006: Dos Osos Golf Club

Understanding that Dos Osos Golf Club had been closed for most of 2024, I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a course clearly hindered by limited water access or the size of its maintenance crew, but it definitely has the skeleton of a fun layout. Yes, it’s a housing development-style course, but it’s accompanied by great views at the base of the San Pasqual Valley hills.

There’s no ignoring the course conditions, but the layout itself is enjoyable. From the back tees, Dos Osos can play long, narrow, and tricky to navigate—definitely a place where losing a sleeve of balls isn’t hard to do. A few sharp doglegs require prior course knowledge, but nothing feels too quirky or gimmicky. Some elevated tee boxes add excitement to otherwise straightforward holes.

The highlight of the course for me was the par-5 14th hole—a downhill tee shot that calls for a big fade to cut the corner and clear what was once a water hazard. The smart play is a 200–220-yard layup left off the tee, but if you can pull off the high-fade driver, you’ll be rewarded with a short iron or wedge into the green. It’s a hole I would’ve loved to see with a full water hazard.

Dos Osos is definitely a work in progress, but for 30 bucks and a three-hour round, you can’t ask for much more. There are signs that time and effort are being invested into the property, hopefully bringing it back to the fun course it can be. I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.

— Hewgss