San Clemente Golf Course
San Clemente Golf Course, is a Public, 18 hole golf course located in San Clemente, California.
Built by renowned Golf Course Architect William Bell on land donated by city founder Ole Hanson, the course consisted of nine holes on opening day in 1930, with what is now the back nine being added in 1955. Municipally owned and operated since its inception, the San Clemente Golf Club is aptly known as the “Pride of the Pacific.†William F. Bell redesigned his father's layout in 1957.
The golf course boasts sweeping ocean views, interesting elevation changes, a challenging yet fun layout reminiscent of the golden age of golf, and best of all, reasonable green fees. The moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean ensures frost free winters and cool summer breezes. Popular from its very beginning, San Clemente now hosts roughly 95,000 rounds per year, making the “muni†one of the most popular courses anywhere. This course is one of the finest public courses in the Southern California area. The course was built amid the scenic foothills that overlook the Pacific Ocean. Additionally, the terrain on this course always slopes toward the ocean, so plan on your putts to break a little more than they seem, giving at least an extra inch to your reads to compensate. Any putt struck directly toward the ocean will have a tendency to be fast. All the fairways are lined by pine and palm trees, plus there is a standard cut of rough to contend with and out-of-bounds areas coming into play on many holes
Par for the course is 72. From the back tees the course plays to 6,435yards. From the foward tees the course plays to 5,713 yards and a par-73. The longest hole on the course is # 5, a par-5 that plays to 538 yards. The shortest hole on the course is # 2, a par-3 that plays to 151 yards from the back tees.
Watch out for # 5, the 538 yard par-5 challenge is the #1 handicap hole on the course. The easiest hole at San Clemente Golf Course is # 13, a 295 yard par-3.
This course has been reviewed 17 time
Dave Cook and his wife run a tight little shop and give lessons to a lot of entry-level golfers who then take it to the course (a lot of times way before it's time to do so). However, if you are a local, you know this, and you work in your wager-games with your stiff-lipped-scalliwags early in the day while the waffles and cheerios are being scarffed up by our next generation of surf-skate-golfers who arrive in the mid-day sun after their 2-hour surf session and before planning to heist dad's whiskey and hit the beach for glass-off. It's just that way, people.
I've seen this place with greens so fast that guys would wager in the bar about whether it was 11.5 or 13 on the stimp; then they would march (beers in hand) to the green in question and stimp it so they could settle their bets right then and there.
Watch out for Pham! He will bet you a grand that he will beat you with your own clubs (barefoot) ... and HE WILL! Greg S. is the mens club champ, and a good egg! Does he ever blink?!? I honestly played 9 holes with him one time, and I counted ZERO blinks!!!! And then there's Jim (The Silkworm) Simpson whose silky smooth sumptuous swings of each club in the bag make us droooool with envy! Tommy-the-Grass-Boy is awesome, with one foot in his golf shoes and one foot on his surfboard, ya never know what he'll do, but rest assured he'll do it with a Stone Pale Ale in his hand.
So, if you want Kayme to tend bar for you and tell you stories of her love and escapades while you stretch the limits of your liver and laugh for hours with the good ol' boys at The Clan, then waste not one more minute and head down to San Clemente Muni. Otherwise, maybe I'll run into ya some other place, some other time.
This place is not for everyone; certainly not the yuppie OC exec who needs to "work in a round of golf" before his eyebrow waxing appointment!