Recommendations for (San Luis Obispo, CA) - 2/24/2013

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My lady and I are taking a small vacation with another couple to San Luis Obispo in a two weeks.

Looking for the $50-$100 with cart range per person. I was looking at Avila Beach but some of the reviews said it wasn't a lot of fun (too tight). I was also considering Cypress Ridge which is in budget and looked pretty decent - the reviews said very well kept fairways and greens (park style course is easier too).

Half moon bay looks incredible, just out of the budget.

Any recommendations?
 
It's still about a 4 hours drive from SLO to Half Moon Bay. If you're willing to drive up to North Bay I have 2 suggestion.

If you have the budget, and in my opinion it's well worth the $$ spend, play Pasatiempo. It is in Santa Cruz and designed by Alister MacKenzie. I played 4 times there twice during Christmas at 50% off regular price. I must say it's the best course I have played in North Cal.

http://www.pasatiempo.com/web/index.php


Another course I would recommend is Bayonet and Black Horse that offer 36 holes. I find it to be one the top public course in Monterey area.

http://www.blackhorsegolfclub.com/homepage/start_page.php


There's plenty of excellent golf course here in Bay Area. These two are my favorite.

Wish you and your wife have a wonderful vacation.
 
It's still about a 4 hours drive from SLO to Half Moon Bay. If you're willing to drive up to North Bay I have 2 suggestion.

If you have the budget, and in my opinion it's well worth the $$ spend, play Pasatiempo. It is in Santa Cruz and designed by Alister MacKenzie. I played 4 times there twice during Christmas at 50% off regular price. I must say it's the best course I have played in North Cal.

http://www.pasatiempo.com/web/index.php


Another course I would recommend is Bayonet and Black Horse that offer 36 holes. I find it to be one the top public course in Monterey area.

http://www.blackhorsegolfclub.com/homepage/start_page.php


There's plenty of excellent golf course here in Bay Area. These two are my favorite.

Wish you and your wife have a wonderful vacation.


Thank you for your response!

I didn't realize half moon bay was so far away!

We were looking for courses with a maximum drive distance of about 30 minutes to 1 hour tops. I suppose I should have clarified that ... my bad ... we will be staying at a resort on Avila Beach Dr - we are actually 5 minutes from Avila Beach Golf Course ...
 
Cypress Ridge is a nice course. Another course in the area you should consider is Monarch Dunes. http://www.monarchdunesgolf.com/sites/courses/layout9.asp?id=1129&page=67556. They also have a challenge course. If you are driving from SoCal, then look at La Purisma in Lompoc for a round on the way up or back down.

LobWood nailed it. Those are the courses to play in the area. EZ links has great specials for Monarch and Cypress. If you play La Purisima and can't find a special on their website let me know. Hunter ranch is also a great track about 45 min north of SLO.
 
Hunter Ranch is a pretty nice course and they usually have some good deals. The recommendation for Bayonet and Blackhorse up on the Monterey Peninsula is great and if you went there, I'd pop down and play with you. That's only 35 mins from my house.
 
Well thank you to everyone for the recommendations ... I talked to the other guy and he doesn't want to spend a lot of money, Avila Beach Golf Resort is apparently within walking distance from where we are staying and I found a deal online for $19 per person with cart and range balls. Walking distance being the key ... we plan on a drinking ... a lot.
 
Well thank you to everyone for the recommendations ... I talked to the other guy and he doesn't want to spend a lot of money, Avila Beach Golf Resort is apparently within walking distance from where we are staying and I found a deal online for $19 per person with cart and range balls. Walking distance being the key ... we plan on a drinking ... a lot.

At $19/person Avila is a steal. It's not a bad course at all. Have fun.
 
Half Moon Bay has a couple of nice courses but I think they are overpriced and most of the time you will be playing in the fog.
 
If you or the other guys is on a tight budget, Morro Bay is a decent little public course with very reasonable fees. There's nothing outstanding about the course itself, set-up is rather boring to be honest, but you have great views of the bay on many of the holes and it's nice just to play in that coastal air if nothing else.
 
Everyone covered the courses on the Central Coast pretty good. For reference I'll give a couple thoughts too:

Monarch Dunes: I think its the premier course in the area. It was always maintained well, had some very interesting holes, and the green complexes allowed many options (throwing one up a slope and letting it come back, etc).

Cypress Ridge: I think its probably the 2nd best course in the area. More traditional than Monarch but still a blast to play even going through a housing community. A couple tricky holes.

La Purisima: Out of the way, but worth the drive. Nice condition, but very tough.

Hunter Ranch: I liked the 1st 10 holes, but then it had too many dog legs, blind shots, and forced carries for me. I could have done without the last 8 holes and found it very frustrating to play. Expensive too.

Rancho San Marcos: Beautiful setting for the course, but too many par 3's on the back including 3 par 3's in 4 holes with a local knowledge par 4 thrown in there too.

Dairy Creek: Good budget course with some nice views, challenging holes, and decent condition when I played it. Natural setting.

Morro Bay had a muni feel to it (maybe it is?). I'd call it a place to play in a nice location with some decent views. I wouldn't go out of my way to play it again though.

Blacklake: I played it years ago so I don't remember it well. It had a lot of back and forth holes if I recall and wasn't anything really special. Maintenance might be suspect.

Avila Resort: I found it fun to play. Lots of uphill and downhill with the back 9 winding closer to the ocean. A couple cool shots over a coastal river. If the condition was decent I would go back if in the area. I don't recall it being very long so the tightness could be handled with less than driver.
 
La Purisma is a great course and yes, very tough. Played it a couple of years ago and would love to get another crack at it.
 
This week I've been visiting San Luis Obispo and playing some rounds of golf. In order, these were my favorites:

1) Monarch Dunes (Nipomo) -sensational layout of well maintained holes.

2) Blacklake (Nipomo)- 27 holes, Lakes 9 is best and amazing, followed by Canyons 9

3) Morro Bay (Morro Bay)- classic coastal municipal course, well worth playing

4) Cypress Ridge (Arroyo Grande) very disappointing layout including a few comical holes, poorly maintained course.

On past visits I've played Dairy Creek (great layout which sadly closed 9 of their 18 holes), La Purisma (tough old classic municipal), Hunter Ranch (similar to La Purisma). For my next visit I hope to play San Luis Obispo Country Club.
 
This week I've been visiting San Luis Obispo and playing some rounds of golf. In order, these were my favorites:

1) Monarch Dunes (Nipomo) -sensational layout of well maintained holes.

2) Blacklake (Nipomo)- 27 holes, Lakes 9 is best and amazing, followed by Canyons 9

3) Morro Bay (Morro Bay)- classic coastal municipal course, well worth playing

4) Cypress Ridge (Arroyo Grande) very disappointing layout including a few comical holes, poorly maintained course.

On past visits I've played Dairy Creek (great layout which sadly closed 9 of their 18 holes), La Purisma (tough old classic municipal), Hunter Ranch (similar to La Purisma). For my next visit I hope to play San Luis Obispo Country Club.

I’m surprised you enjoyed Blacklake over Cypress, Cypress isn’t perfect but it’s miles ahead of Blacklake on design and maintenance. Just whatever you do, avoid Avila like the plague, that place is garbage. SLOCC is fantastic, best greens in the county by far. Hope you know someone or have reciprocal rights, they don’t offer public play.
 
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