San Jose area cours rec needed

Hello all, I'll be in the south San Jose area for the next few days. I'm looking for a good course recommendation. As always for me money is an object so I'd like to keep it under $80. Thanks.

These are all fun courses I like, but i'll list them in order of difficulty hardest first: The Ranch Cinnabar Hills Los Lagos San Jose Municipal (greens are not good though) All of them can be booked on golfnow for at least 10% discount usually

Also try San Juan Oaks in Hollister which is not to far away. If you don't mind busting your budget on an exceptional course, play Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz.

Thanks you guys.  I'm going to play The Ranch tomorrow and we will see about Thursday.

I like Shoreline - just up the road from San Jose (Mountain View). The final 6 holes get a bit repetitive, but up until then it's great. And it's a muni that's relatively cheap (under $40 to walk on a weekday, I think).  Can get windy in the afternoons though -- mornings are better.

http://www.ci.mtnview.ca.us/city_hall/comm_services/shoreline_golf_links/

I'd also recommend Santa Teresa. Course is kept in great shape for a muni, though it can get crowded. Back 9 has some real interesting holes with elevation changes.

I played The Ranch today and all I can say is WOW!  It is beautifully maintained.  The elevation changes were out of the norm and amazing to this Florida native.  The greens were tricky but in great shape and fast.  As Pham reported it is a difficult course: very tight.  There were only a few hole to hit driver.  Loads of fun and beautiful.  I will look at the other recs as I hope to play Thursday as well.

I'm glad you liked it. The view from that course is outstanding. How many balls did you lose? I always lose at least 2 balls there.

Yes the views were amazing and the layout is like no other that I've played before.  I lost 6 balls.  Now that I've been around the course, I would probably lose less next time, maybe.  I was able to drive the green on 10 and 11 (playing white), which is always fun.

Have any of you played Seascape in Aptos?

Thanks again for all the recommendations.

I've played Seascape.  It's a fun/interesting course, and I think it would be a good one to play if you have the chance.  I generally don't like courses that are built close to homes because I hate hitting into people's houses --- that actually wasn't an issue with this course (for the most part).

A lot of the fairways run along valleys or between two hills.  This makes the course more forgiving than it appears at first because if you only just miss the fairway, you're likely to have the ball bounce downhill towards the middle of the fairway.  On a few holes, though, there's not much forgiveness -- Some tall eucalyptus and redwood trees with wicked branches!.  Fun elevation changes too --- the 10th hole tee box is on top of a hill with a pretty steep drop-off.  Not many *flat* holes at all.  I know that fog can sometimes be an issue there, so bring an extra layer if you go.

The greens were pretty quick when I played, but some of the people I talked to said that's not always the case.

Oh.  And if you like pubs and pub food, look up directions to the Britannia Arms in Aptos.

http://www.britanniaarmsaptos.com/

Nothing too special, but a good, relatively inexpensive place to eat (and a great beer selection) and not too far from Seascape at all.

Thanks for the info, but we've settled on Spring Valley.  It's a bit closer to us.

Thanks for that info, but as you can see above that we are no longer going to go to Seascape.