The Links at Spanish Bay

[A_Clay_Man]

Ok, so the company defines 'links' as a course which does not have returning nines. Maybe for a few of the purist of literalists this is wrong but in the scheme of things I'd have to say "get over it".

So much disdain for this place can be found in the hearts and minds of many posters here. Other than just saying they wasted the property let's do a hole by hole analysis and then those proponents for a legless lizard habitat can chime in and say what is exactly wrong with the golf course.

The first hole is an awesome sight. Sure the building down the left side is there and anyone whos looking at it and not at the wide open Pacific deserves to be a non-believer. A medium length Par 5 with a severe narrowing nearer and nearer the green makes going for it in two a very risky proposition.
#2 an uphill short par 4 with great risk reward if downwind. Severely undulated green makes approach shots either great or a probable 3 putt. The third is another great view of the vast Pacific but if you can make out the one house in the distance this is your line on the sharp dogleg left par 4. As the book will tell you this approach shot was designed to be played with a low runner, but I will agree that the often soft conditions make it difficult but certainly coming up short is a good spot to miss.

I'll stop there for now and wait for some intelligent responses, Anonomous Moronic comments need not reply unless of course they have some probabtive value.

[Joel_Stewart]

Its not a top 100 course by any means but I view it as a top resort course in the sense of links golf.  What most people don't know is that the course is completely man made, at the time they moved more dirt and sand then any other course made.

[John Bernhardt]

It is tough to be anything but in love with any course on the Peninsula on a day like this. adam Gib is your friend on this one. I also do not think it is a top 100 course. Yes it is fun to play and in a great setting. It is way to expensive and a much better course could have been buil there. I hope they blow it up and redo it one day.

[A_Clay_Man]

They really should've listened to Pete and moved the road, I agree, but I choose not spend my life wishing things were different and do prefer to spend a beautiful day like this one  cascading down the 14th just prior to twilight and playing the final four holes with the spindrift and sunlight, it is exquisite. And when It's foogy fuhgetaboutit, it is still the real deal.

[D. Kilfara]

And when it's foggy, it's even better, in my opinion! One of my fondest golfing memories was playing SB by myself on a mistly, 60 degree day (the sort that has me reaching for Mike Cirba's "Golf and Spirituality" thread) and zipping around the front nine - which was deserted - in just over an hour. I wasn't rushing for the sake of rushing; rather, I was so excited by being out there that I just couldn't wait to hit each shot!

Adam, I agree completely with your analysis of the first three holes. The 2nd is a gem of a short par 4, and the 1st is right up there as well; the drive on the 3rd is a bit awkward for me (most resort guests won't know how much to try and bite off on the tee shot), but the concept behind the approach shot is supremely enjoyable as well. I'll look forward to your continuation...

Cheers,
Darren

[redanman]

LASB fills a beautiful little niche for the PBC.  They needed another seaside course and another luxury lodge.  Perhaps a bit too much emphasis was placed on the latter and so the course really suffers from a disjointed schizophrenic routing and unfortunate modern restrictions.

That doesn't detract one bit from a great experience for the majority of golfers who play it.  It is smack on the ocean and that is thrilling.  It has fog and wind and a few really cool holes.  It has some awful marsh and on-the-edge-of-the-DelMonte-forest holes due to little fences and stakes and mesh and whatnot, but experientially it is better than average and just fine for the overwhelmingly vast majority.

But it lives in the same neighborhood as PBG(n)L, Spyglass, Monterey Peninsula and especially the Cypress Point Club.  Pity the poor little LASB.  It never had a chance to live up to all of that.

[A_Clay_Man]

Darren- The third is one hole where anything could be had by anybody. From holing out for a deuce to never finding your ball. It is a thinking mans sharp dogleg left and the tee shot is one of the most uncomfortable for the vast majorities. There is a way back tee that is behind the 2nd green. It is one of the more spiritual spots on the entire course or even the planet. But alas the company doesn't let anyone back there.

Moving on;

The fourth is a one shoter looking back at the hotel but it never even catches your eye. With a large dune like mound on the right and native areas and bunkers on the left this uphill shot is tough to club. Short, once again, is waaaay better than long. 3 good.
The fifth is the number one handicap and has 3 mid-right centerline church pew bunkers that can be carried but by only the most confident of swings. The split-like fairway is a great risk reward decision that must be made on the tee. Right shortens the hole and opens up the green a bit but is much narrower and the esa lurks right. All while the rest of the fairway has buried elephants and slopes that should make any shotmaker grin with pleasure and any whinny bitch cry "unfair". The green has one of the steepest fronts that virtually makes the upper half feel like it's much smaller. A difficult read here from any side of the hole.
The sixth is a beaut for strategic design. the options are only limited by the golfers ability and imagination. With nasty bunkers doting the ideal landing areas for this dog right par 4, tee shot placement here is key. Safe play is 200 left center off the tee and then depending how far left you went will leave a mid-iron in to the uphill masterpiece of a putting surface.

In recalling the the first third of this course the only criticism that I feel would hold any water is perhaps that for that size of green the interior contours are a bit severe. But since the green speeds are notoriously slower than anywhere else, that criticism breaks down.

[Rose Glasses]

aclayman,

Cutting to the chase, you're going to describe how good each of the 18 holes are.  The problem is, you want us to reach a preconceived conclusion, your conclusion, an erroneous conclusion.

Contributors to this site have hammered "the experience" and
"CCFAD" from day one, and now those elements are being factored in by some to tell us the course is worthy.

A great opportunity was lost when the hotel was located in the core of the property.  The architecture, and the golf course are medicre at best.

If the surrounding golf courses didn't exist I doubt The Links at Spanish Bay would be a prefered golf destination.
Had the other courses not existed, the owner-developers would have been forced to make the golf course outstanding, as is required to make it the primary attraction and as such they might have created something special.  The reality is, they didn't and it isn't.

[Bob_Huntley]

Rose Glasses.

Are you a mind reader? You done stole my thoughts exactly!

[A_Clay_Man]

Hey rosie, or shoould I call you Mr. Palm? The only thing I'm doing is discussing and trying to describe what is there. I was hopeing someone with enough guts to use their real name or real GCA name, to chime in and inform us what's so wrong or what they think specifically. but, since you did and you didn't use your name or did anything but dwell on whats not there, I could care less what you think and everyone who feels the way you do about the place should be cringing that you're on thier side.

BOB?

[Bob_Huntley]

Adam.

I wasn't knocking your exposition, only the course. As you know it is not my favourite walk in the park.

I think I mentioned in the thread on Pebble Beach, if anyone knows the nuances of the courses of the Monterey Peninsula it is you.

Mea culpa.

[A_Clay_Man]

Bob- No problemo, as you may know I do respect others opinions and perhaps my contrarian nature is why I like it, if not for the reason rosey states, is a collective opinion.

I have played SB more than any other course the company owns but I have also been around SPY and Pebble more times. I do have a bias for anything that even tries to remotely make itself look like a dunesland course, which Spanish does, on several but not all the holes.

My friend Ron told me last night that with the economy down and golf taking a back seat in disposable income expenditures, there have been days at Spanish where only one foursome of guest palyed. Needless to say he has been playing it alot. As you probably know Mr. Ulbie(sp?) they ran into Mr. Spangler and Ron suggested that perhaps a local resident off season rate could be offered and Ron says he and some of the other owners agreed.
So, see if you can get around a few more times and perhaps you'll see what I see. Plus, I think it might suit your game a little better than the heroic courses that have left you feeling weak and weary.

Also, I understand construction has started on the new shore course. Any updates of note?

[Bob_Huntley]

Adam.

Reduced rates for locals was sugested to the PB poobahs by me after 9/11 and answered with a polite "No."

The Shore Course construction started today. I shall have my new digital camera out trying to record the happenings. This may well be the most inept chronicling of course development in history.

[John_D._Bernhardt]

Bob I doubt you are capable of an inept effort at anything. I do look forward to seeing the work in progress in March. I hope all is well in the land never to be forgotten in the hearts and minds of golfer everywhere. I really do hope Peter, Clint Arnold and the boys do blow up Spanish Bay and rebuild the course.

[mike_beene]

I love this golf course,so I can't stay silent.It gives some variety to the other two courses.It's beautiful.Fourteen rolling down to the sea is as good as it gets.The greens have reasonable speed.You can walk and carry your own bag.The second green is a study in itself.The inland holes are a change without the Spyglass feel that screams East Texas.If we are worried about marketing,maybe we should first change the big sisters name to Pebble Beach Parkland-by-the-Sea.

[A_Clay_Man]

#7 Aptly named "left be gone" is arguably tougher than #1 hndcp. fifth. Out of a shoot of trees and With a narrowing landing area from the left, (the entire left side of the hole is reed laiden swampy moat) this drive requires thought as well as execution. A driver here is only warrented into a gale. Bunkers, rough and a hillside gaurd the right with anyhting too short leaves too much into the sectioned green gaurded front right with a bunker that protects the back right pin. A large swale seperates the green vertically from the line of play and the hazard from the left swoops all the way around the green to form the pond on the mucci maligned 8th.