How Many Golf Courses Are in California?

Photo: Yinan Chen / goodfreephotos / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

California's golf landscape encompasses 669 named courses and country clubs distributed across 519 cities and 53 counties, according to data compiled from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, the federal government's official gazetteer of named places. Because every entry derives from this authoritative source, each facility represents a real, named location that has been formally cataloged in the geographic record.

The directory's organization by city and county makes it a useful reference for locating courses by region. However, the data carries inherent limitations. The GNIS catalogs named geographic features rather than operating businesses, which means the directory reflects a partial and sometimes dated snapshot of California's golf facilities. A newly opened course or recently renamed facility may not yet appear in the federal record, and the system does not track a course's current operational status, whether it operates as public or private, fee structures, or course layout details.

Those seeking to play at a listed course should use the directory as a starting point for location and regional identification, then verify current information directly through the course's official website, where up-to-date hours of operation, rates, and booking availability can be confirmed.

Directory note. Listings come from the USGS GNIS named-feature gazetteer (2021 vintage) and are partial — public/private status, green fees and course layout aren't in the federal record. Confirm details on each course’s own site.

Listing all 669 named courses in California, A–Z.

How to use the California directory

Start by narrowing to where you want to play — by city, or more reliably by county — then open a course for its locality detail. Every listing is a real, named facility from the federal gazetteer; for tee times, green fees and public-or-private status, check the course’s own site, since those aren’t in the GNIS record.

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