9200 Inwood Drive, Santee, California 92071, US
(619) 448-4242
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About Carlton Oaks Lodge, Ascend Hotel Collection

Carlton Oaks has a long history of tournament golf. Curtis Strange won the 1974 NCAA Championships on the course before Perry Dye redesigned the layout and stretched it to 7,400 yards in the 1980s. The Carlton Oaks Lodge, Ascend Hotel Collection, offers 51 modernized, Asian-inspired rooms just steps from the clubhouse, its Oaks Bar & Grill and the outdoor pool and jacuzzi. 

Facts

Price Range$$
Property Class★★★
Acres168
Year Opened1958
Number of UnitsLess than 100

Amenities & Services

RestaurantsCasual
Room TypesRoom
Practice FacilityYes
Banquet SpaceYes

Rules

Is the resort pet friendly?No
Is resort stay required for a tee time?No

Golf courses at Carlton Oaks Lodge, Ascend Hotel Collection

Reviews

3.1
1873 Reviews (1873)

Reviewer Photos

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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 11
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
2.0
Previously Played

N. I

Range balls are 3 yrs old. Fairways, tee boxes and bunkers are terrible. Greens are ok. Cart service is ELITE.

Conditions Poor
Value Fair
Layout Good
Friendliness Fair
Pace Poor
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 89
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Fair
Value Fair
Layout Average
Friendliness Average
Pace Average
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played

Had a great time!

Read a lot of negative reviews when I was booking my tee time, but took the chance anyways because I enjoy playing here from time to time.

It was just fine for the price. Not nearly as bad as I was expecting after reading the terrible reviews…. Fairways, tee boxes and greens were all in well playable shape. Greens were punched a few weeks ago and seem to be healing well.

Sure the rough wasn’t pretty but move your ball to a piece of grass and move on.

Booked the 12:54 hot deal and finished at 4:10.

Great pace, friendly staff and great bar.

If you can find a deal it’s well worth a play.

Always a challenging course.

Conditions Average
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 7
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once every three months
2.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Poor
Value Average
Layout Fair
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
1.0
First Time Playing

Absolute Scam Here at Carlton Oaks “Country Club”

Played this course with a few of my buddies and was in complete awe of how awful this course is. We decided to try it because the pictures show an actually well maintained course maybe 4 years. Looks like the owners packed up ship and left this place to die. Fairways look like WW1 trench warfare and tee boxes had sprinklers going off when we were about to tee off. I wouldn’t be as frustrated as I am, but this place charged us a WHOPPING $60. I wouldn’t even let them pay me $60 to play this atrocious excuse of a “golf club”. Better yet, maybe they should fund the chiropractor I am going to need after driving their carts with zero shocks. Do better. This is a joke.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Fair
Friendliness Fair
Pace Poor
Amenities Poor
Played On
Reviews 31
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
1.0
Previously Played

Under Major Maintenance

The greens are sandy and bumpy, really slow and hard to read. Harder than reading fast greens. Pretty frustrating. The tee boxes are all dead grass, looked like they’re putting some maintenance to them, fairways were sand in most areas, hard to even find preferred lies within 10 ft of where your ball lands on the fairway. If you pay for a deal, $25-$30 it’s worth the practice round I guess, but wouldn’t pay more than that currently. Just watched a video of the course from 4 years ago and man I miss the way it use to be maintained. Wish to see it come back to life soon

Conditions Poor
Value Fair
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Fair
Pace Average
Amenities Fair
Played On
Reviews 4
2.0
Previously Played

This is easily the worst course I’ve played on. Hitting a fairway means you are hitting off dirt. Tee boxes are absolutely horrible as well. Nothing good about this course except the staff

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Poor
Played On
Reviews 93
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 64
1.0
Verified Purchaser
Top 1000 Contributor

Wasteland

This course has been in decline for years, but it has reached a new low. The current ownership has checked out and obviously doesn’t care at all about maintaining the course. The fairways are just uneven patches of burned grass, dirt, some actual grass and weeds. The greens are more sand than grass and the tee boxes are almost unrecognizable. The whole course is basically a wasteland and gives off a real post-apocalyptic vibe. I’m really not sure how this place is getting enough business to stay open. The parking lot was almost empty. Anybody who pays full price to play here is simply flushing their money down the toilet. Even playing on a heavily discounted tee time feels like a rip off. The staff was nice, but that isn’t reason enough to play here. The sad part is this course could be nice if somebody was willing to maintain it.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Fair
Friendliness Good
Pace Fair
Amenities Poor
Played On
Reviews 8
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart
Conditions Poor
Value Fair
Layout Average
Friendliness Good
Pace Fair
Amenities Average
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Previously Played

Fair Price; Tough Course; Needs Work

Dry and lots of dirt with lots of some kind of animal holes

Conditions Fair
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
1.0
Previously Played

Don’t waste your time

7am tee time still took 5 hours. Course is in horrible condition all around. Go anywhere else

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Poor
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Poor
Amenities Poor
Played On
Reviews 53
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
1.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Late booking on Labor Day

Had to play my annual, “Does it still suck at Carlton Oaks” round.

The answer is yes. Patchy slow greens with different grass types on the same green. Poor sand consistency. Doesn’t seem like they water the grass in the fairways much. Litter all over the course- probably due to lack of trash cans. No ball washers. Sad tee boxes. Divots went un-repaired all over. Probably due to the frustration of the course conditions. It is pretty much just dirt. This course used to be really nice. Owner should sell it, he is only interested in developing the land around it to make money.

The cart girl was nice and kept us accommodated. Maybe I’ll try again next year.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Played On
Reviews 1
2.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart
Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Extremely Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Poor
Value Fair
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Fair
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
1.0
Previously Played

Dont go

Worst course I’ve played in San Diego over 20 dollars. Green’s are terrible, fairway is a dirt patch, there is no rough … just more dirt. Don’t go here. I’d give this 0 starts if that was an option.

The layout is cool and could be a good course if they did ANY maintenance over the last decade.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Poor
Friendliness Good
Pace Poor
Amenities Poor
Played On
Reviews 14
Handicap 10-14
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Used cart

Playing after noon

The course played quickly. I was playing as a single and didn't catch the single in front of me until the 11th hole. Course could use more water but the greens were in great shape.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/05/2024

Hello, rpmalGolf. Thank you for visiting us at Carlton Oaks Lodge & Country Club. We appreciate your 4-star rating and review. We hope you join us for another round soon.

Played On
Reviews 6
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
2.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Pete Dye Crying

This used to be such a gem of a public course in San Diego. The Pete Dye design once showed greatness, but lack of care and investment in the ownership has really let this place go down the toilet. Dirt patches and gopher holes. Fire ants all over the greens and uneven tee boxes. Simply put - it’s a disaster.

I’m trying my best to be informative and put this nicely… but ownership of Carlton Oaks… PLEASE figure your $@!+ out and reinvest in the property. The layout of the course is amazing and has potential to be the best public course in greater San Diego county, but the lack of care (aka lack of water and maintenance) has destroyed this once-great golf course.

I will not be back until something changes… which is a real bummer because it’s close to home and was always one of my favorite courses to play growing up.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
1.0
Previously Played

Don't waste your money.

Don't waste your money it's not even really golf it's more you need a chiropractor after the round worst golf course in the world.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Poor
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Poor
Amenities Excellent
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