The three best golf courses in Los Angeles are all on the west side, in private country clubs. The Bel-Air Country Club, Riviera Country Club, and the Los Angeles Country Club all speak to the upscale neighborhoods around them; Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, and Holmby Hills are leafy, green neighborhoods far from the urban bustle of downtown Los Angeles.

The naturally rolling hills, balmy climate and hint of ocean breezes all bring to mind the Scottish birthplace of golf, minus the driving rain and bitter winters.

And ancient castles – but that’s another story. It’s no wonder that the best golf courses in Los Angeles are all on the west side; the typically upper middle class golfing residents don’t have to deal with Los Angeles traffic to get to their favorite courses.

There are other pristinely maintained, beautiful golf courses in Los Angeles, of course — the Beverly Hills Country Club’s comes to mind comes to mind — but it’s a shame for golf fans traveling in Los Angeles that the top-tier ones are in members-only clubs.

Greens fees cost hundreds of dollars for guests! Integrating a few rounds of golf into a Los Angeles vacation isn’t hard, though; the top three public courses hold their own against the private golf clubs.

Rancho Park Golf Course is probably the busiest and most popular municipal course, so reservations are strongly recommended.

Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms was named the 2010 Gold Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association — not too shabby!

Trump National Golf Club is also public, with ocean views and upscale amenities The Donald himself would appreciate.

All have very reasonable green fees, and the collected fees are money well-spent. You can see where your money goes: The grounds maintenance is great at all properties, and the staff helpful and quick to respond.

Say you’re planning to travel around Los Angeles, and you’d like to play where the pros have. The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) runs an annual series of golf tournaments for women golfers from February to December.

This past year, two of the international tours were played in California; the Kia Classic and the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Now, the Kraft Nabisco Championship was played  in Rancho Mirage, at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course (lots of those Palm Springs-area golf courses and streets are named after Rat Pack-era stars) in the Mission Hills Country Club.

Stacy Lewis won that tourney. The full-field Kia Classic was played at Industry Hills Golf Club in the City of Industry. Sandra Gal took home the purse.

While Rancho Mirage in in the Palm Springs area (itself a mecca for luxury golf courses), the City of Industry is in Los Angeles, just east of downtown LA.

Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort, in the City of Industry, has two courses for a total of 36 holes: The “Babe” and “Ike” courses were named two of the “best Places to Play” in Southern California by Golf Digest.

These sprawl out over 650 acres of smooth greens and challenging elevation changes in a gorgeous resort area. No wonder the Industry Hills Golf Club was voted Best Golf Course in the USA by the NGCOA and was a runner-up for Reader’s Choice 2010 Best Course & Best Resort.

The best golf courses in Los Angeles may be in members-only clubs, but the public courses here are pretty fantastic too. Remember that Southern California’s bar is high to begin with.

Golf lovers hoping to knock out a few rounds while on vacation in the Los Angeles area shouldn’t hesitate to avail themselves of one of the top public golf courses.

After all, if it’s good enough for the LPGA, it should be good enough for everyone. Suffice it to say, those women know their stuff.

The top public golf courses in Los Angeles help stretch the travel budget of a golf lover’s vacation in Southern California.

This is a sponsored post. The Vacation Gals were hired to write this post about golf courses in Los Angeles and the LPGA.

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