Pebble Beach Stinks

[Jim Nelson]

So I think the extra hour at Pebble Beach is probably due to casual or infrequent golfers, in foursomes, playing CART PATH ONLY on a course that is a once in a lifetime experience....meaning 4-1/2 hours for the once-in-a-lifetime experience and one extra hour for CART PATH ONLY.

I think this is the main reason for the extremely slow rounds - Pebble is the place that a once-a-year or even once-a-lifetime player goes and hacks it around.  They may even know to play fast, but when you're taking 150 shots, it takes a long time.

It is actually quite similar to the Brickyard Crossing here in Indianapolis.  The rangers can do the best they can, but when you have John Smith playing for the first time in three years, all the etiquette and quickness in the world aren't going to make up for 150 strokes.

Agree with both points made here.  Bucket list course plus cart path only make for a long round.  Others have mentioned that it should be walking only, ala Bandon.  Don't think that will happen as $$$ needs to be made which brings me to another point.  Does anyone know how often they put out foursomes?  Stick in another foursome every hour and the course will come to a screeching halt.

[Kenny Baer]

Pebble Beach was the best golf experience I have ever had.  Played in Feb. took approximately 5 hrs, everyone walked with a caddy and we rarely waited.  Some courses are just bigger and take longer to play, Pebble is not Merion in that it is a smaller golf course that can be played in 3 hrs.  It is also one of the most beautiful places on the planet that has to be seen to be believed.  If you miss out because it is to expensive then I can certainly understand; missing out because you are afraid it may be slow then you are just missing out.  It should be on every golfers bucket list.

[David Whitmer]

For what it's worth, a co-worker of mine just played Pebble for the first time on Friday, May 17. His group teed off at 1:10 and he said they finished in 4 hours and 25 minutes. Perhaps that's an anomaly...I've never played it, so I don't know.

What I do know is that if I'm on a golf course, at a beautiful spot, and my round takes a while to play, I'm not upset about it. I played 36 at Royal Dornoch a few weeks ago, and I wouldn't have minded if it took 6 hours to play each round. Why would I want to leave such a place? To go back to a hotel room? To get in a car?

I know waiting on a golf course disrupts your rhythm, etc., but you mustn't let it bother you. Professionals get delayed all the time, and they still play good golf. You have to expect it but not hope for it. When a delay arrives, you have to act like you knew it was coming, and not let it get under your skin. Easier said then done, for sure, but it sure beats letting it ruin your day, doesn't it?

[Mike Hendren]

The next time you have to wait on a golf course simply ask yourself: where else would I rather be?  I didn't time my round at Pebble Beach Golf Links - I only know it was over way too soon.

Bogey

[Terry Lavin]

One of the big problems I've experienced is that you can get stuck behind a bunch of chops who have no reason to be on that golf course. They do it because they can. Why can most of them do it?  Cash, cart and camera. Game not required. I've had plenty of great rounds in a reasonable amount of time per round but the round where you have to watch a guy ahead of you shoot 150 and take 150 photos is the kind of experience that you never have at Bandon but you'll see frequently at Pebble. Those rounds longer in the head and take away some of the joy of that amazing place.

[astavrides]

What I do know is that if I'm on a golf course, at a beautiful spot, and my round takes a while to play, I'm not upset about it. I played 36 at Royal Dornoch a few weeks ago, and I wouldn't have minded if it took 6 hours to play each round. Why would I want to leave such a place? To go back to a hotel room? To get in a car?

I know waiting on a golf course disrupts your rhythm, etc., but you mustn't let it bother you. Professionals get delayed all the time, and they still play good golf. You have to expect it but not hope for it. When a delay arrives, you have to act like you knew it was coming, and not let it get under your skin. Easier said then done, for sure, but it sure beats letting it ruin your day, doesn't it?

+1

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Does Pebble Beach have a 9 hole rate? 

[Brent Hutto]

If I ask myself that question at about the 4 hour mark when I'm waiting on the 13th tee, the answer is "Anywhere but stuck behind these dumbasses".

If I want to find a shady spot, sit and meditate, maybe doze off for a few minutes then I'd be hard pressed to find a nicer spot than Pebble Beach to do that.

Likewise if I want to play a round of golf.

But two minutes of golf, then four minutes of standing around, then three more minutes of golf, then three more minutes of standing around...that is no part of nothin' as far as I'm concerned. It isn't golf and it isn't pleasant woolgathering in a beautiful spot.

It's like the difference in 8 hours of sleeping from midnight to 8am versus being awakened every 25 minutes by the neighbor's dog barking. Yeah, you're in a nice comfy bed but sleep doesn't feel so great when it's 25 minutes at a time.

[Jim Sherma]

As painful as 5+ hour rounds are they are better if they are slow the whole way around. At least I can get into some consistent rythm. The worst is when you play the front in under 2hrs and then hit the wall and wait and wait. Impossible for the to make the transition mid round.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I always liked taking the last time of the day.

With no one behind me I could work on my game, try different shots, play more than one ball and never be worried about holding up play.

As to cart path only, that was instituted when two golfers drove their cart over the cliff on # 8 and were killed.
It's a liability issue.

[Jason Thurman]

I was thinking of a Pinehurst trip in the next 18 months. Could you highlight why this might not be a good idea?

Jeff, I wouldn't encourage you to skip out on Pinehurst. It's a great place to visit as a golfer with too many great options to see in a single trip. I would, however, advise you to avoid the resort as much as possible. It's a nice place, but I didn't find that its amenities came anywhere close to justifying its rates. They also really lack transparency. You WILL get charged fees that weren't quoted to you and that you didn't expect. At a minimum, expect a nondescript "resort fee" of about $50 to get tacked onto your bill. As has been reported here in several threads, if you call them in advance with basic questions like "What's your walk-and-carry policy?" or "Do you accept tee times at No. 2 from non-resort guests?", you'll get very inconsistent answers. You may also find yourself surprised, as I did, by what their ACTUAL policies are after making plans based on what you were told over the phone.

Basically, for me, it boiled down to being offered a seasonal special deal over the phone and then having them crawfish on it when I arrived, jack on a bunch of arbitrary fees, and then attempt to nickel and dime me throughout my two days on site. I'm probably a little bit spoiled since I travel a lot for work and carry gold or platinum status at basically every other hotel I visit, but if I'm paying you $500 a night for a pretty mundane room, I expect to be treated like a Platinum caliber guest. Pinehurst just doesn't offer that experience. At some resorts, you pay a lot to receive a lot. Pebble Beach is one of those places. It's expensive as hell, but their policies are clear and it's hard to complain about the product you receive. Pinehurst just seemed like a place where you pay a lot to get screwed repeatedly. It's a nice place with a fantastic golf course, but I prefer the Best Western down the road.

[Mike Schott]

For what it's worth, a co-worker of mine just played Pebble for the first time on Friday, May 17. His group teed off at 1:10 and he said they finished in 4 hours and 25 minutes. Perhaps that's an anomaly...I've never played it, so I don't know.

What I do know is that if I'm on a golf course, at a beautiful spot, and my round takes a while to play, I'm not upset about it. I played 36 at Royal Dornoch a few weeks ago, and I wouldn't have minded if it took 6 hours to play each round. Why would I want to leave such a place? To go back to a hotel room? To get in a car?

I know waiting on a golf course disrupts your rhythm, etc., but you mustn't let it bother you. Professionals get delayed all the time, and they still play good golf. You have to expect it but not hope for it. When a delay arrives, you have to act like you knew it was coming, and not let it get under your skin. Easier said then done, for sure, but it sure beats letting it ruin your day, doesn't it?

This is the key when you decide to play a great course that is an international tourist destination. The golfer has to change their mindset coming into the round, appreciate the setting, history and strategy and while not worrying about the long round. I've not played Pebble but have been to the clubhouse a few times. It's a special place for golfers.

[Brent Hutto]

Mike has the requirements correct. And it's why year in and year out I keep traveling 8 hours in the opposite direction instead of making the transcontinental trek to play Pebble. For a given investment of time and money, several 3-hour rounds of links golf at places where 'most everyone 'gets it" trumps rolling the dice for one round of what might turn out to be something called "Golf" that doesn't fit my own version of the game whatsoever, history and ocean vistas aside.

But I'm an oddball who came to the game initially as an excuse to get out and walk for a few miles at a stretch while doing something engaging and satisfying. I did not grow up dreaming of chipping in like Tom Watson or reading about all the famous clambakes and whatnot that have taken place there. Perhaps if I never joined this forum and were not aware of the numerous UK courses offering my kind of golf on spectacularly fun courses I would have a different view of what makes a once-in-a-lifetime event special.

[Mark Smolens]

When did Pebble Beach become a course that does not encourage walking? I haven't been there for quite a few years, but when I took my boss there as part of a large group, 90% of the group had caddies -- indeed our guy, Jerry Franklin, was one of the great experiences I have ever had with a caddy. Jokes and stories abounded, but he could also lead you around a golf course where reading those tiny greens was close to impossible. I don't know how many times I read a putt to break with the slope left to right, only to have Jerry tell me "a ball outside right." And the starter made it clear to everyone in our large group that if they took a cart, and not a caddy, they'd be walking much further than the walkers because the carts can't leave the paths. . . which are very far away from the fairways (and based upon Mr. Mucci's anecdote, with good reason!).

When I hit those six numbers I'll be making a stinky trip to Monterey a regular part of my annual routine.

[Matthew Petersen]

My experience was like Mark's, essentially. I don't recall seeing any groups out with carts--most had caddies, and I saw a few players carrying themselves. Our round was just under 5 hours, but frankly we waited very little ... maybe a bit on the 5th tee, 6th fairway, and the 12th tee. That's all i can recall. It's just a big, long walk and a hard golf course. If you can only enjoy your golf when it takes 3.5 hours, I understand, and I agree Pebble is to be avoided. But that 5 hours of my life was over and gone far too quickly. Miserable as I sometimes am playing in 4 hours at home, my round at PB felt all too quick.

[Terry Lavin]

Mark,

Of course they encourage walking and of course they have superior caddies, but there are plenty of players that take carts.  I have no earthly idea what the percentage is, but I'm thinking it's well north of 50%.  At the risk of repeating a story I've told here before, let me just say that I went out as a single one day.  I whacked the starter a hundo and he graciously got me out with some guys.  There were two Japanese tourist types who didn't speak English, but who knew how to take a photo or two.  If they had a handicap it would have been 30 or so.  Then the other guy was from the Midwest.  I wanted to walk, but wanted to be social, so I asked him what he was going to do and he said he was gonna "drive".  I said, "Okay, I'll saddle up with you."  "No, my wife is going to ride with me," he said.  "No shit, they're letting us go out as a five some?"  "No, she's just gonna watch."

I should've walked away right then and there, because I had a bad feeling.  This guy's name was R.J.  and his pain-in-the-ass wife sat in the cart all day, barking instructions at him about his atrocious golf game.  "Keep your head down, R.J."  "Stop slicing, R.J."  Et fricking cetera.  And of course they posed for a photo on every coastline hole.  By the time we hit the back nine, I was working on rudimentary Japanese, as a method of social survival.  I've only gone back once, for a tournament in which we played three courses over three days and then we got on Cypress.  I'm unlikely to go back, unless it's for that same December tournament, which is fun.  Mostly because the R.J.'s of the world are not allowed.

[Nigel Islam]

I've played Pebble twice and had wonderful 4+ hours rounds, but I played Spyglass for the first time in April, and had the same aforementioned horror round.  If you think of all the great public access courses, I think there is likely someone on this board who has had a less than stellar experience.

[David Ober]

I have played Pebble three times. Have loved each experience on the golf course.

[Tim_Weiman]

Terry Lavin,

I have played Pebble Beach enough and don't need to go back, but would be horrified to pay the green fee and be set up with such a group.

[Terry Lavin]

Terry Lavin,

I have played Pebble Beach enough and don't need to go back, but would be horrified to pay the green fee and be set up with such a group.

It was unforgettable.  For all the wrong reasons!

[Will MacEwen]

Terry Lavin,

I have played Pebble Beach enough and don't need to go back, but would be horrified to pay the green fee and be set up with such a group.

It was unforgettable.  For all the wrong reasons!

Stories like this are exactly why I would never take my rabbit to Pebble in this day and age.

[Jimmy Chandler]

Stories like this are exactly why I would never take my rabbit to Pebble in this day and age.

Will -- you beat me to it.

How can any place on earth stink when it offers an experience like this: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,18015.0.html

I will always smile when I think of this story, no matter how foul my mood.

[David Kelly]

The last time I played Pebble Beach we were first out, played in 2:50 and were finishing breakfast in the Stillwater Grill overlooking the 18th green when the group behind us finished.  I'm waiting on playing PB again until I can get another set-up like that.

[JLahrman]

I'm sure the horror stories are true, but I played Pebble for the first time back in January.

I walked and carried my own bag, and nobody pressured me to do otherwise.

I got paired with a dad and his two adult sons who were on a golf trip down from British Columbia. They were all super-nice.

We teed off somewhere between 8 and 9 AM and played in about 4:50. I don't remember any hugely long waits, and we of course took some pictures ourselves.

All in all, I had a great experience for what will probably be my only round at Pebble. It wasn't as pure of a golf experience as Bandon, that's for sure. But I can't really think of anything that I would change about the day other than some of the shots I hit.

[Matthew Mollica]

I've played Pebble twice now. Walked both times. Last visit was Easter Monday morning 2012, as a pair. My partner was a 30 year old guy, from LA. A great golfing partner. We had an 8am start. The group prior to us was a foursome, off at 7.30. Never saw them. Group after us teed off at 8 30, and were on 8 when we were on 13. My playing partner and I both got in under 80, in a tick under 3 hours 20 minutes. A most memorable experience at a great place, on a wonderful course.