Torrey Pines, a jewel on the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing since the late 1960s is a cliffside colossus that merits a space on all travelling golfers’ bucket lists. The site of the 2008 US Open where Tiger and Rocco Mediate battled it out in an drama churning yet exceptionally congenial nineteen-hole playoff whopper has already been penciled in to host America’s National major again in 2021. A public course, anyone can play the South or North course and the city owned golf institution sees 100,000 rounds of play a year. For a less pedestrian Torrey Pines experience, take a leap of faith off the edge of a 300-foot cliff strapped to a giant kite and check out the course from a bird’s eye perspective.
Weightlessly gliding over the rugged cliffs at Torrey Pines on a tandem paraglider flight is a surreal experience. If you forget about the ripstop polyester keeping you airborne for a second, it’s the closest you can come to feeling what it’s like to be Superman.
Paragliding isn’t typically a workout but if the wind dies down during your flight you may have to land on Black’s beach and be forced to climb the precipitous, circuitous, uneven pathway carved out of the Monstrous cliffs which if done at a brisk pace will burn your calf muscles akin to a mile high Stairmaster hike.
Then get your golf fix with a round at Coronado, one of the most walkable courses in California thanks to its pancake flat topography. Plus, it also offers sick views of San Diego Bay and docked Navy vessels. The popular public track is just a pleasant ten-minute stroll through a ritzy neighborhood from The Del Hotel which provided the backdrop for the Marilyn Monroe comedy Some Like it Hot.
