Winding our way from the Pio Pico TT Resort to the upscale town of Chula Vista was a bit of a culture shock. One moment you're in the foothills on a two lane road and the next you're surrounding by huge gated communities of over-sized homes with six lanes of traffic. We were afraid the Salt Creek Golf Club was going to end up being one of those golf courses that had fairways lined with home and townhouses but once we crested the final hill of the entrance drive we discovered a gem of a golf course with awesome views in every direction.
Playing 6514 yards for the yellow tees and 4814 for the red tees (that would be me) the course played a bit harder for us because the rules were cart path only due to the recent heavy rains. Some of the fairways were a bit soggy, but overall the course was in excellent condition. A bit links-like in design, the surrounding vegetation wasn't so thick that finding an errant shot wasn't impossible, although the rattlesnake warning signs kept us out of some areas. What's a golf ball or two, right? The ponds and creeks on the course don't really come into play, although the sand traps certainly do. At times it was difficult to keep my attention on my golf game due to the surrounding scenery, the rabbits, squirrels, roadrunners and yes, even coyotes ki-yi-yi-ing on the hillsides as we played.
I made our tee times through the Salt Creek Golf Club's web page on their "specials" tee times. Thank goodness I printed my confirmation because when we arrived at the clubhouse they didn't have our tee time in their computer. Armed with the confirmation, we got in, but the man at the desk told us there had been several instances of computer-made tee times not coming through so they suggest calling for tee times; they will honor the "special/last minute" online prices.
This is a golf course I'd highly recommend, but be advised that they overbook in the early afternoon; we had to skip the final hole due to darkness and slow play.
