Located fifteen miles north of San Diego, this course was originally the site of Fort Callan, a U.S. Army military training center. Following its closure in 1945, the camp was divided between the City of San Diego and the State of California. The full 100-acre parcel acquired by the city was developed into a golf course. Designed by golf course architect William P. Bell, a 36-hole plan divided into two 18-hole courses was realized by his son, William F. Bell. Known as Torrey Pines North and Torrey Pines South, the combined courses opened in 1957. Improvements have erased much of the original design. In 1999 golf course architect Rees Jones extended the southern course to 7,600 yards, while the northern course was extended by Tom Weiskpof in 2016. Weiskpof also reversed the north holes to end with scenic panoramas of the Pacific Ocean. These extensions nearly doubled the size of the combined courses. Torrey Pines regularly hosts the Farmers Insurance Open and The United States Open Championship.
Built atop 390-foot-high bluffs, and now encompassing 192-acres, the site extends south from the Torrey Pines State Reserve to the Salk Institute of Biological Studies. Shaped around scrub-canvased canyons, the two turf courses consist of tight fairways interspersed with asymmetrical sand traps and deep bunkers. Winding across undulating lawns is a network of hardscape cart paths shaded by eucalyptus and torrey pine groves. The paths converge onto a hardscape plaza that surrounds the club house, nestled in a minor depression at the eastern edge of the property. In 2016, the course began to undergo the process of turf reduction, which replaces under-used grass with native shrubs to preserve water.
