Maderas Golf Club

Robert Muir Graves and Johnny Miller collaborated on Maderas Golf Club's 1999 opening in Poway, 45 minutes north of downtown San Diego, an upscale public layout routed through dramatic, hilly terrain with several forced carries over barrancas, natural canyons, and water features. Maderas is one of only two courses in San Diego County on Golf Digest's Top 100 Greatest Public Courses in America list. The designers interlaced three lakes, five waterfalls, native rock outcroppings, oak-and-eucalyptus forests, and more than 40 acres of natural wildflowers across the 7,063-yard par-72 routing. Elevation changes on the back nine are meaningful, each landing zone tends to sit in its own micro-valley, with approach shots pitching down or up to the next contour. Troon-managed, with high-end conditioning year-round. Peak green fee runs $185-275 depending on season. Fits a San Diego trip as the 'inland canyon premium' card between the resort-coastal rounds at Torrey Pines South and the Fairmont Grand Del Mar Fazio round.