Jack Wolfsohn | News Editor
February 10, 2022
San Clemente Municipal Golf Course (Muni) is the best golf courses in the area for many reasons, but its most important aspect is the community that the Muni creates.
“Muni is an essential part of learning to play golf,” junior Tyler Marsh said. “There’s really nothing like it because you constantly get to see how far you’ve progressed while watching the little kids of today being taught with the same teacher you had 7-8 years ago.”
Golf is widely considered to be a challenging sport, with a majority of players being fairly inconsistent with their scores. Beyond a players who are extremely well-practiced and talented, most people are stuck at the beginner level. At Muni, there are a wide variety of skilled players, but most, again, are just trying to learn or move out of the beginner stages of golf. So it’s a place where everyone’s learning and improving.
The course is fairly flat, so a cart isn’t always necessary, and the conditions are usually sunny with a little wind. It’s hard to find good courses that aren’t too expensive, but the Muni is very reasonable considering the level of maintenance of the course. It’s also not too long and not too short, making it easy for beginners but also challenging for experienced golfers who might hit the ball too far and end up in a bad spot.
Muni hosts two tournaments a month—one on a Wednesday and one on Saturday. The Wednesday tournaments are always fun and light-hearted, like a one-club challenge where everyone only gets one club. The Saturday tournaments are the classic golf matches, and decent money can be made.
Where Muni stands out from other golf courses is the price to quality ratio. For example, Talega Golf Course, decently maintained, is far more expensive. Shorecliffs Golf Course is priced reasonably and decently maintained, but it is too close to people’s backyards. Finally, there’s the Bella Collina golf course, which is part of a private country club. Bella Collina keeps its course well maintained by regularly closing the course during the week to the grass regrow. While it reaches the Muni’s quality level, it is extremely overpriced for golf purposes, making the Muni better overall.
Not everyone agrees. Junior Christian McCleary prefers Bella Collina to Muni because “the time it takes to play at Muni is a lot longer than Bella, and more than many golf courses in general.”
While it’s true that Muni does have a slower playtime, some golfers prefer this experience, and the course is still undoubtedly the best for the bank account. Paying $19 at Muni on a Saturday morning instead of $130 at Talega at the same time for similar playing conditions creates a clear victor in the “Best of: Golf Courses” category.
If trying golfing was one of your New Year’s resolutions, Triton Times highly suggests you head to the San Clemente Municipal Golf Course at 150 E Avenida Magdalena.
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