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.
Pasatiempo Golf Club in California (Courtesy of Pasatiempo)
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.
Spyglass Hills at Pebble Beach in California (Courtesy of Pebble Beach Resorts)
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. 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.
Torrey Pines South in California (Courtesy of the USGA)
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.