Weekends at Torrey Pines
Somewhere during my round at Torrey Pines South 2 Sundays ago, I started to weigh the value of my time versus the overall coolness of the experience. If you’ve never had a dose of SoCal’s best Muni on a weekend afternoon, you’ve yet to be part of truly slow play. We’re talking north of 6 hours with ease. The combination of the incredible scenery, the relentless wind and that god-forsaken kikuyu rough are just to much for the average guy to handle. Also, the affordable rates Torrey offers locals makes it the hottest ticket in town, so the place is packed.
Having said all that, the experience is still really damn cool!! How often do you get to compare your game to those of the world’s best? Playing tour -stop courses is as close as we can get to doing so. In my humble opinion, it’s the best course around, and it’s without question the best public course around. If you play it from the proper set of tees, and drive it straight, you’ll have yourself a great time.
My take… you gotta do it Dawn Patrol style.  Its just too good of a track not to play if you have the opportunity. The South Course can be tamed, at least relatively speaking, if you get it before the wind starts to blow. Besides, the restaurant at the lodge makes a killer breakfast. So get your name in EARLY in the A.M. and go for it. If you get out before 8:00, you’ll finish with the bulk of your day still available. And while your deciding whether to hit 4 iron or hybrid into the first green, consider that I watched Dustin Johnson hit wedge to pin-high to start his first round at the US Open last year… scary!Â
Arrowood Golf Course - Oceanside CA
Up in the east hills of Oceanside in North County San Diego is the home of new comer, Arrowood GC.
This track is one of the eight JC Golf courses and offers the best challenge of them all. It’s more hilly and a little reminiscient of Encinitas Ranch, but without the 5 1/2 hr round.Â
We played Arrowood this weekend and made it through in sub 4 hours. It boasts a testy 140 slope rating from the back tees. My main man, TC, made an astute comment regarding the young greens and how they need to ”mature” a touch more. Young greens coupled with tough pin placements and Arrowood churns out a challenging 18 holes.
Arrowood’s cart girls we’re lightening quick with an impressive 5 stop efficiency rating during our round. Be sure to checkout the clubhouse for a post-round (or pre-round) beverage. They have some great westerly views.
Take a visit to Arrowood online for more STATS and a Track Layout.
Poipu Bay - Kauai
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Down on the south shore of Kauai, also known as the sunny side of the island, there is a little gem called Poipu Bay. This is another Robert Trent Jones Jr. beauty that’s hosted the PGA Grand Slam for over a decade. The walls of the club house and pro shop are adorned with Grand Slam winner score cards and memorabilia. The Poipu Bay camp does a great job of describing their track.
“Poipu Bay’s 210 oceanfront acres meander along rugged coastline featuring 85 bunkers, five water hazards and wildly varying trade winds, all of which combine to make the course an intriguing and spectacular golf experience. The ocean-links style course includes over 30 acres of tropical plants and flowers, and pleasant distractions abound: panoramic vistas tempt you to stop and get utterly lost in the scenery.”
The real test comes on the back 9 which has the last 5 holes all ocean front. The prevailing winds are called Trade and typically give your drives a big boost on the final holes. The day I played the winds were Kona and everything was a 2 club head wind. Bring your A game to hole 16, a 472 yard par 4 from the blues. The elevated tee tempts you to bang your drive of the day.
More course data for the STAT hounds:
- Standard Rate: $200
- Grand Hyatt Kauai Guests: $140
- Club Rental: $50 TaylorMade, Callaway, Titleist, Cobra
- Track Layout
- Par: 72
- Yardage (Gold): 7123
- Yardage (Blue): 6612
- Yardage (White): 6127
- Course Record: Phil Mickelson, 28-31–59. 2004 PGA Grand Slam of Golf
Princeville Prince - Kauai
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For those that haven’t been to north
The north shore offers 2 courses at Princeville - the Makai and grand daddy Prince course. I’ve played the Makai courses and although they are set slightly closer to the ocean, they really don’t compare to the Prince. At Golf Course Reporter we’re all about telling it how it is, so bottom line with the Prince course is it’s TOUGH. There are 4 sets of tees. For those average handicappers who think they’re a little better than they are (like me) and play the “blues”, on the Prince you’ll swing it from 6960 yards. As if tee to green wasn’t long enough, you’ll have to contend with a 1 to 3 club cross wind, tail wind and head wind. Not to mention the unbelieveable ocean and mountain views especially a few peeks at Bali Hai.
Jack Nicklaus Signature Hualalai Golf Course
I will be at Hualalai for 6 days starting February 27th. Pretty pumped to play here considering last time I neglected to shlub my clubs, let alone play at all. Not this time.
Like all the other splendid amenities of the Resort, the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature Hualalai Golf Course has been crafted with extreme sensitivity to the land. I’m glad Jack too this into consideration when designing the course. I hope I can at least break 100.
Course Details
Designer: Jack Nicklaus
Date opened: January 1996
Location On site
Number of holes: 18
Fees: (USD)*
* Fees are subject to change $250 (January 1 to December 17, 2007)
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,117
Rating: 73.7
Slope: 139
Tee Rating Slope
Back 73.7 139
Middle 71.5 134
Forward 68.8 129
Welcome to our blog!
This is our official first day on GC. My buddy Matt is on Maui Kaui as we speak, gearing up for his first report on island course conditions. I’m heading to the West side of Kona at Hualalai Resort and Spa next Wednesday catching up with Jack at his signature course. Booooooooya!
