South of Los Angeles, Four Seasons Aviara and Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel
offer plush surroundings and picturesque golf in near-perfect weather year
round. Back-to-back visits to both offered plenty of luxury, memories and great
golf.
North of San Diego in Carlsbad, Four Seasons Aviara has a hilltop
setting and all the casual elegance that comes with its brand. My room had a
nice balcony looking out on Batiquitos Lagoon, but I was quickly off for an
afternoon round on the Arnold Palmer golf course.Playing through beautiful
Southern California canyons overlooked by high-end residences, the 7,007-yard
Aviara layout has an interesting routing, a surprising number of memorable
holes, and what seems like a million flowers lining the course. Palmer has a
fondness for designing great downhill holes, and the par-5 8th is one of his
best. There is a friendly country club atmosphere, and the fresh-baked
cookies when you walk off the course are a nice touch.
Four Seasons is the
premier hotel in Carlsbad, home to numerous golf companies, including TaylorMade
and Callaway. The former has an on-site performance lab at Aviara, while the
Ely Callaway Performance Center is just five minutes away.
Driving up the
coast, I didn’t see how Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point could possibly
compare with my 24 hours at Aviara. Then I walked into my room. Situated on a
160-foot cliff above the Pacific Ocean, the hotel’s guest rooms offer
million-dollar views.
The neighboring Monarch Beach Golf Links, a Robert
Trent Jones Jr. design, likewise has ocean views, but only one genuine
oceanfront hole, the 315-yard 3rd—a remarkable feat in itself considering land
prices along the Southern California coast.
Aviara is a better course, but
the bar and grill at Monarch Beach is a real winner. The highlight was sitting
on the balcony of my room gazing out on miles of ocean, with 50 surfers down
below, while schools of dolphins cruised by just beyond the waves. Off in the
distance, Catalina Island cut a beautiful silhouette against the western sky as
the sun slipped silently from view.
It wasn’t until the weekend was drawing
to a close that I found something I didn’t like about these two resorts:
leaving.
