OCEANSIDE, Calif. — These days people are looking to take their dog to many different places. From shops to breweries and now even golf courses!
But did you know that San Diego County has two courses that allow you to play with your pup and they are just miles apart?
It is far from a ruff day on the course for Maverick and Jameson. The pair have been coming to Emerald Isle in Oceanside for years. It is one of their favorite places to play. Did you think we were talking about humans? Far from it.
The four-legged golfers are probably having all the fun in their group. Their owners said, “It's like the blind leading the blind, but they're still having fun they're still kicking it."
At Emerald Isle, dogs are free to roam the course as long as they are well behaved, and their waste is picked up.
While many people may be shaking their heads at the idea, Jameson and Maverick’s owners, Trent and Aaron embrace it. They said, “We’ve been doing this for what? Seven years. Yeah, we’ve been bringing our dogs out as much as the golf course will allow us. So yeah, we are going to keep doing it.”
Holly Kennedy bought the Emerald Isle property around eight years ago. She says what started off as an unspoken rule quickly became official course policy. “I mean it was a collaborative decision and effort to have this be the dog friendly golf course. The way we are set up, the way our layout is, where our clubhouse is, the driving range, our little practice area here, it just lends itself to a hangout for people and dogs.”
The course even has Bogey, an actual Taylor Made staff member and assistant pro for Emerald Isle. He takes his job very seriously under the watchful eye of head pro Natalie Vivaldi. She said, “He is off-leash all of the time and I don’t ever have to worry about him. No matter who is in the shop, I mean they always have their eye on him. We are a big family.”
You may think that a course that allows dogs is as rare as a hole-in-one, but just two miles from Emerald Isle is another course that lets you play with your pups. It’s called Goat Hill Park.
At the Goat, dogs are a hit here too. Zach McSpadden has been working in the pro show for two years and he told CBS 8 that he had no idea that dogs were even connected to the game. When talking about allowing dogs on the course he said, “Yeah. I mean, why not? Like it's a perfect place to let your dog run around with you all you got to do the things you like to do, you know what I mean? So, I think I think it's going to blow up.”
The owner of Goat Hill, John Ashworth got the idea to allow dogs on the course from the birthplace of golf. He told CBS 8, “You know, the dog thing sort of came out of an experience when I was over in Scotland, they would they just, they allowed dogs, especially if they're well behaved on the golf course. So I always thought that was really interesting and a different aspect to golf."
No matter what country you are in, golf is brutally hard to play, but dogs can be there to keep things in perspective.
When asked if this can be the future of the game, Ashworth said, “Oh for sure!” Kennedy added, “I would definitely say so!” One visitor at Emerald Isle said, “I don’t quit smiling out here. This place is like therapeutic. I find that it is just so much fun to come out here.”
So as some courses may be taking dogleg lefts when others have gone right, no one hits their ball straight all the time, so why not enjoy the vibe and play nine with your canine?
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