I played Rams Hill Monday for the first time and rode over from the Rancho Bernardo area. The course was in nice condition with enough elevation changes and contouring to make it interesting. Conditioning was very good. The rate of $130 seemed realistic so it was fairly priced in my opinion and worth playing. I'll mention I have had a condo in Rancho Bernardo since long before the course opened and it is my first time there. I generally don't have issues with motion sickness but the windy character of the mountain roads left me wishing i had taken dramamine before each leg. So it is a different kind of 90 minute drive than what is generally found in Southern California.
I generally tried to play Desert Willow Firecliff when I went to the Palm Desert/Palm Springs area, along with Marriott Shadow Ridge, both public facilities and not at all alike.
Last year I drove up to Oak Quarry near Riverside and played it again. Given that it was built on an abandoned quarry, it reflects an interesting reclamation of an area that probably had limited public use potential. The Curley-Schmidt design makes good use of significant elevation changes and there is a lot of width. I think the green fee was about $90 for a later morning tee time last spring. Curley-Schmidt also did Marriott Shadow Ridge.
In the Rancho Bernardo/Poway area there is Maderas Golf Club, which Troon Golf manages, I've played it three times since returning to the area in November. It's a course with some blind tee shots on many holes, narrow fairways and landing areas on a couple of holes on the front nine and a great stretch of holes from #12 to #18. Some green complexes have overly severe slopes, particularly with greens running close to 12 on the stimpmeter. If you can go out there with someone who knows the course, getting into position will improve the experience and there are some holes where hitting less than driver is important for longer hitters. It's one of the higher priced public courses in the area, but you can get discounted tee times with three day advanced booking with a Troon West Coast twosome card. I prefer it over Aviara or LaCosta. I haven't played the Grand Del Mar since it was Meadows Del Mar.
I played Native Oaks a week ago. It was formerly known as Woods Valley. I have a Troon West Coast twosome card and played it for $42. I preferred the back nine over the front nine, but both nines had quite a few very good holes.
I haven't been to Steele Canyon in over 10 years.
For Torrey Pines South, you can book in advance for a $30 booking fee but non-residents pay very high rates and the booking fee is not refundable if you don't want to plan on the rare days of heavy rain.
If you fly into Ontario, you are close to Oak Quarry and not far from Palm Springs/Palm Desert. In the future, if I play Rams Hill, I will play it on the way back from Palm Desert so I don't have to drive or ride on the windy road out and back on the same day. Alternatively, I would head over to Palm Desert, stay there, and play there or head toward Riverside to Oak Quarry.
Charles Lund