(SAN DIEGO) February 4, 2010 – Barona Creek Golf Club was ranked for the second straight year as the fifth best casino course in Golfweek magazine’s Top 40 Casino Courses in the country.

“We are extremely honored that our course continues to receive such a significant ranking on Golfweek’s list of Top 40 Casino Golf Courses,” said Don King executive director of golf operations at Barona Creek. “Since our opening in 2001, we have been committed to providing our customers a world-class golf experience.”

Golfweek’s top five casino courses in 2009 were:
1.    Shadow Creek MGM Mirage, Las Vegas
2.    Fallen Oak Golf Course, Saucier, MS
3.    We-Ko-Pa Golf Course, Fountain Hills, AZ
4.    Cascata, Henderson, NV
5.    Barona Creek Golf Club, San Diego, CA

In addition, Golfweek previously rated Barona Creek the fifth best course in California; third best resort in California and 25th place for best resort courses nationwide.

“Our list embraces the very best of casino golf courses across the country," said Bradley S. Klein, national director of Golfweek's Best Courses ratings program. "In an era when course operators and resort developers are looking to highlight what makes their facility unique, a place on this, the most comprehensive of all casino course ratings, should be a matter of pride."

Since beginning its rating system in 1997, Golfweek has developed the most respected ranking structure in the industry. Every year, Golfweek's nationwide team of course raters, which currently boasts more than 475 evaluators, survey more than 2,200 courses - rating each nominated course on the basis of Golfweek's 10 strict standards of evaluation.

Collectively, Golfweek raters have turned in more than 45,000 votes. Golfweek's Best Courses lists include: Modern, Classic, New, Casino, Municipal, Residential, Resort, Caribbean & Mexico, Courses You Can Play and Tour Courses You Can Play.

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 area’s 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 100 percent reclaimed water 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 Barona Resort & Casino
For the last two years in a row, Barona Resort & Casino has won the J.D. Power and Associates Award for the "Highest in Satisfaction in the Southern California Indian Casino Gaming Experience" in the J.D. Power and Associates Southern California Indian Gaming Casino Satisfaction Study.

Barona Resort & Casino blends the best of San Diego's leading resorts with the gaming excitement of Las Vegas. Barona is San Diego's leading destination resort featuring 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.

Barona Resort & Casino received the highest numerical score in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2008-2009 Indian Gaming Casino Studies SM-Southern California Region.  The 2009 study, which only surveys casinos with a minimum of 1,000 slot machines, is based on 4,452 responses from gaming players who visited an Indian casino in Southern California between December 2008 and May 2009.  Proprietary study results are based on experiences and perceptions of consumers surveyed in May 2009. Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com.

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 Resort & Casino on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace at: www.barona.com/facebook, www.barona.com/twitter and www.barona.com/myspace.

###