Golf in Rubidoux

Golf can be a bonding experience with friends or a make-or-break business meeting that masquerades as a leisure sport. Make the most of your time with friends and colleagues by knocking their argyle socks off with effortless dominance on the green. Today's Groupon to Carlsbad Golf Center gets you a one-hour private golf lesson with your choice of Carlsbad's experienced PGA and LPGA instructors (a $75–$125 value, depending on participating instructor), plus a large bucket of balls with which to practice during and after your lesson (a $10 value). Because the object of golf is to hole the ball in the fewest number of strokes, a better game will help you conserve energy for other activities such as off-track betting or braising Cornish hen.

GolfTEC has thirteen convenient locations in the Los Angeles area, all staffed by experienced golfing professionals and computers who’ve sworn allegiance to the Three Laws of golfing robotics. Motion sensors and high-speed cameras monitor your swing and break down your form on a high-definition video display. GolfTEC’s PGA specialists point out your flaws, strengths, and coach you on how to permanently improve your game, from tee to green. Sensors chirp with approval when you’ve executed a perfect stroke or cracked an especially witty golfing joke.

Situated along the meandering Moosa Creek, the fairways of Castle Creek Country Club sweep gracefully through the foothills of Temecula Wine Country and located near three major casinos. The 1948 Jack Daray blueprint escorts players through a 6,638-yard labyrinth, hemmed in by oak-forest barriers and mottled with bunkers of white sand. After completing a testy front nine that includes the 624-yard par 5 sixth hole, players embark on the most difficult stretch of the course in holes 10, 11, and 12. These holes—a 450-yard par 4 followed by back-to-back par 5s—demand that players demonstrate an ability to hit the ball far, leaving many contestants exhausted, bleary-eyed, and swinging at golf balls that don’t exist.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Total length of 6,638 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 72 from the back tees

• Course slope of 134 from the back tees

• Five sets of tees per hole

• Scorecard

• Gopher Hole Sports Bar

Two large lakes glisten in the sunlight as they cast reflections of the towering trees. At Emerald Isle Golf's 18-hole executive course, the lakes form a nucleus that is surrounded by 16 par 3s and two par 4s. Players must blast soaring shots over the lakes on four separate occasions, unless they’re able to retrieve golf balls with golf-bag scuba tanks and 9-iron snorkels. Prior to a round, golfers can get a feel for putting speed on the practice green and warm up at the full-grass practice range.

Course at a Glance:

18-hole, par 56 course

Total length of 2,452 yards from the back tees

Course rating of 72 from the back tees

Course slope of 113 from the back tees

Three sets of tees per hole

Scorecard

For more than 30 years, Southern California Golf Schools' professional golfers and teachers have been passing their club-swinging tutelage on to golfers of all ages. The team includes a former PGA of America president, a current PGA board member, and staffers previously voted Golf Digest magazine's top 25 instructors in America. Throughout California and Nevada, in golf resorts, private country clubs, and high-end golf courses, the experienced instructors tutor neophyte and advanced golfers during lessons ranging from 90-minute mini-golf schools to five-day stay-and-play golf sessions. The golf pros teach pupils how to perfect full swings, enhance their short-game play, and maintain proper diving form while retrieving balls from the lake.

Beneath Mount Baldy, which cuts a snowy wedge from the horizon, Claremont Golf Course's nine holes form a grassy emerald pool. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden lies adjacent to the golf course, filling the air with the scents of native Californian flora and punishing players with penalty strokes for always using roses in their poetic metaphors. Totaling 1,915 yards from the back tees, with just one hole longer than 300 yards, the nine-hole executive course does not present a lengthy undertaking. Taken along with the lighted driving range and practice area, the comparatively short course is a great place for beginners to start out and for more experienced golfers to practice the short game or use their golf balls that bruise easily.

Course at a Glance:

• Nine-hole, par 31 course
• Total length of 1,915 yards from the back tees
• Two sets of tees per hole