SLO County Golf, Wine & Real EstateGolf, Wine & Real Estate News and Events Blog
Welcome to Golf SLOSaturday, May 21, 2005Welcome to GolfSLO.com, your online golf guide dedicated to California's newest golf destination - San Luis Obispo County. With over a dozen top-notch courses, San Luis Obispo County makes for an unheralded golf getaway.Relaxed and uncrowded, the San Luis Obispo County golf courses and golf resorts cluster within 30 miles of each other and have tee times available for players of all skill levels. Enjoy excellent year-round golf conditions in the Mediterranean climate of San Luis Obispo County, and you will have one of your most memorable California golf vacations ever. SLO County Golf Courses are indeed as varied as a scratch player or a weekend hack could want. Topping the list are the two big layouts, the 4-star-plus-rated, championship 18-hole layouts at Hunter Ranch, a few miles east of Paso Robles, and Cypress Ridge in Arroyo Grande. The latter is a Peter Jacobsen Signature Course built on the wildlife-rich Nipomo Mesa. The course has been awarded Audubon International status for its sensitivity to its surroundings. On the next tier are the perfectly pleasant, full-length tests at Avila Beach and Blacklake (Nipomo) Resorts; the parkland experience at Chalk Mountain Golf Course in Atascadero; the wild and wooly Dairy Creek Golf Course, exposed to the wind that pours down Highway 1 from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo; Morro Bay Golf Course itself, perched on a bluff above the Pacific; the Links Course at Paso Robles - a bit of Scotland out near the city's airport - and, finally, three nine-hole courses: Sea Pines (Los Osos); Laguna Lake (San Luis Obispo), and Eagle Creek (Atascadero). "Every course has a different personality," says Billy Gibbs, director of instruction at Avila Beach and a Central Coast golf instructor since 1993. "At Avila, we've got two distinct nines. Morro Bay? Beautiful - you look out at the ocean. We've got beautiful weather 340 days a year; you've got a huge destination for people to play golf." Gibbs said that "in a few years" the county could be ready to go out and seek a professional-tour event for a course such as Hunter Ranch, which demands A-game performance, especially in the afternoon wind. The only professional tournament currently being played in the county is the Straight Down Invitational, a successful two-day pro-am that brings a handful of big-name players to San Luis Obispo Country Club each fall. Excerpts from an article written by Pat Sullivan for NCGA Magazine - SLO Hand - about the San Luis Obispo County Golf Trail. |
|
