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Encinitas was a quiet little seaside community and the population of San Diego was 1/3 of today, when Golf Course Architect Cary Bickler dreamed of designing a golf course on the Ecke Flower Ranch. Now, San Diego area golfers are celebrating the March 1, 1998 grand opening of the Encinitas Ranch Golf Course, the newest 18-hole championship golf course in Southern California.
"I lived on a country road across from the Ecke flower fields, a spectacular site for a golf course, where I would stand visualizing green rolling fairways. Then I would go to my office, and back to the reality of being a young designer starting a golf course design practice, hoping the phone would ring."
Time marched on. The flowers fields continued to grow and so did Bickler's golf course design practice. While the Southern California population multiplied and demand for real estate spiraled the secluded agricultural fields remained hidden, high on a mesa, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the La Costa Spa and Country Club below. Three years ago Bickler opened his mail and found a Request for Proposal from the City of Encinitas for the design of a new 18-hole championship golf course on the very property where he had stood dreaming 27 years earlier.
In honor of the City of Encinitas' world wide recognition for flower growing, Bickler has designated hole #11 at the entrance to the golf course the "Flower Hole". Golfers will be greeted by a colorful array of flowers which will be displayed year-round as a proud symbol of the City's commerce. Bickler says:
"When the opportunity to design the course presented itself, I was elated. My dream came rushing back to me, and the time had come. I knew the job was meant for me."
The Encinitas Ranch Golf Course is in North San Diego County at the Leucadia Boulevard exit, on the east side of Interstate 5. The course is just 15 minutes north of Torrey Pines Golf Course. It is located on the only remaining ocean view property of its kind along the coastline of San Diego County. Bickler's long acquaintance with the site and recognition of its natural elements directed his design in preserving the "coastal sea ranch theme". His goal was to give the appearance that hundreds of years of winds had shaped the mounding. Bickler drew detailed plans, but to further emphasize his concept of a "timeless look", he also gave lead shapers his favorite black and white photos of windblown sand dunes. Natural features include red sandstone bluffs that accentuate the lay of the land, and the native vegetation which weaves in and around the course. Wind-rows of mature eucalyptus and Torrey Pine trees boarder some of the fairways, as do the flower fields which will remain in production.
The course is situated on 183 acres with 2 existing agricultural lakes that come into play on 4 holes. The 6,812 yard, par 72, daily fee golf course has 4 sets of tees so golfers can select the overall distance according to their ability. A double-ended driving range and practice area has been developed to accommodate public practice as well as a golf teaching school. Green fees are scheduled at $34.00 weekdays and $50.00 on weekends without a cart; $44.00 on weekdays and $60.00 on weekends with a cart. The golf course was developed by Carltas Company as part of an 850 acre master planned mixed use community. It was constructed in joint venture by San Diego based R.E. Hazard Construction Company, Inc. and Environmental Golf, Inc. Upon opening, the course will be under the ownership of the City of Encinitas and operated by JC Resorts.
* For information on tee times, call:
Encinitas Ranch Golf Course (760) 944-1936 or 1-800-662-6439 Toll Free
Bickler Home Page - Design Principles - Encinitas Ranch - Borrego Springs