Lucky Me!

Barona Creek Golf Club, located ½ hour northeast of downtown San Diego, is an absolute must play when visiting the area.  Opened in 2001, I had played it once previously on a similar trip a couple of years back and absolutely loved it.  The greens were tour pure and lighting fast.  Here’s all you need to know; I had a 15 foot, hook putt for birdie on the 1^st hole, managed to putt it off the green and had to scramble for bogie!  My round included several 3-jacks but once I was able to purge myself of the fear so often induced by slick surfaces and got the hang for the speed, it became putting nirvana.

Kinda' makes you want to go there!

Barona Creek is one of those courses that beats you up a bit the first time around, but after enduring the learning curve all you want to do is play it again.  I luckily got my wish on my recent trip.  I’m happy to report that I wasn’t disappointed.  The course was every bit the track I had remembered and armed with the knowledge so painfully gleaned from my first adventure, I also played it better.  As for the rest of the course, it’s beautiful, especially if you enjoy sun-splashed, desert style golf.  Barona Creek plays to a par of 72 and stretches to 7,448 yards from the tips.  It sports enough variety of tee boxes to accommodate all skill levels, but if you think you got game this course will test it. The 3^rd hole, for example plays 260 yards.  Oh and by the way, it’s a par 3!  With more than 100 multi-fingered bunkers and a series of lakes and ponds that are connected to the areas naturally fed streams, the scenery at Barona Creek is fairly spectacular.  The golf course also has more than 170 mature native oak trees transplanted from other regions of the Barona Indian Reservation. Making use of the subtly undulating terrain, prominent rock outcroppings and gentle elevation changes preserve the lands’ unique characteristics. The combination of both natural and strategic elements of the design make Barona Creek Golf Club one of the most challenging and thought provoking golf courses in San Diego. 

Bring your A game and some sun block

Since the course is part of a casino resort complex complete with on-site hotel accommodations, it’s a perfect destination for a golf get-a-way.  Apparently I'm not alone in my affection for this layout as Barona Creek has been on the receiving end of several national accolades.  I’ll let them speak for themselves;

·         It hosted the 2007 Nationwide Tour Championship last November

·         It was ranked the 4th best casino owned course in the country by Golf Digest magazine

The top five courses on that list included:

1. Shadow Creek MGM Mirage, Las Vegas

2. The Wilderness at Fortune Bay, Tower, MN

3. Cascatta Harrah’s, Las Vegas

T4. Barona Creek Golf Club, Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino San Diego, CA

T4. Circling Raven Golf Club, Coeur d’Alene Casino, Worley, ID

In addition to the Golf Digest ranking, Barona Creek was also ranked as the 3rd best resort course in California - behind Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill - and 19th best resort course in the United States by Golfweek Magazine.  Need I say more?

The Hotel and Casino complete the package