Certainly. Excluding Pasa itself, and limiting this to public courses, I'd say....
1. Cinnabar Hills - damn good course, maybe 10 miles from downtown San Jose but still actually in city limits. Set in bucolic valley near Calero reservoir... great course, 27 holes, hell Rich Goodale says it's better than Pasa. I don't go that far, but at least it is arguable. Somewhat pricey on weekends ($100) but deals available during the week, and at twilight.
2. San Juan Oaks - about a 30 minute drive south of San Jose, maybe a little further, but a VERY good course well worth the drive for sure. Couples/Bates design, many fun strategic choices to be faced, fantastic drainage, pretty good price.
3. Santa Teresa (my home course). No great shakes, basic muni really, but with a few holes that are indeed very interesting. In San Jose city limits, a few miles closer in than Cinnabar. Well worth playing as it is pretty cheap. But price would be the issue here far more than quality.
4. Pajaro Valley - great course in Watsonville, unfortunately tough to get there from San Jose in less than 45 minutes, so slips down the list here. Good price, great greens, very creative holes, great fun. But definitely a difficult drive over the hills.
5a. Cordevalle - fantastic course in San Martin, about 20 miles south of San Jose. Mostly private though, and VERY expensive, thus I put it below the others due to the high price. If cost weren't an issue this would be #1.
5b. Coyote Creek - two decent courses also in SJ city limits, maybe 7-8 miles south of city center. Pretty darn near The Ranch, actually. People in here rag on the courses but I find both to be good fun. Nothing super, nothing bad. Same prices as Cinnabar, but some deals can be had.
5c. Spring Valley, in Milpitas. Good price, great fun, shortish course with very few bunkers, but damn good greens with wild slopes. Definitely quirky, so don't expect "tough but fair".... need sense of humor to enjoy... maybe 10 miles from downtown SJ.
5d. Shoreline in Mountain View - maybe 10 miles north of SJ. Darn good course, many water hazards, links-ish in feel even with those. 10-12 is as good a 3-hole stretch as any course around. Decent price, worth playing. Gets very windy. John Krystynak's home course....
That's it, really. And I know I cheated giving you more than 5. Oh there are other fine public courses around, but all would be a much farther drive away. There are also others closer in that are decent. If you want to go into those, let me know.
Note ALL of those listed above are so much better than The Ranch as to make the comparison comical... even my beloved, humble Santa Teresa....
TH
ps - another one worth doing is Delaveaga, pretty near Pasa in Santa Cruz. Figure 5-10 minutes further from SJ than Pasa is... and its kind of a junior Pasa... more of a muni course in terms of conditioning, but still damn good, with some VERY good holes that need to be seen. Tough and very tight, seems right up your friend's alley. But also in Santa Cruz, so a bit of a drive. Pretty darn cheap also.