Bunker work at Pebble

[Kevin_Reilly]

Just ran across this picture taken the other day from the tee of #6.  Does anyone know what is being done?  No closer pics were available.

[John Moore II]

Depending on how far out it is, I suppose it could be to tighten up the landing area for pro's. But I don't know.

[Bill_McBride]

I dunno Kevin, but wow, looking at the chasm down the right side from this location, that second shot from the right side of the fairway is almost as daunting as the second at #8!   

What a great run of holes.

That set of bunkers has never extended that far down into the fairway, at least in my admittedly somewhat foggy memory.   

[paul cowley]

I hope its something good because that used to be my job...35 yrs ago for you little uns.....tried today for my Teamster's back to work Card, but they aren't there protecting me anymore...



 

[Kevin_Reilly]

This is a Google earth overhead for comparison...don't know how old it is:

[paul cowley]

 

[Terry Thornton]

Kevin,

re your first photo, are the green fees cheaper if you don't use a golf ball?

[paul cowley]

  !!!

[Kevin_Reilly]

Kevin,

re your first photo, are the green fees cheaper if you don't use a golf ball?

LOL, new revenue idea...fantasy golf.

[paul cowley]

Kevin,

re your first photo, are the green fees cheaper if you don't use a golf ball?

LOL, new revenue idea...fantasy golf.

God I wish you could have been there and be able to appreciate what it was like to play in the earlier years of the 60's and 70's.

[Ally Mcintosh]

A bit off topic and excuse the ignorance as I don't know a great deal about Pebble Beach other than some of its history.

But coincidentally I was looking at an old photo of the 6th just last night from exactly the same viewpoint... The main difference was that it had trees on the left from the tee. Basically, the tee shot was through a corridor of trees with the ocean framed nicely behind the green in the distance... When did those come down? Years ago?

[Anthony Gray]

  That looks like Leon Wentz at his home course.

[Adam Clayman]

Ally, Yes there was an Oak tree or two over on the left, up near the forward teeing ground. It was hardly influential on this hole, and, was a terrific aiming tree for the 14th. It's loss was but a first step on a slippery slope that has obviously culminated in a full ass first facial.

The anti strategy of pulling this bunker out to the right, into the landing zone, is another example of the wrong road taken in GCA. The subtle nature of this specific driving strategy was such that a ball that flirted with the left side bunker, had the best chance of a level lie, and, a great angle into the green. This alteration is completely non-sensical unless you are paranoid about losing the once a decade shot at the USGA's big show.

My first reaction to seeing the above photo...Mike Keiser and Kemper Sports should be very pleased.

[Philip Spogard]

I played Pebble twice around 3 weeks ago. At that time they were rebuilding the backtee on the 5th hole. We had a caddie who told us it was a part of the preparation of the course for the US OPEN in 2010. I reckon the work on number 6 is just a continuation of that.

When I played there, the USGA had just been marking out the fairway lines for the US OPEN (which narrowed the fairways to half their width). It was a bit sad to see that the fairways now seemed to set up the course in the most penal way possible - not that it surprises me.

E.g. Hole 11, where you try to blindly position yourself on the left side of the fairway to open up the green for the approach, now only featured fairway down the right (for the US OPEN) where you have the most penal approach to the small green. Typical USGA approach.

And yes, the green fees were reduced - but I think it was because the greens had been aerified 4 days earlier!

[Rich Goodale]

I thought that we all liked centreline bunkers?!

[Matt_Cohn]

I thought that we all liked centreline bunkers?!

it's not a centerline bunker if it's in the left rough?

[Scott_Burroughs]

and a comparison from 2005:

  That looks like Leon Wentz at his home course.

I met him briefly at a different course in '04, didn't know who he was, then later saw an article in
(perhaps) GD on him having recently played all Top 100 of one of the lists.

[Rich Goodale]

I thought that we all liked centreline bunkers?!

it's not a centerline bunker if it's in the left rough?

As I see it, Matt, the new bunkers are in what used to be the middle of the fairway.  The old bunkers (seemingly removed) were in the left rough.  I'll be the the area next week and may do some Secret Squirrel reconnaissance if deemed necessary.......

Rich

[Kevin_Reilly]

  That looks like Leon Wentz at his home course.

Not him.

[Nick Church]

Very rough guess... but based on the clumping of sand... I wonder if the renovation is changing the style of that fairway bunker on six. 

Again very limited look, but to me it almost appears to resemble the clover-leaf style bunker.

It will be interesting to see as the bunker is finished & photos are released.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Additional work to #6, passed on to me by the fellow who took the first picture above:

Forgot to mention that an additional bunker will be added along the cliff up on top on the right side nearer to the green...maybe 20 yards short of it. Will encourage the second shot play into the green, as the bunker will keep balls from rolling off the cliff.

[Matt Varney]

It looks like a new series of bunkers designed to look more like the bunkers on #4 and #5.

Pebble is an amazing place they do things most courses can only dream of doing.  Like buying the property to competely rebuild a new par 3 #5 that sits along the ocean.  I never really did like the large fairway bunker on the left side of #6. 

Just a little side story - when I played Pebble Beach in October 2005 I witnessed their magic first hand.  I teed off at 7:00 am first group off that day walking with caddies and when we got to #3 tee I heard chainsaws start-up and I thought great just what I need on this perfect day playing Pebble.  Well I kind of heard the noise off and on again and just kept playing.  When I got on the tee for #6 they had a big ass tree laying on the ground with a crew of like 15 guys working like ants to cut up all the pieces and haul off the tree that was located on the right side of #14 fairway.

Well long story short I keep playing enjoying the day and as we come around to #14 tee I hit my drive up the right side of the hole into the rough.  I am not joking when I tell you that my ball landed 10 feet from where this tree was located and everything was gone.  The crew had used plywood for all the vehicles and as I approached my ball I noticed they had ground up the tree stump removed all the wood chips and replaced all the grass with new sod all at grade so you had no idea the tree even existed at one time.

This tree was at least 40-50 tall and was just gone nothing was left behind no branches, no leaves nothing only some paint on the grass for marking the area as ground under repair.  Totally amazed me and my wife and I will never forget so this bunker project is more of a design tweak to make those bunkers look better and more consistent with others on the course and to bring it into play encroaching the fairway.

[Matt_Cohn]

I thought that we all liked centreline bunkers?!

it's not a centerline bunker if it's in the left rough?

As I see it, Matt, the new bunkers are in what used to be the middle of the fairway.  The old bunkers (seemingly removed) were in the left rough.  I'll be the the area next week and may do some Secret Squirrel reconnaissance if deemed necessary.......

Rich

Maybe they should just mow fairway up the hill on the left. It would be kind of dumb though. (Right?)