Located just north of where the 56 and 15 freeways intersect, The Doubletree Golf Resort San Diego provides a surprisingly quick escape from the hustle and bustle of the city for people looking to spend a few days to unwind. The golf course is set in rolling hills with a moderate amount of trees lining the fairways and provides nice views around the course as well as surrounding areas in and out of the resort. Doubletree has a small pro shop and restaurant located inside the clubhouse. This course does not have a typical driving range. They have a very good short game warm up area where all practice balls are provided. There is a well kept chipping green, a small range where you can only hit irons and hitting cages if you want to warm up with your longer clubs. The only drawback is that you have to pay $5 to enter this short game facility, but it is well worth it if you show up early enough to use all that it offers. The putting green next to the clubhouse, on the other hand, is free to use. There is a snack bar at the turn (which was closed during this Saturday morning round) and a food and beverage cart that makes its rounds.
Not a long course at 6428 yards from the blue tees, Doubeltree commands accuracy off the tee if you want to shoot well here. Most holes are straight, but the rolling fairways are usually sloped left to right or right to left which narrows the landing area quite a bit. Be ready for uphill, downhill and sidehill lies. There are six par 4's under 350 yards and the par 5's are easily reachable by the longer hitters. There is quite a bit of elevation change throughout this course and the wind can be a factor so choose your club with care. Something that will make this a bit easier is the GPS equipped cart that you will be riding in. There are only 2-3 holes where water comes into play.
Course conditions are very good right now. The greens are very soft and slow, but smooth. Be sure to pick your yardage right if you want to be pin high because your ball will bite and stay close to where it lands, even using mid irons. The fairways are lush and moderate in firmness. Ditto with the rough which is cut at 1-3 inches. The tee boxes are lush with some holes having a good amount of divot damage. That is to be expected with a lot of short par 4s where players are hitting irons off the tee. The bunkers have good sand which was a little moist at times, although the greenside bunkers on hole 6 are currently under repair.
Overall, a very nice round at a laid back and relaxing golf course. The pace of play on this Saturday morning was very good at about 4 hours 15 minutes. Golf course employees were attentive, courteous and helpful. The course conditions can't be better and well worth the green fees.
