Balboa Park Municipal Golf Club

Balboa Park is a muni on the east side of downtown San Diego, and is the best value for golf in the San Diego area. The negatives, it's a slow pace of play and it can be noisy as it's on approach to the San Diego airport. The positives, it's a great old style parkland layout primarily with natural corridors, and the clubhouse sits on a mesa with great views of downtown and the Pacific on a clear day. It's always played second fiddle to Torrey Pines and Coronado, but lately the city has been spending money upgrading the course and levels of maintenance, and it's never looked better. There's a 9 hole executive level course, an 18 hole championship, a driving range, and practice green. Not a long course at 6,200+ yards from the tips, 71.1/127, vs 5,821 yards from the White tees, 68.9/124 course and slope, originally designed by Billy Bell. Devilish little course, the short yardage make it look easier than it actually is. Nice elevation change, some holes have no bail out, forcing the players to play very safe, short of greens, to avoid disaster. Aggressive play will, sooner or later, lead to disastrous consequences. A good course for not-very-long but straight hitters, and patient players. A bad course for those who are wild off the tee and inaccurate iron players.