1000 Words Cannot Do Justice--Unique Looks at Pebble Beach

[Peter_Herreid]

Fellow GCA’er Dan Taylor and I had the immense pleasure of playing Pebble Beach this past Monday afternoon.  Regardless of how one feels about the cost to play, the course’s ranking relative to others, the pace of play, etc., it is not possible for me not to be exhilarated when getting the chance to play at Pebble…

The blue of the sky…
The gold of the setting sun…
The green grass of the fairways…
The glint of the firm, grey sand in the bunkers…
The foreboding dark browns of the cliffs…

...and of course...

The stunning white fur of the rabbit…!! !! !! !



Yes, it’s true, folks!  Dan and I were paired up Monday with a man…and his rabbit…

It is not an exaggeration to say that he both photographed and videotaped his rabbit on nearly every hole, sometimes holding the rabbit at the cliff’s edge, sometimes holding the camera in one hand and the rabbit in the other, shooting backwards to get a picture of the two of them together.  Sometimes the shots were just of the rabbit, framed gracefully against the tall grass of the bunkers—gold, Jerry—pure gold!



Alas, I do not know what the rabbit thought of the course architecture, the conditions or the company.  It was too busy wondering whether the crows perched on the golf carts were going to figure out how to open up the rabbit’s carrier…

Words cannot adequately describe the surreal nature of the entire afternoon—it seems to bizarre to believe, even as I type this…

Dan and I challenge all of you to come forth with your playing companion-rodent stories.  We feel confident that this will top anything, but I will never sell the cogniscenti of the GCA short!

Peter

[THuckaby2]

Peter:

OK, come on, admit it:  you were having an
experience "amplified" as it was in the
song with the same name as your playing
partner's companion, by Jefferson Airplane...

Feed your head.....

That's the only way this becomes believable.

Wow....

[CHrisB]

Let me guess...

He is a magician who performs in Branson or somewhere,
and the rabbit's trip to Pebble Beach was payback for the
unfortunate mishap that occurred during their last show,
when the rabbit was grabbed by the wrong part of his
anatomy while being pulled out of the hat.

(A similar thing happened a few years ago when Siegfried &
Roy took two of their white tigers to Cypress Point...)

[Lou_Duran]

In CA nothing is surprising.  Hell, here, in the midst of a Texas metroplex of 6MM people, one of my neighbors routinely walks this horrid pet pig.

The white rabbit thing is weird, but not so much after my experience at Spyglass Hill in 1983 when I was paired with two prosecutors from Nevada in Monterey attending a large law enforcement conference.

No sooner than we got to the inland holes, they started rolling joints and played plowed the rest of the day.  They offered me some stuff which, of course, I turned down politely.  We did get along quite nicely, and joined them at Pasatiempo a couple of days later (this time they played straight and didn't have as much fun).  I regret not accepting an invitation to their Friday night party with fellow men and women in law enforcement.  Apparently, things got real wild.

[Philip Gawith]

Tell us about the owner Peter - I'm sure he was a regular guy!

At my home course we have all sorts of shapes and sizes dogs wandering around with their owners, but I am afraid that a labrador in Oxfordshire somehow lacks the exotic appeal of a white rabbit at Pebble Beach!

[Eric Pevoto]

Hilarious.  Perhaps, we now know what this guy is doing with the money!

http://www.savetoby.com/

[Peter_Herreid]

Well, I can't give up the whole story in one swoop!

In case anyone was wondering, the rabbit had paid the full and appropriate trail fee, and did not get a "free ride", so to speak...

And his name, in the truest oxymoronic tradition, was "Pee Wee"

 

[Dan Kelly]

I was hoping his name was Harvey.

Has the guy got a publisher, yet, for what I'm guessing will be called "My Adventures With Pee Wee"?

[Scott_Burroughs]

"Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" is already taken, but they could do a remake.


Actually, Pee-Wee the rabbit is just another actor who got
an invite to play in next year's AT&T and he was just getting
in a practice round.  His two most famous works were big
scenes in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Fatal
Attraction" (all done w/o stunt doubles).

[Jonathan McCord]

    This site is awesome!!!!  I absolutely love it!!!!

[Peter_Herreid]

The rabbit is apparently a traditionalist, and favors strict adherence to the Rules of Golf.  He respectfully requested of the starter that his handler be allowed to play from the back tees that afternoon...

As per routine, the rabbit was notified that those tees were not open for play, without proper credentials...

The rabbit's handler then proceeded to drill his first tee ball from the gold tees dead right over the first line of rooms, onto the road that runs in front of the Lodge.  The re-tee attempt was blasted way long left over the end of the metal fence to the wide left of the first fairway...

At that point, strict adherence to the Rules of Golf was only slightly more relaxed....

The rababit convinced his handler to play the back tees from #2 on, throughout the remainder of the round....

The rabbit may indeed be the precursor of a Jedi Master...

 

[Joel_Stewart]

This is so crazy I showed it to my wife.  She proclaimed this guy to be the ultimate loser.   What was his story and where was he from?

I heard Michael Jackson use to walk a golf course with his pet monkey.

[Peter_Herreid]

Where was he from?  You mean, that day or originally, as there are in fact two different answers...

That day, he had driven indirectly up from Los Angeles, departing at what Dan and I figure must have been about 3 or 4 am, as he said the trip took 8-9 hours, as he got lost several times along the way...

By the way, he spent the entire 30 minutes prior to our tee time on the cell phone with his office (?) and friends, and then msot of the entire time we were playing #17 and #18, also with friends, describing the blow by blow action while we were playing those holes...

This included tossing the cell phone, while still talking to someone, into the grass by #17 so he could play his approach putt...

He also put down the phone, so that I could graciously videotape him with the rabbit along the fence on #18 tee.  

I tell you, it was just like when Nicklaus was contemplating his life there, before finishing his US Open career in 2000!!!

Honestly, the gent was not being mean or jerkish about any of this---bizarre, obtuse, disconnected, surreal, any of those would be better fits...

Yet there is more to the story...

Peter

[THuckaby2]

Peter - for some reason I got right away that this chap
had to be anything but jerky... no way anyone'
takes a rabbit on a golf course and acts like a jerk
about it.  Thus my allusions to 60s acid songs.

But anyway... regarding:

Yet there is more to the story...

Come on man, don't leave us hanging!  This could go
in any of a million directions...

 

[Dan Kelly]

Other possible titles for the book I'm imagining:

With a nod to local boy John Steinbeck: "Travels With Pee Wee."

With a nod to John Updike (author of "Golf Dreams," member of Myopia Hunt Club):
"Pee Wee, Run." (Sequels: "Pee Wee Redux," "Pee Wee Is Rich," "Pee Wee at Rest.")

[Marty Bonnar]

Manoman,
I cannot WAIT to get to California this Autumn (ok - FALL!)

'And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call...'

 
FBD

[THuckaby2]

The Dogged Victims of Inexorable Pee-Wee

California's Gift:  Pee Wee

Pee Wee Has Never Failed Me

Bury Me in a Pot Bunker with Pee Wee

Pee Wee is not a Rabbit of Perfect



 

It's your fault, Kelly... this could go on all day.

[Lou_Duran]

Rabbit, whether stewed, barbequed, or fried, is highly overrated.  Red tailed hawks seem to like it, but the fur and bones produce a terrible waste ball which takes the poor birds hours and substantial pain to regurgitate.

[PThomas]

Holy shit!  I thought it was just a picture of  a rabbit running loose on the course!

only in CA...

[Dan Kelly]

only in CA...

True enough. You'd have a helluva time getting Pee Wee onto Pebble Beach in any other state.

[Marty Bonnar]

only in CA...

True enough. You'd have a helluva time getting Pee Wee onto Pebble Beach in any other state.

I dunno Dan,
just stick a Driver up it's rear and it'll look like any other of these new-fangled animal headcovers. Make a nice change from Tigers and Gophers!

FBD.

[Peter_Herreid]

I do not make it a point to attempt to overhear anybody's cell phone conversations--however, it's hard to avoid it at some point when spending 4.5 hours with someone on the golf course...

Not once, in these numerous conversations with friends, whom he was regaling with stories of his exploits at Pebble Beach, did he mention that he had the rabbit with him...

How can that be?  What could be a better story to tell someone than that?

Well, as the round progressed, the rabbit caddie and his handler/player did have their moments of glory...

In fact, the gent reached #6 in two titanic blows, a feat with which we and one of the marshalls who was trailing us were suitably impressed...

You can guess what might have happened next...

He handed Mr. Taylor the video camera to catch the impending eagle for posterity, and handed me one of his three disposable cameras to freeze the ball dropping in for all time...

Everything was in place, and....

Three jacks!  Ugh!  In all seriousness, my heart was going out to this guy, big-time, as we all know how badly each of us would have wanted that moment ourselves--the ecstasy and the agony..

The rabbit was not amused.  I think I saw it almost imperceptibly shake its head after the 3-putt par, like it might have channeled the spirit of "Harvey" Penick...

Either that, or it was just urinating...

Yet, there is more to the story...

[Dan Kelly]

only in CA...

True enough. You'd have a helluva time getting Pee Wee onto Pebble Beach in any other state.

I dunno Dan,
just stick a Driver up it's rear and it'll look like any other of these new-fangled animal headcovers. Make a nice change from Tigers and Gophers!

FBD.

Well, sure, but it still wouldn't be Pebble Beach!

What do you have against Gophers?

[Bob_Huntley]

Rabbit, whether stewed, barbequed, or fried, is highly overrated.  Red tailed hawks seem to like it, but the fur and bones produce a terrible waste ball which takes the poor birds hours and substantial pain to regurgitate.

Lou,

You surprise me. Rabbit, when cooked properly is a taste sensation. During WW11 amidst much hunger and misery, the good folks in Belgium and France would skin a cat and serve it up as rabbit. It's amazing how similar their body types are when deprived of head and feet.

Try it you'll like it.

[Scott_Burroughs]

This story is making the hares on the back of my neck stand up.


You can tell Pee Wee knows his golf history...on #17, he was headed over to check out the spot where Watson chipped in after first checking out the tough pin position for Nicklaus' 1-iron.