[Jim Johnson]

In early May my wife and I traveled to California and had the pleasure of golfing at Pacific Grove, Pasatiempo, San Juan Oaks, Monarch Dunes, Sandpiper, Oak Quarry, Desert Willow-Firecliff, and LaQuinta Mountain.

San Juan Oaks is a Gene bates/Fred Couples design. We had previously played another of their courses, Circling Raven in Idaho, several years ago, and was curious about this course. Out of the 8 courses played on the trip, it was probably 7th or 8th of our favorites, primarily because of several holes which were cart-path only golf, which I absolutely hate. Invariably it leads to taking the wrong club, even though you've carried 3 or 4 clubs across the fairway. We also started on the back nine, which also seems to mess me up whenever that happens. The back nine was our favorite of the two nines at San Juan Oaks, so finishing on the front nine was a bit of a letdown.

Perhaps on a different day, perhaps walking the course, might result in a change of heart.

Onto the course. Yardages are 4,770/5,785/6,342/6,712/7,133 yards.

Tee shot on #3, a dogleg right par-4 of 359 yards


#3 fairway


Tee shot on #4, 431 yard par-4


Hole #4


From behind the 4th green


Par-4 5th hole, 425 yards


Par-3 6th, 204 yards


Author John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California


Par-4 407 yards 7th hole


8th hole, par-3 179 yards


9th fairway, 513 yards par-5


Looking back on #9, our last hole of the day


Par-5 11th hole, 543 yards, doglegs right around the trees


Par-3 12th hole 182 yards


13th hole, 462 yards par-4, #1 handicap hole, sliding downhill around to the right


Looking back up hole 13


This is the split-fairway 14th, a par-4 of 397 yards. The fairway on the right is higher and wider than on the left, but has a forced carry on the approach. The power carts must stay on the path on the extreme left, so anyone choosing to play the right side must carry clubs/extra balls.


This photo shows the height of the right hand fairway and the angle into the green from the narrower left side


Looking back on hole 14


The par-3 16th, 166 yards downhill to a wide green


Par-4 17th, 487 yards


Tee shot on #17


Since we were leaving the Monterey area the next morning for a drive down the coast, we decided to do the 17 Mile Drive after our round at San Juan Oaks. A few pictures of Pebble Beach...










Cheers,
Jim

[Jason Topp]

Thanks for the pictures.  I enjoyed that course but came away unsure about the 14th as well as a par five that had a strange split fairway.  It does not appear that you have the par five pictured. 

What do you think of those holes?

[Jim Johnson]

Jason, I didn't mind the 14th at all. It was just simply a bit of a pain for my wife since we were carting it and I had to keep the cart way over to the left, when her tee shot went right. The risk-reward for the left fairway seemed balanced. The interesting thing was the height of the right fairway, compared to where I was on the left side.

I don't recall any other split-fairway hole on that course so can't comment. 13 has a twisting, winding fairway which splits halfway down to allow the cart path to go through the tight gap. Not sure if that's the hole you mean?

Jim

[Jason Topp]

I don't recall any other split-fairway hole on that course so can't comment. 13 has a twisting, winding fairway which splits halfway down to allow the cart path to go through the tight gap. Not sure if that's the hole you mean?

Jim

Jim - I liked 14 as well.  The hole I was thinking of was 15.  My view could have been skewed by a crappy 2nd shot but the fairway on the high ground seemed too narrow to me on my one round there.  It could be a hole that improves once one has a better understanding of the options. 

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