Best for: The round you came for. Strong players will find the full test, but the wide corridors mean a mid-handicap can enjoy it too, provided they can walk 18 in the wind.

Insider tip: The bluff-top holes sit roughly 100-200 feet above the Pacific with nothing between you and the ocean, so the wind you feel on the tee is rarely the wind at the green. Take a caddie at $100 per bag plus tip; on this course the wind reads alone pay for it. Play a lower flighted ball into the exposed holes and accept the ground game.

Best for: Understanding how the whole place began. A slightly more conventional test than Pacific Dunes, and a good first-day course while your group finds its legs.

Insider tip: This is the original and it wears its cliff-top exposure more openly than the others, with several holes where a pushed shot is simply gone into the ocean below. Aim conservatively away from the bluff side on the exposed holes and let the wind bring the ball back. Walking it after a travel day is real work, so consider it your day-two round instead.

Best for: Golfers who like architecture as much as scoring, and for mixed-skill groups, since the enormous fairways forgive a wayward driver.

Insider tip: The greens are the largest at the resort and the exposed ground gives the wind free rein across them, so a putt can be a three-club decision. Study the pin sheet before you tee off and pick a side of the green rather than a number. It is the most fun course here to play in a strong crosswind.

Best for: The photograph and the experience. Better for players who can control ball flight; a high-ball hitter in a 25-mph wind will have a long afternoon.

Insider tip: This is the most exposed course at the resort, with no trees, no bunkers, and nothing to break a wind coming straight off open water at bluff height. Play it on the calmest morning of your trip if you have any choice in the matter. A caddie is close to mandatory here, since the greens fall toward the ocean in ways the eye will not tell you.

Best for: The day the wind is unplayable elsewhere, and for groups who want variety rather than five straight rounds of coastal exposure.

Insider tip: The inland routing means the trees actually block some wind, which makes this the sanest choice when a storm front is sitting on the coast. It is also the most elevation change underfoot of any course here, so it walks harder than the yardage suggests. Save it for a day when your legs are fresh rather than the back half of a 36-hole push.

Best for: The late-afternoon match with a beer, a mixed-skill group, or anyone whose legs are done but who is not ready to stop playing.

Insider tip: Do not treat this as a throwaway. It sits on the same exposed bluff as everything else, so the wind is fully in play on shots of 100 to 150 yards, which is where most golfers have the least control. It is walking only like the rest of the resort, but the loop is short enough to finish before the light goes.