The Story of San Diego Golf Reservations
Want to play Torrey Pines Golf Course? I am sure you have tried and have not been able to get a tee time. Torrey Pines, host of the 2008 and 2021 US Open, as well as the PGA’s Farmers Insurance Open, is one of the most difficult golf courses in the world to get a tee time. If you are a resident of the City of San Diego, then you might have a chance. If not, good luck! Only a limited amount of tee times are released every day for non-residents. So how do you get on Torrey Pines? You can go to the course and get on the standby list, then wait 2-3 hours (often times more) hoping that someone does not show up. You can sleep overnight in your car and hope to be the first in line to get a tee time when they open at first light. (We are not joking, people really do that.) Maybe you can practice golf everyday of your life and hope you are lucky enough to make the PGA Tour so you can play in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Or you can call San Diego Golf Reservations (SDGR) at 1-800-Torrey-Pines (867-7397). SDGR is the largest golf reservation company in San Diego and has been booking tee times at Torrey Pines for over 27 years. We are the local experts at getting golfers on Torrey Pines. It all started back in 1992, when the founder of SDGR, Rick MacDonald, could not get a tee time at Torrey Pines for himself and his Navy friends. At that time, you had to call Torrey Pines at exactly 5 a.m., a week ahead of time, to get a tee time. The phones were always busy and the tee times were all booked up in 15 minutes. If you called at 5:05 a.m., you were out of luck. So, MacDonald had the idea to “bribe” his teenage daughters (Melissa and Michelle) to do it. He told them he would pay them $20 for a tee time if they would wake up at 5 a.m. and get him a foursome. Of course, they were persistent and ultimately successful. After a few weeks of this, his friends found out about it and started paying the girls for their services. MacDonald was quick to realize there was a business opportunity there and the rest is history.
Over the years the Torrey Pines tee time reservation system and rules have changed, but San Diego Golf Reservations continues to help golfers’ dreams of playing Torrey Pines come true. SDGR’s golf reservation center is open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., 7 days a week. Our local golf coordinators are experts on everything you need to know about golf in San Diego. The great thing about SDGR is that if Torrey is full we have several great options for you. 1) We also book 25 other premier public (i.e., Aviara Golf Club, La Costa Resort, and Maderas Golf Club) and private golf courses in San Diego. SDGR has exclusive access to some of San Diego’s best and most exclusive private clubs. This is the only way you can play these private clubs, unless of course, you buy a $100K membership. The private clubs do not allow SDGR to advertise their names, so you will need to call us for a list. 2) SDGR has an exclusive Waitlist System for last-minute/cancelled tee times that become available at Torrey Pines. We are consistently checking for these last-minute cancellations. It does not cost you anything for us trying. You only pay if we are successful in getting you the exact tee time you want.
SDGR is now owned by Cam Stephens, a golf industry veteran (linkedin profile: click here). The golf reservation center is located in Poway, CA. We have a great website TorreyPines.com. TorreyPines.com is the #1 Guide to Torrey Pines Golf Course. It has a ton of great features: the ability to request a Torrey Pines tee time, hole-by-hole descriptions on how to play each hole, a photo gallery with a picture of every hole, scorecard, rates, and an amazing drone video. SDGR also books hundreds of golf tournaments, sells Stay-and-Play packages for the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, and has a great gift certificate program that is valid at 25 local golf courses.
So if Torrey Pines Golf Course is on your bucket list, and you have never been able to get a tee time, call San Diego Golf Reservations (1-800-Torrey-Pines). We have made hundreds of thousands of golfer’s dreams come true and I am sure we will for you too.