Trip to Sunny Sun Diego Which Embraces Fun, Fazio, Fairmont Just Grand

SAN DIEGO - When you're located in a place which bills itself America's Most Livable City and then the first name of your golf course is The Grand, the pressure is certainly on to deliver a great resort product.

Thankfully, The Grand Del Mar, located just north of this seemingly always sunny Southern California City fulfills that boast and then some.

Combine one of the few Tom Fazio golf courses in the area along with a lavish resort now run by resort expert Fairmont Hotels and you have an enticing combination for locals and most importantly golf loving vacationers.

In an area boasting 300-plus days of sunshine, plenty of historic and upscale resorts and lots of top notch public golf offerings, including the former and future U.S. Open site at city-owned Torrey Pines golf course, it's not like San Diego was desperate for another all-encompassing golf resort.

But the Fazio layout and the expansive resort run by a resort leader and the experiences are simply, for lack of a better word, grand.

Local developer Douglas Manchester poured a reported $300 million dollars into the 249-room European-styled temple of vacationing pleasure, with enough polished marble and elaborate furnishings to make an Arab sheik jealous.
Add an existing Tom Fazio golf course, greatly enhanced with Manchester's millions, and you have a great entry into the San Diego golf scene already chock full of great places to play and stay.

The Fazio course, the only one in San Diego, was first built here in 1999 when it was known as Meadows Del Mar, a pleasant enough public layout among the canyons, but with little else there.

When Manchester and his experienced team decided this hilltop location, six miles east of the Pacific Ocean, was a prime spot for a new resort, they did plenty of work on the par 72 golf layouts.

With Fazio's blessing, they added some new tees and trees, toughening the course and enhancing its beauty. The biggest change by far was the addition of a multi-million dollar waterfall which thunders down from just right of the 18th green and cuts across the 18th fairway.

The Grand Director of Golf Shawn Cox, a longtime fixture of the local golf scene, who got his start at Torrey Pines, toured every Fazio water feature in Southern California and Palm Springs, then designed much of the waterfall himself and had his golf superintendent and operations staff build it.
Fairmont Golf which operates top golf properties all over North America has added its own touches to the course and the large practice facilities, which includes a portable TaylorMade fitting facility and an area for lunches or dinner nearby.

Addison's is the formal restaurant closest to the practice facility which overlooks the course while the Grand Grill offers up food of all varieties before or after your round with the fish tacos coming especially recommended.

The Grand Spa offers a variety of treatments for male and female visitors including some especially suited for golfers just returning from the Fazio course.
With his newly upgraded golf facility, 7,106 yards from the back or Grand tees, Fazio proves once again his layouts can be scenic and charming without being over challenging or penal.

At least half the holes on the par 36 back nine and a few on the front offers sweeping views of the canyons and the resort below. There are enough forced carries and large bunkers to keep your attention, but not so much punishment that the course isn't a pleasure to play 2-3 times during your stay.
Fairmont, Fazio and Fun, three keys to make your stay here truly grand.

For More information go to www.fairmont.com/san-diego/