Just north of Santa Barbara, Rancho San Marcos Golf Course “sets the stage” for a historic golf tour through a site that encompasses nineteenth century adobe structures and an original stagecoach trail.  Robert Trent Jones II’s 6,817-yard course proffers views of the Santa Ynez River Valley and furrowed peaks overlooking Lake Cachuma. No housing mars the purity of the golf course, where wild turkeys are considered honorary marshals.

One of our challenges in designing Rancho San Marcos was to take advantage of a site that encompassed three different topographical zones, each with its own distinctive character. The golf holes begin in former ranch land on the valley floor, step up to a meadowed plateau, and eventually climb to a high ridgeline overlooking the lake before dropping back down into the meadow. It took twelve years for the owners to receive zoning approval. In creating the course we routed holes around stands of oaks, and maintained and even enhanced riparian habitat. The result is a gorgeous natural landscape that looks as if it’s always been there.

More recently, new owner Ty Warner provided RTJ II with an opportunity to perform additional work to restore the course after flooding and earlier management practices had impacted our original design.  The LA Times has described Rancho San Marcos as “where the golf Gods play.”  Our founder, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., believes the course contains “one of the best sets of greens we have ever built.”