San Diego

Land and sea in all its glory

By Pierre-Luc Bergeron, CPGA Professional and Co-president of b2golf.ca

With its vibrant cities, gorgeous Malibu beaches and Hollywood appeal, California is clearly a dream vacation for just about everyone. For golfers, however, this little corner of the world offers so much more. Having personally been on countless golfing vacations over the last few years, I can attest that San Diego is an absolute must-visit destination and is, by far, the one I enjoyed the most. I especially loved visiting the City of Carlsbad, located a little farther north. Carlsbad exudes golf from every pore—in fact, several renowned golf manufacturers, including TaylorMade, Callaway and Aldila, have chosen to make Carlsbad home to their headquarters. There are also a multitude of golf courses to choose from here, ranging from simple municipal golf courses all the way through to championship courses. Thanks to my 15-year relationship with TaylorMade, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit their head offices during my trip in 2014. I even got to hit a few balls at The Kingdom, TaylorMade’s private practice course where PGA TOUR professionals go to have their equipment adjusted and where legendary instructor Jim Flick teaches.

My favourite courses in the area:

• Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Club, a magnificent and extremely wellmaintained course with a very welcoming staff, and where I crossed paths with Mr. Scotty Cameron, a well-known member of the club;
• Torrey Pines Golf Course, a 36-hole oceanside resort. Although the green fees (up to $ 350 CAD for non-residents) can leave a slight dent in your pocketbook, you’ll quickly forget all about it once you drive that first ball on the same tee as Woods, Mickelson, Speith, Day, Johnson and other Tour stars;
• Maderas Golf Club, a gorgeous mountainside course that provides some of the most spectacular scenery. I would recommend San Diego in a heartbeat. The weather during the winter season is perfect: cool mornings that are not too humid and lots of sunshine during the day. The scenery is replete with views of seemingly endless ocean and a backdrop of steep mountains, undulating valleys and superb fairways that will take you out of the ordinary and give you even more to love about golfing!

ALSO NOT TO BE MISSED:

• The Temecula Valley, for wine aficionados
• Coronado Island, where you can cross the impressive San Diego–Coronado Bridge and see downtown San Diego from another vantage point
• La Costa Golf Course
• A walk along the beach to take in the magnificent views of the ocean
• Fabulous restaurants, including the famous Vigilucci’s Seafood and Steakhouse

Combine San Diego to Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Las Vegas within the same trip! Ask our golf specialists!