Steele Canyon Golf Club - Canyon/Ranch

Steel Canyon is a unique, well-maintained, and challenging golf course, especially on a breezy afternoon. But, that's what I liked about it: the layout forced me to concentrate on every shot to keep my score from spiraling out of control. Staff was efficient but I wouldn't call them friendly. Overall, a fun day on the golf course.

Played this two days after Plying The Crossings in Carlsbad,,,,We loved playing here SO much more

Steele used to have an awesome bfast. Buddies and I would meet early before our 7:00-8:00am (beat the heat) tee times for bfast and a Bloody Mary, but we were disappointed to learn the kitchen and bar no longer open at 6:00. The only thing they can offer you before 9:30 is a microwaved Jimmy Dean sausage sandwich. Yuk.

Course is in great condition. Greens are fast (10+) and the pace of play was spectacular in the afternoon at under 3 hours.

This course has extremely nice staff. The greens are awesome. The fairways need a little help but not bad for California and the drought conditions. We play this course every year when we visit.

This was the third time I have played Steele Canyon, first time I have played the Canyon 9, and I have enjoyed myself every time. If I go to play a course and the amenities, carts, and especially the greens are in good condition I'm happy. If you live in San Diego County and are able to get the resident rate, it's a great deal. All three nines are fun to play and offer some interesting shots and a few gorgeous views. The design itself is good, not terribly interesting or exciting but also not quirky or unfair. I like to walk sometimes and unfortunately that's not an option. It's not a knock on the course because the terrain offered no other choice, but you're not walking Steele Canyon. When all is said and done, if you keep your greens in good shape and running at 10 on the Stimp, I'm in!

I was looking for a course to play in the surrounding San Diego area while visiting. On Sunday morning, I opened my GolfNow app and found a HotDeal for $59 for this course, normally $112. This course has three 9 holes: Canyon, Ranch, & Vineyard.

I arrived and checked in 20 mins prior to my tee time. The pro shop said I could get started early and to check in with the starter. The starter said he was ready to let me go out, except it would be Vineyard and Ranch course. Based on what I read in the reviews, the Vineyard course would be narrow with lots of houses lined along the course so I asked if could play the Canyon and Ranch instead. He said no problem but wait would be about 15 minutes. Perfect, I grabbed my bag and loaded my golf cart. He gave me a yard book for reference since I told him it was my first time at this course. This yard book came a long way for me and I couldn't believe the starter gave it to me for free!

The canyon course was beautiful, every hole was scenic with lots of elevation changes. I noted that the 1st hole had a posted sign, beware of rattlesnakes. Also, at 1st hole, there are lots of range balls to the left of the fairway so avoid hitting to that side or use a colored ball so you can find yours if needed. My favorite hole on this course was the #5. It was the most impressive, with steep elevation changes and has a lookout point of pond from hole #6. This hole also has a large patch of rough from tee box so it creates quite a challenge for a long par 3.

Hole 2, beware of sand bunkers (lots of them) on the left of fairway.

Hole #4 has large patch of rough to get to the fairway. This was a challenging hole.

Hole 8 has the green surrounded by water to the left and makes it essential to lay up before trying to land it there. I saw quite a few balls in the water below.

By the time I got to the Ranch course, I felt beaten down as this was a hard course to play and I had lost quite a few balls on the par 3s. The Ranch course was a little more challenging and also nice as well. I highly recommend this course as it is very well maintained, friendly staff, great cart service that's hard to find in Los Angeles, excellent greens, and great pace of play. I finished my round in 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon!

Beautiful course with great views. The course was in excellent condition. I played the Ranch and Vineyard 9's. Personally i could have played tge Ranch 9 over and over

I have heard about Gary Player courses and decided to give this one a try. It is a challenging course. The layout is good and there are a ton of elevation changes. You better bring all of your shots to play well here. The greens were in good shape and were running a 12. I found them to be hard to read. I did hit one long putt but most were in the vicinity and weren't falling. The course is in good shape. They were doing some work on the course. There are some long Par 3's where you need to be on or you will lose your ball. All in all the course was a good and I would recommend and I will play it again.

My step-son and I had a great afternoon of golf at Steele Canyon. It was all that we had heard and more. The courses were challenging but the beauty of each fairway and green layout more than made up for our bruised egos. We played on Monday without pressure from any other players ahead or behind us. All of the staff we encountered were cordial and pleasantly helpful. I was frustrated that neither GolfLogix or GolfNow GPS apps worked to give us yardages, however.

Gary Player designs have a reputation for being like an old ex-girlfriend of mine: pretty to look at, but not much fun to spend a few hours with. Sadly, Steele Canyon lives up to this reputation. It is extremely well maintained, but ultimately, it's design fails to take full advantage of the remarkable setting.

The Vineyards course was a real disappointment: it's essentially just like every other early-1990s residential track you've ever played, with the layout given no more apparent thought than what it had to be to work through the neighborhood. Its fairways are preposterously narrow (with landing areas no wider than 20 yards in places), and it is unnecessarily penal.

The Ranch course was much better. It got away from the houses and opened up a lot more, which obviously invited greater creativity in design. Some of the elevated tee shots are genuinely breathtaking. But it still can't get away from lazy design elements: No. 8 is a par 3 at 200+ yards for no apparent reason, and the green at No. 5 (already the toughest hole on the nine, and maybe the property) is almost fully surrounded by bunkers -- again, for no apparent reason (other than that Player couldn't think of other ways to challenge his golfers).

The course also doesn't allow walking. That's the right policy, given how spread out the course is; but when you design a course that isn't walkable, you've thrown away an important part of the game. To be clear, this is a design flaw and not a staff issue.

All that said, you could do much worse. The staff could not be nicer, and again, the course is beautiful. But all things being equal, I think I'd rather play Maderas.

This was a great course to play. It was visually amazing as well as challenging due to the natural terrain. I played mid morning and the course was not that busy.

Course is very interesting with well above average variation in the holes. For men there are some tee shots that are visually intimidating, yet in reality there are good landing areas. My wife played the red tees which are nicely women friendly. Those wanting to experience more challenge can move back to the golds . This course should go on your list of must plays.

My husband and I truly enjoyed our round (Canyon/Ranch) here. It was challenging for me, a female 14 handicap, from the golds which are long (over 5600) with some carrys from the tee that made me hold my breath. But doable! Canyon has particularly beautiful holes, no housing, with breathtaking elevation changes. Excellent greens which even though punched fairly recently rolled smoothly and quick. On a Wednesday afternoon we had the course to ourselves. We look forward to playing again. Highly recommend.

First time playing this course. Very impressed with the course conditions and views. A very challenging course that will test every aspect of your game. Not much rollout in the fairways and greens were fast, but fair. Green fees were reasonable for this level of course. Got stuck behind a slow foursome, but finished in about 4 1/2 hours. If you are looking for a beautiful and tough course, try this one.

Excellent value for money, Great staff and friendly atmosphere

Played Ranch-Vineyards for the first time. Pro-shop and on-course customer service were excellent and course conditions were exceptional. The recent rains in the area appear to have brought out the wild flowers which made for a stunning backdrop for the round. Greens ran fast and true and fairways and tees boxes were well maintained. I preferred Ranch over Vineyards only because I prefer elevation changes. Only words of advise would be to not challenge the water features as they are longer than they appear and are sloped to capture errant shots. :-( Will definitely play again when I return to the area.