Best Cheap Golf Courses in San Diego – East County

It’s not stretch to say that San Diego is one of the best vacation destinations in the United States to play golf. Warm year round temperatures, plentiful sunshine, and low rainfall means fewer washouts and more days of great golf. But demand for golf in San Diego is high and real estate is expensive, meaning greens fees can be substantial. $50 has been a benchmark for me for 18 holes in San Diego, you can easily pay much more, but you’re getting a good deal if you can play a nice course for less. Here are three courses in San Diego’s East County (El Cajon and Rancho San Diego – just a half hour East of downtown San Diego) and where you can find discounted rates at all of them.

Cottonwood Golf Club. Cottonwood golf club has two full 18 hole courses, the Ivanhoe and the Lakes course, both with scenic and challenging holes. Both courses have an open layout, wide fairways and holes that are generally forgiving of errant tee shots. Cottonwood’s two courses are probably the most frequently used of the courses in the area and at times it can show on the course. There are occasional bare or rough spots on the fairways but the greens are typically in good condition. This course also has a lot or Bermuda grass, so if you hate Bermuda (like I do), this probably isn’t the course for you.

Steele Canyon Golf Club. Steele Canyon boasts that it is the only Gary Player designed course in San Diego and it is well worth the visit. Steele Canyon has three distinct 9 hole courses and could not be more visually dramatic. Numerous tee boxes are elevated and there are carries over water, canyons, and hazard areas onto the immaculately maintained fairways. You’ll use every club in your bag and shot creativity will come in very handy to negotiate the numerous fairway and greenside bunkers.

Singing Hills. Singing Hills is part of the Sycuan Casino facility (the actual casino is just down the road from the golf course) and the influx of gambling dollars has been used to upgrade the course over the last several years. Singing Hills has two full 18 hole courses (Oak Glen and Willow Glen) and an 18 hole Executive (Pine Glen) with all par 3’s. All three courses are in fantastic condition from tee to green and are challenging for every level of golfer. Numerous holes on Oak Glen and Willow Glen have dramatic elevated tee boxes and there are long approaches over water hazards, making for a scenic and enjoyable round of golf. These are two of my favorite courses to play anywhere and I’d highly recommend it if you’re in San Diego.

So now that you’ve got three great courses in mind to play when you’re in San Diego, how can you save a few dollars on greens fees?

I’ve had great success finding discounted tee times for San Diego courses at www.golfnow.com (full disclaimer – I’m in no way affiliated with this website). I’ve used www.golfnow.com several dozen times and found that the longer you can wait, the better deal you can get. If you can hold off until the day (or even the night) before you’ll get a better discount, sometimes up to 50%. You might have to cough up a few bucks in advance, and with some courses you might not be able to cancel without paying the full price of the round, so read the fine print.

You can also find golf discounts in San Diego’s daily newspaper, the San Diego Union Tribune. The paper typically has golf coupons in the sports section, but Tuesday is the special golf edition and the paper has numerous coupons for courses throughout San Diego county. Steele Canyon and Cottonwood typically have coupons weekly in the Tuesday golf section of the Union Tribune.

You can also save quite a bit of money (up to half off depending on the course) by booking a twilight tee time directly with the pro shop of the course. Twilight tee times typically start around 1:00pm or 2:00pm during the summer and fall. If you can withstand the warm San Diego summer sun (afternoon temps can easily reach 90 to 100 degrees in the East County of San Diego where these three courses are located) you can save some money on greens fees.

Golfing during the week (usually defined as Monday through Thursday) can also save you some significant dollars. Playing midweek can save you 20% to 30% depending on the course and the season.

These three courses in San Diego’s East County will not leave you disappointed, whether you’re in town on vacation, hosting a business meeting on the golf course, or live in the area and are looking for a new course to play. The money saving ideas should also save you some cash on your greens fees on not just these courses, but any in San Diego you might want to play. Here’s hoping you hit them long and straight.