What would it take to reopen the 18 holes at 2755 Snead Avenue? According to the City's project page, construction through the course is "nearing completion." The course reopens only when the project is finished, an operator has been selected, and the City Council has approved a new lease. The trail closure north of Mount Acadia has a published end date, while the lease decision has no date on any public calendar.
For anyone who walks, runs or birds the canyon from Clairemont, those two conditions call for different kinds of patience.
Where the Trail Opens and Where It Stops
As of the City's most recent project update, dated Sept. 1, the canyon breaks into these pieces:
- Phase 1a, open. This runs from the Tecolote Canyon Nature Center at 5180 Tecolote Road to the USD access point.
- Phase 1b, open. This runs from north of the USD access point into the Tecolote Canyon Golf Course.
- Golf course trails, closed. Every trail inside the course is closed, and so is the hiking trail that used to pass through it.
- Mount Acadia Boulevard to Balboa Avenue, closed. This stretch is closed around the clock until summer 2027.
The edges of these phases are where people tend to get confused. The City describes Phase 1b as reaching into the golf course, and in the same update it says all trails within the course remain closed. An open phase on that map does not give you a route through the course. Across the whole park, the City counts about 6.5 miles of trail. At the moment, most of the open mileage sits in the southern canyon.
Drivers have one change to note. The Mount Acadia Boulevard detour for sewer main and maintenance-hole work is finished, though the City says periodic traffic control will stay in place "for the foreseeable future."
The Pipe Has a Finish Line
The project behind the closures is the City's Tecolote Canyon Trunk Sewer Improvement & Golf Course Water Connection. It rehabilitates and replaces 4.7 miles of trunk sewer pipe through the canyon and adds 700 linear feet of 16-inch water main to serve the golf course. Crews are using open trenches in some areas. In environmentally sensitive spots they are boring underground with steel casings and jacking and receiving pits.
The City says the trail closures are about safety, citing heavy construction traffic on narrow trails, deep excavations and work that goes on around the clock. That is why the Mount Acadia to Balboa segment has a firm horizon. Once the equipment leaves, the safety reason for the closure goes with it.
The canyon floor will take longer to recover than the trail. The revegetation plan calls for a 120-day plant establishment period, then 25 months of monitoring for vegetated areas and 60 months for all restoration areas. Friends of Tecolote Canyon describes the park as a 1,000-acre coastal sage scrub habitat. Its creek is one of three hydrological areas in the Mission Bay watershed, so what happens on the canyon floor reaches the bay downstream.
The sewer timeline has slipped before. In August 2025, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the course was down to nine holes, that some nearby trails were closed, that the September Street loop was still open, and that the project was expected to finish in 2027. Even so, every source has given this part of the work a target date.
The Lease Never Had One
The City says the course closed for two reasons, Phase 2 construction and the end of the previous operator's lease. Here is how the lease side has unfolded.
- Summer 2022. American Golf's lease expired and the course went month-to-month, according to Fox 5.
- Jan. 30, 2026. The City issued its termination notice.
- Feb. 11, 2026. The City announced all 18 holes were closed. It said reopening would follow the infrastructure work, then scheduled for summer 2026, and the selection of an operator with Council approval.
- Feb. 20, 2026. The City released a request for proposals for an operator of the 71-acre course. Proposals were due April 14, interviews were set for the week of April 27, and the Land Use & Housing Committee date was listed as "TBD."
- May 20, 2026. Minutes from the Tecolote Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee mention a letter from an organization that had submitted a bid. The minutes do not name the bidder or report a selection.
- Sept. 3 and Oct. 16, 2026. Neither Land Use & Housing Committee agenda listed the golf course.
The summer 2026 estimate has come and gone. The RFP says any new operator needs a Council-approved lease, and its background section describes the property as vacant. Finishing the construction will not reopen the course by itself. A lease still has to go through committee and Council.
What the Advisory Committee Wants Built
The delay leaves time to debate what kind of course should come back. In March, 10News quoted Darrell Madison, chair of the Tecolote Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee, calling for a bio-conscious course with water conservation, fewer pesticides and wildlife corridors. In the same report, Madison said hikers had found golf balls on trails and in creeks, and he raised concerns about pesticides reaching the creek water.
So the lease decision affects hikers too. The course sits between the open southern canyon and the closed northern stretch, and its trails are part of the route. The terms of a new lease will shape what walking past the fairways is like after the course reopens.
The Union-Tribune reported in February that course users and nearby residents doubted the course would reopen. Since then, no proposer has been named in public.
Dates on the Nature Center Calendar
The Tecolote Canyon Nature Center is at the open end of the canyon and keeps a steady fall schedule. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and closed Sunday and Monday. The phone number is 858-581-9944.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Wed., Nov. 4, 9 a.m. | Free guided bird walk with naturalist Trent Robertson, hosted by Friends of Tecolote Canyon | Famosa Slough |
| Thu., Nov. 5, 5 p.m. | Nature Nights, a free adult talk on microplastics research in water, air and animals, with a nacho bar and signature mocktail | Nature Center, 5180 Tecolote Road |
| Tue., Nov. 17, 10:30 a.m. | Little Owlets Book Club, a free monthly preschool storytime with a craft, activity or hike | Nature Center |
| Wed., Nov. 18, 6:30 p.m. | Tecolote Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee public meeting with annual officer elections | Nature Center |
Little Owlets meets on the third Tuesday of each month, which puts November's session on the 17th. The advisory committee meets every other month on third Wednesdays, and the Nov. 18 meeting is its last listed meeting of 2026. That meeting is open to the public and held in the building closest to the open trail. It is where the trail closure and the golf course lease both get discussed, and where the committee picks the officers who will speak for the canyon while the City finishes choosing an operator.
The Nature Nights talk on Nov. 5 is a Thursday evening event. Arriving a bit early leaves time to walk the open Phase 1a stretch toward the USD access point before the talk starts.
Our team at Jeff Davidson Group follows Clairemont's canyon edges as closely as its streets. If you own a home near Tecolote Canyon and want to understand how the trail and golf course timelines may affect your property, we would be glad to talk it through. Contact Us.
