Barona Creek Golf Club Ranks #5 in Golfweek Magazine's 2014 "Best Courses You Can Play in California" List

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 1, 2014) - Barona Creek Golf Club at Barona Resort & Casino in San Diego held the fifth spot for the second straight year in Golfweek magazine's "2014 Best Courses You Can Play in California" list. The publication has also named Barona Creek as the fourth best resort course in California and 36^th on its list of resort properties nationwide and 7^th on its list of casino courses.

"We are very proud that Barona Creek has once again been ranked by Golfweek as one of the top courses in California," said Clifford LaChappa, Chairman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians. "The fact that we rank among the top courses in the country is a tribute to the commitment to quality by our Tribe and our entire golf course staff."

2014 Top 5 California Best Courses You Can Play Rankings:

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach 
2. Spyglass Hill, Pebble Beach
3. Pasatiempo, Santa Cruz 
4. Rustic Canyon, Moorpark
5. Barona Creek Golf Club, San Diego

To produce Golfweek's Best Courses lists, an expert team of more than 725 course raters uses a 10-point ranking system to identify the best layouts from two distinctly different eras: pre-1960 and 1960-present. The exclusive system recognizes that before 1960 -- the year that separates Classic from Modern -- most course designers relied on native contours for course features. Since 1960, as the game became more popular, designers began to utilize high-tech engineering and advanced mechanical means to transform the landscape to suit their designs.

"Our Golfweek's Best Courses issue always is a popular issue with our readers, many of whom tabulate the number of top-100 courses they have played and eagerly flip pages to see where their home course stacks up," said Golfweek Editor Jeff Babineau. "Rating courses is a subjective endeavor, but it's always interesting to unveil our new lists and listen to the conversations that they generate."

Barona Creek Golf Club is a 7,448-yard par 72 golf course with more than 114 multi-fingered bunkers and a series of lakes and ponds connected to the areas naturally fed streams. The course offers multiple sets of tees to accommodate players of all abilities. It features more than 170 mature native oak trees transplanted from other regions of the Barona Indian Reservation.

The course has also been recognized for its environmental efforts by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and San Diego Earthworks. With its state-of-the-art water reclamation and wastewater treatment facilities, Barona uses reclaimed water and rainwater runoff to irrigate the golf course and surrounding landscape. The course has also earned the prestigious Bronze Signature Sanctuary Certification from Audubon International for its conservation, environmental quality and land management efforts.

About Golfweek's Best
Since beginning its rating system in 1997, Golfweek has developed the most respected ranking structure in the industry. Golfweek's expert team of course raters, which currently boasts more than 725 evaluators, rates each nominated course on the basis of Golfweek's 10 strict standards of evaluation. Collectively, Golfweek raters have turned in more than 65,000 votes. Golfweek's Best Courses lists include: Modern, Classic, Casino, Municipal, Campus, Residential, Resort, Canadian, Caribbean & Mexico, Great Britain & Ireland and Courses You Can Play. The full criteria for evaluating the golf courses may be found at Golfweek.com/GolfweeksBest.

About Barona Resort & Casino
Barona Resort & Casino, an AAA Four Diamond rated property, blends the best of San Diego's leading resorts with the gaming excitement of Las Vegas. LEED® Gold Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, Barona features 400 guest rooms and suites all with beautiful views of the Barona Valley, a variety of award-winning dining options, the AmBience Day Spa, a full-service events center and the 18-hole championship Barona Creek Golf Club, rated the 3rd best resort course in California by Golfweek magazine. For Barona Resort & Casino reservations and information, visit www.barona.com, or call toll free 888-7-BARONA (722-7662). You can also join Barona on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare.