I live in Northern California and have found the club can sometimes be a little slow to respond to emails. So, don't worry if it takes a few days to hear back. I think there's a phone number listed. You might give it a try, too.
Are you opposed to other parts of the state? There's a club in LA and San Diego. I think there's also a Golden Retriever Club of some sort for the Central Coast (San Luis Obispo, etc. but don't quote me on that. You'd have to Google it.)
One of my dogs came from Southern California. For whatever reason, I've had better luck in that part of the state.
I would also add that when you look at the club website you can get an idea of potential breeders by poking around on the website. You'll often see the name of the club officers and news about awards/titles that local members have won. I've googled those names before and been led to their websites. Breeders often have parentage information about their dogs readily available. Many times the names of the parents contain the breeder's name so you can spider web out that way to find and research breeders.
For example, look at the graphic LJack provided. You can see the dam and sire for her girl, Tilt. The dam is from Wildfire. Having read through LJack's website I can tell she's a responsible, ethical breeder so I would bet that she purchased from a similar type breeder so I'd hop over to Wildfire's website. (You've already got a great indicator that Wildfire is a good breeder because you can see the CHIC symbol next to the dam's name.) And sure enough when I look at Wildfire's website it shows they're health testing their dogs. Wildfire also tells you on the website that they don't have any breedings planned until later in the year but if you contact her she can refer you to other breeders who might. So, again, you've just spider webbed your way out to useful references because a responsible breeder like Wildfire is probably referring you to other responsible breeders.
That example would probably lead you to breeders outside of CA. Personally, I'd travel a bit for a healthy dog. (In my case, I always travel because I usually add an older pup to my family so I can't be picky on location. I have to go to where the older pup is because they're far fewer older pups than 8-week-old pups.)
I hope that helped and made sense.
And not to play favorites. I could do the same thing with Prism Goldens who responded to you. I can look at her website and see that one of her girls is an offspring from Goldruls. Knowing that Prism is a good breeder I'd look at Goldruls website betting that's a good breeder and sure enough Goldruls is a good breeder.
Good, reputable breeders tend to work with and acquire pups from other good, reputable breeders. So, again, with a little bit of work there are lots of ways to spider web out to good breeders in the hopes that one might have an upcoming litter that would work for you.
I've also never had a good, reputable breeder be offended if I asked for referrals to other breeders if they didn't have any litters on the horizon. Most good, reputable breeders want you to get a great dog from another good, reputable breeder if they don't have any pups available. So, most are usually willing to let you know about potential litters they've heard about.
One other tip - I never hesitate to use the results from AKC events as a potential source. People showing their dogs tend (not always, but tend) to make responsible breeders. So, you can look for possible breeders that way. (This is especially true for conformation events.)
