Planning a Golf Trip: Southern California Sample Itinerary

Posted on by Matthew Jucius

In addition to the Pebble Beach and Robert Trent Jones Golf Train sample itineraries, I’ve decided to explore what a trip in Southern California might look like. In 2019 my family went on an epic California “road trip” that included San Diego, Palm Springs, and LA (in addition to San Francisco). There are a lot of golf courses in those areas of SoCal so I did some research to see our options. I was pleasantly surprised to see the depth and quality of the courses!

Sample Itinerary

Day 1 (Friday):

  • Early evening getaway flight from BOS to LAX
  • Pick up rental car and stay near airport using Hyatt or Marriott free night certificates (2 rooms)

Day 2 (Saturday)

Day 3 (Sunday)

Day 4 (Monday)

  • Hotel breakfast and drive 30 minnutes to PGA West
  • Play morning round a PGA West Stadium Course
  • Back to hotel and check out Palm Springs downtown for dinner

Day 5 (Tuesday)

Day 6 (Wednesday)

Day 7 (Thursday)

  • Hotel breakfast and check out of hotel
  • Drive 90 minutes to play mid morning round at Rams Hill on the way to San Diego
  • Continue on to San Diego after the round 2 more hours
  • Check into Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego for 3 nights. One room on points using suite night upgrade to get a standard suite for all of us.

Day 8 (Friday)

  • Hotel breakfast and travel to Torrey Pines (20 minutes)
  • Play morning round at Torrey Pines North
  • Rest at hotel and explore Old Town

Day 9 (Saturday)

  • Hotel Breakfast and travel to Torrey Pines (20 minutes)
  • Play morning round at Torrey Pines South
  • Rest at hotel and explore San Diego (maybe go to Coronado Hotel?)

Day 10 (Sunday)

  • Hotel breakfast but get late checkout from hotel
  • Play final round of golf at Maderas Golf Club 
  • Return to hotel after golf and shower/relax until checkout
  • Eat dinner before heading to San Diego airport (NOT LAX) to take redeye home.

Day 11 (Monday)

  • Arrive in Boston around 5 or 6am

Cost Breakdown

Flights

Friday evening with Sunday redeye return: 4 x 350 = $1400

We could likely get these on points using the JetBlue card signup bonus

Hotels

Night 1: Airport hotel

We would be looking for a bed. The most cost-effective way may be to use free night certificates from Marriott or Hyatt since the cash rates would be on the higher side maybe use a free certificate for Marriott or Hyatt

Night 2-6: SpringHill Suites Palm Desert

Total: 100,000 Marriot Points
We would stay in one room which has 2 queens, a sofa bed and a trundle bed. This is also taking advantage of the 5th night free when using Marriott points. While not a luxury hotel, it’s conveniently located, looks fairly new, and comes with free breakfast.

We can use my dad’s Marriott points for the stay. The room will be tight, but that will encourage us to get out and do stuff instead. We’re there to play golf!

Night 7-9: Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego on points.

Total: 90,000 Hyatt Points
This would be for 2 rooms on points. An alternative that might work would be to get one room on points and use a standard suite upgrade certificate to upgrade to a larger suite they have. The suite has two double beds, a sleeper sofa, and should allow rollaway beds. Due to my status at this hotel, we should be able to get breakfast for free.

Total: $250 (estimated taxes and fees on Marriott stay(s))

Golf

Day 1 – Travel day
Day 2 – Monarch Beach: 4 x 100 = $400
Day 3 – Silver Rock: 4 x 135 = $540
Day 4 – PGA West Stadium Course: 4 x 150 = $600
Day 5 – PGA West Nicholas Course: 4 x 130 = $520
Day 6 – La Quinta Mountain Course: 4 x 140 = $560
Day 7 – Rams hill: 4 x 120 = $480
Day 8 – Torrey Pines North: 4 x 200 = $800
Day 9 – Torrey Pines South: 4 x 200 = $800
Day 10 – Maderas Golf Club: 4 x 170 = $680

Total: $5380

Food:

Given California prices, estimating $250 a day for lunch, dinner and snacks.

Total: 9 x $250 = $2250

Car Rental

Car rental prices fluctuate wildly. Putting in this as a placeholder based on current rates.

Total: $700

Overall Total

Total: ~$10000 -> $2500/person

To reduce costs we could use points on the tickets and possibly add a rest day which could reduce the total by up to $1800 reducing the per person number to just over $2000

Points Outlay

  • JetBlue points from signup bonus
  • 2 Marriott free night certificates from my dad or my Hyatt free night certificates.
  • ~100,000 Marriott points (from my dad)
  • ~90,000 Hyatt Points (or 45,000 an standard suite upgrade certificate)

Thoughts

This itinerary had a surprising number of bucket list courses on it. I didn’t know some of these courses were in this part of the world, or at least never made the connection. There is a familiarity with these areas as I’ve been to all of them before at least once. The weather shouldn’t be as much of a factor compared to San Francisco for the Pebble Beach itinerary or Alabama for the Robert Trent Jones itinerary.

This itinerary is intriguing also in that it can be done in reverse pretty easily with lots of different possibilities for courses. If we want to skip Monarch Bay and spend an extra day in Palm Spring or San Diego that’s a possibility and there is an endless number of courses that look fantastic.

On top of that, the price is quite reasonable for the amount of golf and the caliber of courses. It certainly helps that the hotel cost is effectively free. And since these places are “known” I know a lot of activities we can do that I know the crew will enjoy.

This and the two previous posts outline the top three choices we are working on. We’ll see if we come up with any more ideas or make progress on any. We have lots of time to plan these and to change our minds. Be sure to keep a lookout for new posts on this topic in the future though I don’t have any planned yet.

Enjoy!

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Published by Matthew Jucius