POWAY, Calif. -- Considered one of the top public golf courses -- and certainly one of the most scenic -- in the San Diego area, Maderas Golf Club is set among the rolling hills just outside the city.
Designed by Johnny Miller and Robert Muir Graves, this par-72 golf course plays as long as 7,167 yards from the back tees. Graves and Miller took advantage of the dramatic natural topography, routing holes in and around cliffs, creeks and verdant forests. The course has many dramatic features, including five waterfalls, three lakes and more than 40 acres of wildflowers.
The course gets dramatically more difficult as you get into the round. Picking a signature hole is difficult, but it doesn't get much more dramatic than the 15th, a downhill par 3 that can play more than 250 yards. And from the elevated 18th tee, you can see forever.
Maderas Golf Club is one of only two golf courses in San Diego on Golf Digest's Top 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses list.
Maderas Golf Club - hole 2
The green on the par-4 second at Maderas Golf Club in Poway, Calif. has plenty of undulation.
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Maderas Golf Club - hole 3
Looking back on the third hole at Maderas Golf Club.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas Golf Club - hole 4
The par-3 fourth at Maderas Golf Club plays over a ravine.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas GC - hole 6
The sixth at Maderas Golf Club is a short, risk-reward par 4
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas Golf Club - hole 8
A lake separates the eighth and ninth holes at Maderas Golf Club in Poway, California.
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Maderas Golf Club - hole 9
The 382-yard ninth at Maderas Golf Club plays downhill.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas G.C. - hole 11
The par-4 11th green at Maderas Golf Club is perched on a ridge.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas golf course - hole 12
The 12th hole at Maderas Golf Club is 438 yards, but it does play downhill.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas Golf Club - hole 13
The long par-4 13th at Maderas Golf Club plays around the side of a hill.
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Maderas Golf Club - hole 14
The 14th at Maderas Golf Club is a 542-yard par 5.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas golf course - hole 15
The 15th at Maderas Golf Club is a downhill par 3 that can play more than 250 yards.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas Golf Club - hole 16
The par-4 16th, at 453 yards, is part of a tough finishing stretch at Maderas Golf Club in Poway, California.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas Golf Club - hole 17
The 17th is another dramatic par 3 at Maderas Golf Club in Poway, California.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
Maderas G.C. - hole 18
Here's the magnificent view from the tee of the 600-yard, par-5 finishing hole at Maderas Golf Club in Poway, California.
Mike Bailey/TravelGolf
