Pebble Beach Stinks

[Matthew Mollica]

Spot on Brian. Club sandwich and drink in the Tap Room with time to drive to Pasa for an afternoon round too

[Keith OHalloran]

The only time I have played Pebble was in a charity event in December where you play 3 different courses on three days. (not sure if it is the same one that Terry Lavin played in). I played Pebble on the last day.  All the tee times were 9:30 am shotguns. On the second day, Peter Jacobsen spoke at 3:30 at the Inn at Spanish Bay, and the people that played Pebble did not make it back in time. I figured maybe they took extra time to shop when they were done. I played it the next day and we started on 11. We were 5:30 hours into our round on 8 tee and waited 25 minutes to hit. 8, 9 and 10 were some great golf holes, but to be honest, I would have much rather driven in than waited to play them at that point.

[Jim Franklin]

One of my favorite golf days was teeing off first at Pebble Beach, playing in 3:30 and hopping in my car and playing Olympic in the afternoon and finishing up my day with a burger-dog. Doesn't get much better.

[Bill Brightly]

Here is my first Pebble Beach experience:

As I strolled up to the first tee I saw my caddy emptying my light weight bag and loading my stuff into HIS light weight bag... I asked him not to do that because while I don't carry much, I am a little fussy about where things are in my bag. He said he had to do this because he has a bad back... Now this guy was about 5' 10" and built like a brick shithouse. Clearly a big weight lifter... I pointed out that my Sun Mountain bag is probably the lightest bag he will ever carry, but he refused. So I had to shift my gloves, tees, rainshirt, balls, etc. into his bag...I had steam coming out of my ears as I hit my first tee shot.

Upon reflection, I wish I had ran into the pro shop and bought a couple of dozen logo balls...

I paid the guy the flat minimum but I wish I had fired him on the spot.

[Tim_Weiman]

Jim Franklin:

One of my favorite golf adventure stories involved the brass at Standard Oil right after Chevron sold Sohio a refinery and marketing properties in the Southeast back in the 1980s.

A celebrate the deal Chevron invited the Sohio guys out from Cleveland for a round at Olympic. So, of course the boys had to first play a practice round at Canterbury before jumping on the flight to the West Coast.

Not bad. Canterbury on Monday and Olympic on Tuesday.

But, then, the Chevron guys asked if the Sohio guys would like to stay an extra day and play Cypress Point. Duh!

Feeling a bit guilty they took a late flight back to Cleveland.

So, what do you do after playing Canterbury, Olympic and Cypress Point now that you are back in Cleveland? Well, of course, it must be Firestone on Thursday!

Not a bad week.

Turns out I ran into John MacDonald, Sohio's President, the following Monday and asked him "John, how is is your golf game?"

He just smiled and didn't say a word.

[Steve Lapper]

As a golf experience.

I was there last week and it felt like some weird cross between golf, going to the Statue of Liberty and going to Mt. Rushmore.   Its a tourist experience, not a golf one.  One of my group had a walking issue and needed a cart.  He walked more from the cart paths to his ball than I did without the cart.  I wanted a caddy and there were none to be had. Our round was nearly 5:30.

Pebble may be one of the 10-20 great courses in the world architecturally, but I won't be back until I secure a 7 am tee time and my 8 year old son is ready to join me there in my last round on the course. I'd put it about number 150 on my list of golf experiences, which is really, really sad.  

Especially when one of your group was getting orally jiggy with his shot on #8....necessitating a (well-deserved) mid-course mulligan!!

Couldn't agree with you more.....I'm only going back with the caveat of having an early tee time.

[Connor Dougherty]

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.

I thought that was an urban legend: http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/us-open/2010-06/pebble-preview-kindred-0616

The warning is meant not for that player but for the oblivious $495-greens-fee tourist motoring straight ahead in his cart unaware he's about to be DQ'd from life. "The legend was that two Japanese gentlemen drove off the cliff to their deaths," my colleague Tom Callahan said. "Not so. But I was told that someone did forget to set the cart brake and an unmanned cart took itself over a cliff at the sixth."
/quote]

[Wayne_Freedman]

I played with Jeff in that round. He was my partner against Noel Freeman and Joel Stewart, and yes, it took 5.5 hours. We followed a group from the People's Republic of Slow Play (aka China). At times, it felt more like international relations than golf. How slow were they?
On the back nine, our foursome invited the following twosome to join us, and we still waited.

That said, PB is a remarkably beautiful place. I hate slow play, but if one must endure such purgatory, PB is as good as anywhere to do it.

The pricing there...ridiculous. Same with fare in The Tap Room. For me, however, it was okay. Have been fortunate enough to play PB three times, and it seems to get tougher with each trip.

Would love to post a few photos from the round. Advice, anyone?

[Rich Goodale]

My bride and I have a 7:10am starting time in October at Pebble.  If any of you slow-play advocates are in front of us, beware.  Josie and I will roll through you on our cart like Patton in his Sherman in WWII France....

[Jon Wiggett]

My bride and I have a 7:10am starting time in October at Pebble.  If any of you slow-play advocates are in front of us, beware.  Josie and I will roll through you on our cart like Patton in his Sherman in WWII France....

D-Day 6th of June and last major place liberated 24th of November ,Strasbourg. Rich, are you proposing to take almost 6 month to play 18 holes

Jon

[Rich Goodale]

My bride and I have a 7:10am starting time in October at Pebble.  If any of you slow-play advocates are in front of us, beware.  Josie and I will roll through you on our cart like Patton in his Sherman in WWII France....

D-Day 6th of June and last major place liberated 24th of November ,Strasbourg. Rich, are you proposing to take almost 6 month to play 18 holes

Jon

It will be quicker Jon, as I don't have to wait months for Monty to get his skinny arse out of Caen!

[Michael Essig]

Pebble is a course that American's can put on their bucket list because it is a resort course, unlike Augusta, Pine Valley and all the superb courses that are PRIVATE, and therefore Pebble gets everybody playing it, and many are not capable of adequately playing the course.  It is a hard golf course with forced carries, small greens, and thick rough.  If Pebble had a handicap maximum on players, as many UK courses do for their championship venues, Pebble would eliminate most of their problems IMO.  And that will never, ever happen.

[Bill_McBride]

My bride and I have a 7:10am starting time in October at Pebble.  If any of you slow-play advocates are in front of us, beware.  Josie and I will roll through you on our cart like Patton in his Sherman in WWII France....

D-Day 6th of June and last major place liberated 24th of November ,Strasbourg. Rich, are you proposing to take almost 6 month to play 18 holes

Jon

It will be quicker Jon, as I don't have to wait months for Monty to get his skinny arse out of Caen!

No Patton at Normandy, the 3rd Army invaded near Marseille and marched on to liberate Paris. 

[Jon Wiggett]

My bride and I have a 7:10am starting time in October at Pebble.  If any of you slow-play advocates are in front of us, beware.  Josie and I will roll through you on our cart like Patton in his Sherman in WWII France....

D-Day 6th of June and last major place liberated 24th of November ,Strasbourg. Rich, are you proposing to take almost 6 month to play 18 holes

Jon

It will be quicker Jon, as I don't have to wait months for Monty to get his skinny arse out of Caen!

No Patton at Normandy, the 3rd Army invaded near Marseille and marched on to liberate Paris. 

No Bill, surly not. It was de Gaulle liberated Paris .

[Bob_Huntley]

I always loved the quip "The hardest cross I have to bear is the Cross of Lorraine." -- This remark about the intractable Charles de Gaulle was actually made by General Spears, Churchill's envoy to France.

Bob

[Wade Whitehead]

1. There are several threads that illustrate how detached GCAers can be from the real world, and this is one.

2. The rabbit thread continues to be my all-time favorite, with no close second.

WW

[Bill_McBride]

My bride and I have a 7:10am starting time in October at Pebble.  If any of you slow-play advocates are in front of us, beware.  Josie and I will roll through you on our cart like Patton in his Sherman in WWII France....

D-Day 6th of June and last major place liberated 24th of November ,Strasbourg. Rich, are you proposing to take almost 6 month to play 18 holes

Jon

It will be quicker Jon, as I don't have to wait months for Monty to get his skinny arse out of Caen!

No Patton at Normandy, the 3rd Army invaded near Marseille and marched on to liberate Paris. 

No Bill, surly not. It was de Gaulle liberated Paris .

Right.   

[Thomas Dai]

Thomas Dai -

Having spent the past 3 1/2 weeks in Dornoch, I can assure you the powers that be are monitoring and marshaling the pace of play issue there very closely. I don't know how long ago the incident you mention occurred, but I doubt something like that will happen again in the foreseeable future.

That being said, all the other courses you mention are indeed well worth playing.

DT

David,

Many thanks for this update. Hope you've had a great time there. Not only is the area a delightful part of the world but it also has the added bonus of numerous delightful courses.

All the best

[Tim Martin]

There seems to be no divergence of opinion that Pebble is one of the great golf courses on the planet. That said there does seem to be quite a spectrum of speculation as to what constitutes a great golf day/experience. I have not played it but it is certainly on my bucket list although when the scale tips to 5/12 hours for pace of play there is no venue that I am clamoring to play. If you consider the outlay of $500 plus you should almost be given a written guarantee that you will have a great time and the only place that I can think of that is in the same ballpark on our shores is Shadow Creek.

[Cliff Hamm]

Last fall did a west coast trip with some golf.  Played Pacific Grove, Pasatiempo,  Chamber's Bay, Gold Mountain and Pacific Dunes.  Naturally drove 17 mile drive and stopped in at PB at about 3 in the afternoon.  No one seemed to mind so walked a bit of the course on the cart paths.  I am a bogey golfer and would have looked good from what I saw.  They were waiting to hit onto 18.  On 17 tee the group waited for about 10 minutes.  And this is at the end of the round!  No thanks, I enjoyed my day on the back of Pacific Grove for 1/10 the price.  As an aside I was also turned off by the commercialism and outrageous prices in the pro shop.

[Bill_McBride]

Here is my first Pebble Beach experience:

As I strolled up to the first tee I saw my caddy emptying my light weight bag and loading my stuff into HIS light weight bag... I asked him not to do that because while I don't carry much, I am a little fussy about where things are in my bag. He said he had to do this because he has a bad back... Now this guy was about 5' 10" and built like a brick shithouse. Clearly a big weight lifter... I pointed out that my Sun Mountain bag is probably the lightest bag he will ever carry, but he refused. So I had to shift my gloves, tees, rainshirt, balls, etc. into his bag...I had steam coming out of my ears as I hit my first tee shot.

Upon reflection, I wish I had ran into the pro shop and bought a couple of dozen logo balls...

I paid the guy the flat minimum but I wish I had fired him on the spot.

Bill, a Cypress Point caddy switched out my equally light bag and managed to lose a favorite putter at the end of the round.   Nobody knew nothin.'

[Tim Martin]

Is the price just beyond piggish or can some make a rationalization for it?

[Bill Brightly]

Here is my first Pebble Beach experience:

As I strolled up to the first tee I saw my caddy emptying my light weight bag and loading my stuff into HIS light weight bag... I asked him not to do that because while I don't carry much, I am a little fussy about where things are in my bag. He said he had to do this because he has a bad back... Now this guy was about 5' 10" and built like a brick shithouse. Clearly a big weight lifter... I pointed out that my Sun Mountain bag is probably the lightest bag he will ever carry, but he refused. So I had to shift my gloves, tees, rainshirt, balls, etc. into his bag...I had steam coming out of my ears as I hit my first tee shot.

Upon reflection, I wish I had ran into the pro shop and bought a couple of dozen logo balls...

I paid the guy the flat minimum but I wish I had fired him on the spot.

Bill, a Cypress Point caddy switched out my equally light bag and managed to lose a favorite putter at the end of the round.   Nobody knew nothin.'

What is this, a California thing? Who in God's name decided that a caddy can do anything except put the player's bag on his shoulder and carry it Is there a California Caddies Union? Geeze...

[Sean Leary]

Is the price just beyond piggish or can some make a rationalization for it?

Supply and demand has always been the rationalization.

As far as I am concerned, Pebble is awesome. Only thing overrated there is the Tap Room....

[Dan Herrmann]

Cost there is crazy.  Just the $1,000 green fee for my wife and I make it a joke.  We can play every day for almost 2 months at my home club for that much money.

By the way, don't blame cameras for slow play.  I've played several times with Joe Bausch, Philly's pre-eminent golf course photographer, and he can play in about 3.5 hours almost anywhere with a bunch of great photos.