The seventh at Pebble Beach

[Bob_Huntley]

Is the par three seventh at Pebble a joke? Ian Woosnam certainly thought so at one time. From ninety to a hundred and fifteen yards it would seem that even a grandmother would not be intimidated.

Does anyone know how many professionals missed the green in the recent AT&T?

Bob

[Nigel Islam]

I actually think it's a great hole. I don't think the pros think 8 at Troon is a joke so I would hope they appreciate the 7th at Pebble.

[cary lichtenstein]

it's not a joke

[Jim_Kennedy]

Sir Bob,

Some info for you.  This bit was interesting:

At the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, the hole has been played 7,139 times since 1983, with the average score coming in just under par at 2.99.

http://www.pgatour.com/statsreport/2015/02/11/pebble-beach-shortest-hole.html

[AJ_Foote]

Bob,

This might change your opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vGpsUwz7g

Andrew

[Daniel Jones]

I certainly wasn't laughing after carding a double... Plugged in the front bunker.

[BHoover]

I remember watching the broadcast of the 1992 US Open, and in the final round, the 7th was no joke; it was a beast. I remember Faldo hit a 5 or 6 iron way left over the 8th tee. I also remember Feherty, McCord and Baker-Finch showing the hole in a gale during a delay a few years ago; one of them hit 4 iron into a gale and just made the green. That's hardly what I'd call a joke of a hole.

Like the Postage Stamp, it can be fearsome depending on the conditions.

[Brett_Morrissy]

Bob,
In benigh conditions, the pros all look like they are hitting a half shot, and downhill not only subtracting yardage but also detracting from shot.

As I am sure you well know, when the wind gets up, that is when these little beauties rise to the top. in the breeze, I would expect that the player thinks they must hit a different shot almost every time - messing with the head goes a long way to a great hole for me.

Of course, the soft and spongy green surface does the hole zero favours.

Regards
Brett

[Matthew Petersen]

It's a great awkward little hole. Short enough that it's probably not a full swing for many of the people playing the course and downhill enough that you have to give some allowance for it. Add in the wind and it's just what you want from that kind of short hole. A tricky feel shot to a target surrounded by bad places to be and if you miss the green you;re kicking yourself because the hole is "only" 100 yards.

[David Stamm]

Bob,

This might change your opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vGpsUwz7g

Andrew

Great link, Andrew. Wow!

[Robert Kimball]

Last summer -- bucket list round at Pebble. I had a veteran caddy (Gene) and he tells me it's 78 yards and hands me a SW.

I gulp, take a second to gaze around, take a good-sized back swing and proceed to hit the center of the ball, sending it about 180 yards into the ocean behind the green. The other guys in the group are being nice, saying stuff like, "It might be in the back bunker." "we might find that one."

Caddy just shakes his head and says, "you kiddin me? that sonofabitch is halfway to Hawaii by now."  I dropped in the "Tom Kite" zone, and got it up and down for a bogey! Best bogey I ever made.

But, then again, I am NO professional!!

[BCrosby]

It is a wonderful hole.

But Herbert Fowler didn't think so. In Fowler's notes after a tour of the course in 1922 (?), he said something to the effect that only a non-architect would build a hole like the 7th.

Fowler's suggestion was to eliminate it, and replace it with a new par 3 over the chasm at the end of the current 10th. (It would have been a terrific par 3.) That allowed for a new tee for the current 11th on the other side of the chasm that would have made the hole much longer.

Credit for finding Fowler's PB notes goes to Sean Tully.

Bob   

[Rich Goodale]

The 7th tee at PB is one of the finest viewpoints in the world, but more suitable to a picnic than a serious game of golf.  Fortunately, most rounds screech to a griding halt at that tee due to slow play issues (I've spent 40 minutes there on occasion, waiting to tee up my ball), so bring a picnic hamper with finger food and a fine Zin or Fume Blanc next time you play!

[Mike Hendren]

I made a three.  Res ipsa loquitur.

Bogey

[Jim_Coleman]

    Is 13 at Merion a joke?  Green is probably twice as big.  Ask Phil.

[David Davis]

It's a great hole when the wind is up. Without the wind it's still pretty good.

I played it into a 3.5-4 club wind a few years back to a front center left pin position. Knock down 6 iron that actually spun back from the middle of the green to about 2.5 ft. Then preceded to miss the putt. Which probably broke with the wind about 2.5 ft as I didn't dare to ram it into the back of the hole.

...and I thought the hard part was finished. Putting is not easy at Pebble in my opinion, especially with the wind up.

[Thomas Dai]

I read somewhere about Sam Sneed putting down the path onto the green. Did he or would this be one of those tales that get taller as the years go by?
Atb

[Mark_Fine]

I don't think Bob really thinks #7 is a joke and almost everyone (always a few exceptions) who stands on that tee doesn't think so either.  Just because a hole is easy (which #7 really isn't), doesn't mean it can't be great.  Same goes for #15 at Cypress which is only a little bit longer but still usually a wedge of some kind for most good golfers.  Both are just drop dead gorgeous and if you are lucky enough to be standing with a club in your hands on either one you just pinch yourself every time and say this is about as good as golf gets.  

And by the way, anyone who says, "if you put those holes anywhere but next to the ocean they wouldn't be so great and so famous", has no idea what they are talking about!  The ocean and setting is totally part of those golf holes so judge them for what and where they are as they are not moving anywhere

[Bob_Huntley]

Mark is right. I did not say that it was a joke, I asked the question to be answered by someone who thought that it was  and their explanation.

I have played the hole quite a number of times over thet last fifty years and and never got tired of doing so. In bad weather it can get brutal.

Bob
 

[Josh Tarble]

Like D. Schmidt  said earlier, it's placement between two monster holes makes the short little pitch even more interesting.  I also believe a short 90-120 yard shot is one of the hardest in golf when the wind is up.  For those two reasons I think the hole is a masterpiece and one that needed a creative genius to include it in the routing.

I am looking forward to the day I get to play Pebble and the 7th is one of the main reasons why. 

[Brent Hutto]

Does a strong wind on that hole ever blow from behind the players?

I can usually judge like a 90-yard shot into or across a stiff breeze. But where I'm totally dead is trying to hit that kind of shot downwind. It is totally random whether the wind will knock the ball out of the sky 10 yards shorter than normal or make it sail 20 yards too far.

Being caught between those options on the seventh at Pebble seems like it would not end well.

[David_Tepper]

Video of Snedeker hitting it stiff on #7 in the 4th round:

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2015/02/how-he-hit-that-brandt-snedeke.html

[Mark Smolens]

There's a big rock directly east of the tee where the sea lions like to sun. As I recall it's about 165 yards to the rock. During a lengthy delay we were hitting 6 and 7 irons to it -- great fun, and my caddy Jerry loved the absence of about six balls that he didn't have to carry any more!

[Rick Shefchik]

With a strong wind, it's probably the hole you would least want to play in a tournament round. In benign conditions like this past weekend, it's still a good hole; the pros must approach number 7 thinking they've got to make birdie to keep up with the field. What's wrong with finding out how accurately you can hit a wedge?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Bob,

I'm one of those who think it's a great hole in it's own right AND it serves a critical function, getting you from the green of a great par 5 to the tee of a great par 4.

It has to be one of the greatest connectors in all of golf.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron..