Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020: California

Pebble Beach Golf Links tops the list in Arizona for Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020.

Each year, we publish the three lists that are the foundation of our course-ratings program: Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Classic Courses, Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Modern Courses and Golfweek’s Best 2020: Best Courses You Can Play.

These are the best courses you can play in California.

  1. Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach (No. 9 c)
  2. Pasatiempo, Santa Cruz (No. 32 c)
  3. Spyglass Hill, Pebble Beach (No. 33 m)
  4. Torrey Pines (South), San Diego (No. 109 c)
  5. Rustic Canyon, Moorpark (No. 151 m)
  6. Rams Hill, Borrego Springs (No. 198 m)
  7. CordeValle, San Martin (m)
  8. Torrey Pines (North), San Diego (m)
  9. Yocha Dehe at Cache Creek Casino, Brooks (m)
  10. PGA West (Stadium), La Quinta (m)
  11. Links at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach (m)
  12. Barona Creek, Lakeside (m)
  13. Poppy Hills, Pebble Beach (m)
  14. Bayonet, Seaside (c)
  15. Pelican Hill (Ocean North), Newport Coast (m)
  16. The Grand GC, San Diego (m)
  17. Pelican Hill (Ocean South), Newport Coast (m)
  18. Baylands Golf Links, Palo Alto (m)
  19. Trump National, Rancho Palos Verdes (m)
  20. Desert Willow (Firecliff), Palm Desert (m)
  21. SilverRock, La Quinta (m)*
  1. PGA West (Nicklaus), La Quinta (m)
  2. The Golf Club at Copper Valley (formerly Saddle Creek), Copperopolis (m)
  3. TPC Harding Park, San Francisco (c)*
  4. Oak Quarry, Riverside (m)*
  1. Maderas, Poway (m)
  2. La Quinta Resort (Mountain), La Quinta (m)*
  3. Quail Lodge, Carmel (m)*
  1. Aviara, Carlsbad (m)
  2. Indian Wells Golf Resort (Players), Indian Wells (m)

*New to the list in 2020

(m): modern
(c): classic

Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 30 Campus Courses

The rankings below reflect where these courses fall among the top 30 Campus Courses in the United States.

T-14. Stanford Golf Course, 6.07

Stanford, Calif.; William P. Bell, George C. Thomas Jr., John Harbottle III, 1930

Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 50 Casino Courses

The rankings below reflect where these courses fall among the top 50 Casino Courses in the United States.

8. Barona Creek, 6.50

Lakeside, Calif.; Gary Roger Baird, Todd Eckenrode; 2001

18. Yocha Dehe at Cache Creek Casino, 6.16

Brooks, Calif.; Brad Bell; 2008

T-29. Journey at Pechanga, 5.79

Temecula, Calif.; Arthur Hills, Steve Forrest; 2008

T-29. Eagle Falls 5.79

Indio, Calif.; Clive Clark; 2008

41. The Links at Rolling Hills (formerly Sevillano Links), 5.53

Corning, Calif.; Mike Stark; 2007

Golfweek’s Best 2020

How we rate them: The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.