new tee at Pebble's 17th?

[THuckaby2]

Bob - that's not very practical, and in the end wouldn't provide much if any benefit.  That's a very tight area and provides the walking path lodge guests use to go down 18 fairway, past 17 tee, on to the yacht club.  Messing that up would cause a lot of complication, so much that I can't see this as a net gain.

Interesting idea though - works better than Goodale's Mountain.

 

[Sean Leary]

Ted:

Again, I think a lot of this has to do with expectations.  If someone was to call 17 Pebble one of the best par threes in the world (as some do), and THAT is the expectation, well then it's normal to come away underwhelmed.  I think it's a neat hole and so much history has occurred there it rises to "great" as I see things, but if I had to rank the par threes at Pebble, even allowing for this "intangible", I'd do:

7-5-17-11.

Not many courses have overwhelmingly great third-best one shotters!

TH

Huck,

I believe that 11 is a par 3 for only Young John Hurley

12 however, is clearly the weakest sister...

[THuckaby2]

Ah heck, what's one number difference among friends?

But yes, 12 it is.  Interesting in that I think Young Hurley probably could reach 11 these days.  Scary.

BTW, 12 isn't a bad hole at all.

TH

[Sean Leary]

TH,

Agreed.  I'm not a huge 17 fan, particularly when the pin is back.  It is just a little too small back there for my liking. If they made it just a little bigger...I wonder if it was always that small of an area back there, or whether it has decreased over the years?  

[THuckaby2]

Sean - that's interesting - I always figured 17 was better with the pin in the back.  Oh heck yeah that's a tiny area and beastly hard to hit, but that's where Nicklaus and Watson played to, so that's always what I wanted to emulate when I played there.  I think of the 10 or so times I've played Pebble, the pin's only been back there once.  They keep it in the front most of the time for sure.

TH

[George Pazin]

I'd have Geoff S. oversee returning 17 to its former size many decades ago. Then I'd bring back the dunescape that appears in the early photos....

Otherwise I'd leave it alone. I sure wouldn't put in any elevated tees anywhere - not 5 feet, not 50 feet, and not 200 feet.

I love the simple elegance of that photo, with little visibility and the bay sparkling in the background. If that's what cornfields in Tennessee look like, I'm going to have to pay more attention next time I'm driving through.

[THuckaby2]

George:

I'm with you on the elevated tees - that's a big reason why I keep trying to come up with practical reasons not to do them.  Esthetically I'm against it there as well.  That hole is meant to be played as is.

I know the pics of which you speak though, and I'm not sure anyone short of God himself could bring back that look.  Size of green, sure.  But that look?  I am a doubting Thomas.

It would be neat though.  Of course while he (He?) was at it, I'd have him (Him?) do the rest of the course as well.

TH

ps - though Geoff surely is worshipped in here and elsewhere, I assume he'd be the first to disclaim any deity rights.

[Sean Leary]

Tom,

From a history standpoint, no question. And if it were just a little bigger (basically give me a chance), I would agree.  It seems to me that the green looked bigger when Jack hit the one iron in '72.  I certainly could be wrong.

I have played there 4 or 5 times and twice it was back.  VERY tough to gauge the distance....

[PThomas]

what if Jack and Tom hadn't performed their miracles there?  I would move much closer to supporting an elevated tee if so

[THuckaby2]

Jack and Tom's miracles being erased from history would be bittersweet... I'd lose one of my greatest memories along with one of my worst.  Of course I also wouldn't have been punished for throwing a coke at the TV.

 

Seriously though, that history is what makes the knees wobble at bit on that hole - at least my knees.  But I don't think it has anything to do with the sightlines and the like.  I still think that hole is meant to be played flat.

In any case I'm fine with the size of the green, both parts, as it is now - it hasn't changed THAT much, has it?

[Mike Hendren]

If that's what cornfields in Tennessee look like, I'm going to have to pay more attention next time I'm driving through.

While we hillbillies get our corn from a jar all we have now is soybean fields and a little left of king cotton these days.  Don't bother driving through - the consensus is we are an "architectural wasteland."

Mike

Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top.
Ground's too rocky by far.
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar
Rocky Top, you'll always be
Home Sweet Home to me.
Good ole' Rocky Top,
Rocky Top, Tennessee.

[A_Clay_Man]

Perhaps a penthouse treehouse like teeing ground on one of the old oaks behnd 16?

I can see it now.... It would be the MOST SCENIC HOLE IN GOLF.....

....An elevator ride, Complete with mango misters and a really good non-fat hot dog to gnaw-on on your way up to the TOP.

SHEESH

But seriously, All day long (For the most part), the course has asked the golfer to be accurate to the greens. Here, is no different.

 It is amazingly similar to the 12th, only the 12th is from anelevated tee. Interesting.... And everyone, but of a few of us, hates that hole.