Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play: California

There’s no surprise in where to find the No. 1 public-access golf course in California, as Pebble Beach Golf Links has a long and storied place among the best tracks in the world. The Pacific Ocean, Carmel Bay, the Monterey Peninsula, holes atop the rocks – it’s hard to beat Pebble Beach.

But following Pebble Beach on Golfweek’s Best ranking of public-access layouts in the Golden State is a diverse sampling of fantastic courses stretching most of the length of a state that runs 770 miles from top to bottom. Desert courses. Mountain courses. Coastal layouts. Wine country. California has just about everything a traveling golfer could look for.

Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. That includes the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as layouts accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.

Designed by amateur golfers Jack Neville and Douglas Grant and opened in 1919, Pebble Beach Golf Links is No. 1 on that list. The course has seen changes since then from a wide range of architects – everyone from Alister MacKenzie to Arnold Palmer has renovated parts of the layout that has hosted six U.S. Opens, with a seventh scheduled for 2027.

Aside from being No. 1 in California, Pebble Beach Golf Links is No. 1 on the Top 100 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for the whole United States, No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list for the whole U.S. and No. 9 on Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list for layouts built before 1960 in the U.S.

Following in Pebble’s wake is an incredible lineup of public-access courses, several of which that would rank No. 1 in most other states.

No. 2 in California on the Best Courses You Can Play list is Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz, a Mackenzie layout built at the behest of women’s golf pioneer Marion Hollins that opened in 1929. Built on rolling, sandy hills overlooking Monterey Bay, the course became a favorite of MacKenzie’s.

Pasatiempo’s layout was restored by Tom Doak in the late 1990s, with continuous improvements since at the hands of Jim Urbina. Aside from being the No. 2 public-access course in California, Pasatiempo ranks No. 12 on the Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play list for the U.S. and No. 34 on Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list.

No. 3 among the public-access courses in California takes players back to Pebble Beach, this time for Spyglass Hill. The course opened in 1966 with a design by Robert Trent Jones Sr. that offers sweeping ocean views and holes atop the dunes before wandering into the Del Monte Forest. Spyglass Hill also ranks No. 13 on the Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list, No. 14 on the Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play list and No. 31 on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list for layouts opened in or after 1960 in the U.S.

The No. 4 public-access layout in California is Torrey Pines’ cliffside South Course, host site of the 2008 and 2021 U.S. Opens in San Diego. Originally designed by the father/son duo of William P. Bell and William F. Bell and renovated several times since opening in 1957 – most recently by Rees Jones – the South is the annual site of the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open. The course also is tied for No. 40 on the Top 100 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list and ranks No. 107 on Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list.

No. 5 among California’s best public-access layouts moves away from the shoreline and into the hills northwest of Los Angeles. Rustic Canyon opened in 2002 with a natural, lay-of-the-land layout by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and blogger/author Geoff Shackelford. It also ties for No. 57 on the Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play list and No. 165 on the Modern Courses list.

California doesn’t slow down much from there. Rams Hill, CordeValle, Torrey Pines North and on and on, the state keeps offering so many options, making it one of the top destinations for public-access golf in the country. Check out all the state’s rankings below.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in California

The following are the top-rated public-access courses in California:

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach (No. 9 c)

2. Pasatiempo
Santa Cruz (T34 c)

3. Spyglass Hill
Pebble Beach (No. 31 m)

4. Torrey Pines (South)
San Diego (c)

5. Rustic Canyon
Moorpark (m)

6. Rams Hill
Borrego Springs (m)

7. CordeValle
San Martin (m)

8. Torrey Pines (North)
San Diego (m)

9. Yocha Dehe at Cache Creek Casino
Brooks (m)

10. Links at Spanish Bay
Pebble Beach (m)

11. PGA West (Stadium)
La Quinta (m)

12. Barona Creek
Lakeside (m)

13. Poppy Hills
Pebble Beach (m)

14. Pelican Hill (Ocean North)
Newport Coast (m)

15. Corica Park (South)*
Alameda (m)

16. The Grand
San Diego (m)

17. Pelican Hill (Ocean South)
Newport Coast (m)

18. Bayonet
Seaside (c)

19. Baylands Golf Links
Palo Alto (m)

T20. Desert Willow (Firecliff)
Palm Desert (m)

T20. Trump National
Rancho Palos Verdes (m)

22. SilverRock
La Quinta (m)

23. Soule Park*
Ojai (m)

24. TPC Harding Park
San Francisco (c)

25. PGA West (Nicklaus)
La Quinta (m)

26. Oak Quarry
Riverside (m)

27. GC at Copper Valley (formerly Saddle Creek)
Copperopolis (m)

28. La Quinta Resort & Club (Mountain)
La Quinta (m)

29. Maderas GC
Poway (m)

30. Indian Wells Golf Resort (Players)
Indian Wells (m)

(m): modern
(c): classic

Top 100 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play

The following are California’s courses listed among the Top 100 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play for the entire United States:

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach (c)

T12. Pasatiempo
Santa Cruz (c)

14. Spyglass Hill
Pebble Beach (m)

T57. Rustic Canyon
Moorpark (m)

T67. Rams Hill
Borrego Springs (m)

T69. CordeValle
San Martin (m)

80. Yocha Dehe at Cache Creek Casino
Brooks (m)

T90. Links at Spanish Bay
Pebble Beach (m)

(m): modern
(c): classic

Top 200 Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses

The following are California’s courses listed among the Top 200 Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses for the entire United States:

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach (c)

13. Spyglass Hill
Pebble Beach (m)

52. CordeValle
San Martin (m)

T55. Rams Hill
Borrego Springs (m)

T61. Cache Creek Casino Resort (Yocha Dehe)
Brooks (m)

T73. Links at Spanish Bay
Pebble Beach (m)

80. PGA West (Stadium)
La Quinta (m)

85. Barona Creek
Lakeside (m)

100. Pelican Hill (Ocean North)
Newport Coast (m)

T107. Fairmont Grand Del Mar (The Grand)
San Diego (m)

T109. Pelican Hill (Ocean South)
Newport Coast (m)

T129. Desert Willow (Firecliff)
Palm Desert (m)

T135. PGA West (Nicklaus Tournament)
La Quinta (m)

T142. La Quinta Resort & Club (Mountain)
La Quinta (m)

T151. Quail Lodge and Golf Club
Carmel (m)

T151. Park Hyatt Aviara GC
Carlsbad (m)

T157. Whitehawk Ranch
Clio (m)

T157. Omni La Costa Resort & Spa (Champions)
Carlsbad (m)

T163. Fantasy Springs (Eagle Falls)
Indio (m)

T174. Indian Wells Golf Resort (Players)
Indian Wells (m)

T180. Silverado Resort & Spa (North)
Napa (m)

T198. Marriott’s Shadow Ridge
Palm Desert (m)

(m): modern
(c): classic

Golfweek’s Best Casino Courses

The following are California’s courses listed among the Golfweek’s Best Casino Courses for the entire United States:

8. Barona Creek
Lakeside

18. Cache Creek Casino Resort (Yocha Dehe)
Brooks (m)

T-29. Journey at Pechanga
Temecula (m)

T-29. Eagle Falls
Indio (m)

41. The Links at Rolling Hills (formerly Sevillano Links)
Corning (m)

(m): modern
(c): classic

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses

The following are the top layouts on Golfweek’s Best Private Courses list for California:

1. Cypress Point
Pebble Beach (No. 3 c)

2. Los Angeles CC (North)
Los Angeles (No. 14 c)

3. San Francisco GC
San Francisco (No. 17 c)

4. Riviera
Pacific Palisades (No. 18 c)

5. California GC
South San Francisco (No. 33 c)

6. Olympic Club (Lake)
San Francisco (T34 c)

7. Valley Club of Montecito
Santa Barbara (T36 c)

8. Monterey Peninsula (Shore)
Pebble Beach (T27 m)

9. Monterey Peninsula (Dunes)
Pebble Beach (No. 56 c)

10. Bel-Air
Los Angeles (T57 c)

11. Martis Camp
Truckee (No. 47 m)

12. Madison Club
La Quinta (m)

13. Mayacama
Santa Rosa (No. 75 m)

14. Quarry at La Quinta
La Quinta (m)

15. Tradition
La Quinta (T97 m)

16. Meadow Club
Fairfax (c)

17. Wilshire
Los Angeles (c)

18. Stone Eagle
Palm Desert (m)

T19. Santa Lucia Preserve
Carmel (m)

T19. Bridges at Rancho Sante Fe
Rancho Santa Fe (m)

(m): modern
(c): classic

More Golfweek’s Best

Click on the following to see more of where California’s courses land on the various Golfweek’s Best lists:

• Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses
• Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses
• Golfweek’s Best Campus Courses
• Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses