Barona Creek Golf Club

Few courses in Southern California carry the kind of backstory that Barona Creek does. Owned and operated by the Barona Band of Mission Indians on their reservation in the hills east of San Diego, it opened in 2001 and almost immediately landed on national radar — Golf Digest ranked it among the best new upscale public courses in the country upon its debut. Todd Eckenrode of Origins Golf Design shaped the layout through rugged terrain that the reservation's landscape dictates entirely: native chaparral, ancient oaks, dramatic elevation changes, and a creek that weaves through the property and gives the course its name.