South Bay golf runs from a six acre pitch and putt in Torrance to a clifftop course on the Palos Verdes coast, and most of it is public. Two of the three private clubs sit on the Peninsula. The county runs four courses within a short drive of the beach cities, and one of them is widely considered the most scenic municipal course in Los Angeles County.
Where can you play golf in the South Bay?
The South Bay has roughly eight golf facilities, most of them public. Los Angeles County operates Los Verdes, Alondra Park, Chester Washington and Victoria. Torrance runs Sea-Aire. Trump National is privately owned but open to public play. Palos Verdes Golf Club and Rolling Hills Country Club are private.
| Course | City | Access | Layout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Verdes Golf Course | Rancho Palos Verdes | Public, county | 18 holes, par 71, about 6,605 yards, ocean views throughout |
| Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles | Rancho Palos Verdes | Public, premium | 18 holes, par 71, clifftop coastal |
| Palos Verdes Golf Club | Palos Verdes Estates | Private | 18 holes, opened 1924 |
| Rolling Hills Country Club | Rolling Hills Estates | Private | 18 holes, rebuilt to a 2017 David McLay Kidd design |
| Alondra Park Golf Course | Lawndale | Public, county | 18 hole par 72 at about 6,445 yards, plus a separate par 3 course |
| Sea-Aire Golf Course | Torrance | Public, city | 9 holes, par 27, 510 yards, pitch and putt |
| Chester Washington Golf Course | Los Angeles | Public, county | 18 holes |
| Victoria Golf Course | Carson | Public, county | 18 holes, driving range and practice greens |
What is the best public course on the Palos Verdes Peninsula?
Los Verdes Golf Course at 7000 West Los Verdes Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes is the county course people drive across Los Angeles to play. It opened in 1964, plays as an 18 hole par 71 at roughly 6,605 yards, and runs along the bluff with ocean and Catalina views from most of the property.
The economics are the story. Weekday walking rates start around $45 and weekend riding rates run to around $67, which is municipal pricing for a coastal course that would cost several times that anywhere else on this coastline. The consequence is that tee times are genuinely hard to get. Book as far ahead as the county system allows, take a weekday if you can, and treat a last minute weekend slot as luck rather than a plan. The course has a driving range, practice putting, chipping and bunker areas, a restaurant and sports bar, and a banquet room.
Can the public play Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles?
Yes. Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes is privately owned and open to public play at premium rates, well above anything else in the South Bay. It opened in January 2006 as an 18 hole par 71 running along the cliffs above the Pacific, on the site of the former Ocean Trails course.
It is the most dramatic golf on the Peninsula and the most expensive. For most local players it functions as an occasional round rather than a regular one, with Los Verdes a mile up the coast carrying the weekly games.
Which South Bay golf clubs are private?
Two, both on the Peninsula.
Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes Estates opened on 15 November 1924, laid out across 213 acres by George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell, the same partnership behind several of the best known courses in Southern California. It is one of the oldest continuously operating courses in the region and is woven into the original Olmsted plan for Palos Verdes Estates. The club hosted an LPGA Tour event from 2022 through 2024, first as the Palos Verdes Championship and later as the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship. The LPGA announced in 2025 that the event would not be played as scheduled, so check the current tour calendar before planning around it.
Rolling Hills Country Club in Rolling Hills Estates was rebuilt on a relocated site to a David McLay Kidd design completed in 2017, making it the newest championship layout in the South Bay by a wide margin. The club carries a full social and recreational program alongside the golf.
What about The Lakes at El Segundo and Topgolf?
This is the part of South Bay golf that most guides miss entirely, and it contains the single best deal on the coast if you know the hours.
The Lakes at El Segundo is the city owned course at 400 South Pacific Coast Highway, and it now shares its site with Topgolf El Segundo. The two operate together: a ten hole golf course on the ground, and a three story, hundred plus bay Topgolf venue with Toptracer, an arcade, a bar and restaurant above it.
Topgolf is the obvious choice for a group where not everyone plays. It is open late, Monday through Thursday until midnight and Friday and Saturday until one in the morning, and nobody needs to own clubs or know what they are doing. Anyone under sixteen must be supervised by someone twenty one or older at all times, and anyone under eighteen after nine at night.
The resident deal almost nobody knows about
When El Segundo approved the Topgolf development it attached public access conditions to the agreement, and those conditions are still in force. They are published by the City and they are worth reading before you pay standard rates.
- Ten dollars a bucket, forty five balls. Topgolf is required to open the first level driving bays to the general public Monday through Friday on non holidays from 6:00 a.m. to noon, and on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., at $10 per bucket. That is a Topgolf bay at range prices, and it is open to anyone, not only El Segundo residents.
- A ten percent resident discount. Between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily, Topgolf must make bays available for youth sports and give a ten percent discount on driving range charges to City of El Segundo residents and youth sports users.
- A first floor route for minors. Topgolf is required to provide first floor access and first floor restrooms so that anyone under eighteen can use the facility without going up to the second and third floors.
What high school golfers get
The same agreement carries obligations toward junior golf that make El Segundo unusually well served.
Topgolf must provide free team practice access to the El Segundo Unified School District, Mira Costa High School and Vista Mar High School golf teams, and to the American Martyrs elementary school golf program. Where the venue has ball tracking technology, it has to be made available to those teams. Selected school sponsored teams and youth mentorship charities also get free game play between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday on non holidays.
Note that Mira Costa is a Manhattan Beach school practicing at an El Segundo facility, which is a quirk of how that agreement was written and a genuine benefit to Manhattan Beach families.
Both the course operator and Topgolf are also obligated to reach out to First Tee and the SCGA, so the junior pathways connect to the wider Southern California junior golf structure rather than stopping at the city line.
These terms come from the City of El Segundo’s own published resident information. Agreements get amended, so confirm the current hours and rates with Topgolf at (424) 567-6385 before you build a morning around them.
Where should a beginner or a junior player start?
Sea-Aire Golf Course in South Torrance is the answer most local families land on. It is a 9 hole par 3 on just over six acres, 510 yards from the longest tees for a par of 27, and it opened to the public on 2 September 1957. It is a pitch and putt in the honest sense: short irons, a putter, an hour, no pressure. The City of Torrance operates it and the surrounding Sea-Aire Park.
Alondra Park in Lawndale is the step up. Alongside its 18 hole par 72 course it runs a separate par 3 layout of about 2,252 yards, long enough to need most of a bag but forgiving enough to learn on. The facility dates to 1947 and both courses came off the boards of the Bell family of architects, whose work shows up across South Bay public golf.
What else is within a short drive?
Los Angeles County operates two more full length public courses at the eastern edge of the area. Chester Washington Golf Course sits in the Westmont area of unincorporated Los Angeles County, and Victoria Golf Course is at 340 North Harbor Boulevard in Carson with a driving range, practice putting and chipping greens and a restaurant. Both run on the same county tee time and rate system as Los Verdes and Alondra, which makes them the practical overflow when the Peninsula is booked out.
Rates, tee time windows and tournament schedules change. Course details were verified against city, county and club sources in September 2026. Confirm current rates and availability with the course before you book.