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Ian_L

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As a Northern California local, I finally got my chance last weekend to play Pebble Beach for the first time. While I have been to the AT&T Pro-Am a few times, playing the course was very different and a truly special experience.
The course has been discussed at length here, so feel free to hit the back button if you have heard enough. If you’re curious to hear a first-timer’s impressions, here they are:

1. The biggest surprise to me, and something you can’t experience without playing, was the variety of the player’s interaction with the shoreline:


- On holes 4 and 5, the serene beach of Stillwater Cove sits about 40 feet below you.At the 7th tee, you stand high on a cliff overlooking a much more turbulent meeting of land and sea.

- On the 8th tee, you are just a few feet above the crashing waters before climbing back up to the cliffs.

- On 9 and 10, you go “into town,” sharing your oceanside experience with thousands of Carmel beachgoers who are within shouting (and hitting…) distance.

- 18 is my favorite in this regard, as you get the feeling on the tee that the water is lapping right up to your feet on the tee.

The variety of the coastline is something that sets it apart from most  oceanside courses, which tend to have a uniform coastline in terms of direction and height above the ocean.


2. Along the same vein, there is a great variety to the shots played over the ocean itself:

- Uphill over a cliff (#6)
- Downhill over a bay (#8)
- Level shot, to a diagonal fairway (#18)

I don’t know how many courses out there have three ocean crossings on non-par 3 holes that work so nicely.


3. Hole #7, the short par-3, seems like the key to the routing of the ocean holes. Does anyone know how early #7 appeared in the routing plan? The idea of a “pitch and putt” length par-3 on a championship course seems bold, and it enabled the spectacular 6th and 8th holes. It also maximizes a golfer’s time out on that peninsula. (At least in my case, there was a backup on 7 and the 8th tee. I didn’t mind the extra time watching a sea otter eat its lunch.)


4. While the inland holes are not spectacular golf architecture, the back nine holes do afford some shelter from the wind, some nice views of the ocean holes just played, and a nice wind-down from the excitement of #4-#10. This is the first time I can relate to Tillinghast’s warning against causing the golfer “attacks of hysteria” on every tee.


5. The course is tough but generally playable. Lost ball opportunities are usually limited to one side, and while the greens are small, there is almost always a “side to miss” that will leave a simpler recovery shot.


Despite my general familiarity with Pebble Beach, playing the course surpassed my expectations and cemented my feeling that a course must be played, or at least walked tee to green, to be fully understood. It was a real treat and one I would recommend to anyone able to make the trip.

Ian
« Last Edit: May 30, 2016, 09:49:41 PM by Ian_L »

JLahrman

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2016, 10:28:52 PM »
Thanks for the write-up, that was fun to read since I have played the course only one time myself (3 years ago).

My biggest surprise - holy shit I can't believe how small the greens are. A couple of them are average size, probably another 6 or 8 are small, and then about 9 of them are just downright tiny.

Interesting thought about #7 being the key to the ocean holes. You're probably right in that it was important to making #6 and #8 work. #6 was by far my favorite hole. Hit a good drive there, as I did, and that second shot is just unbelievable.

Tom_Doak

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2016, 11:57:06 PM »
6 and 7 were part of the original routing I believe.  Fowler extended the 18th to a par 5.  MacKenzie moved the green further down the shoreline on 8.

Nigel Islam

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2016, 01:17:21 AM »
Pebble is an awesome course and a better experience. GCA is perhaps the only place on Earth where PBGL is actually underrated.

Tim Gallant

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2016, 04:00:22 AM »
Great write-up Ian, and that is an interesting perspective about the coastline. I hadn't thought about it like that before.


I must say, I kept hearing people say the back-9 didn't have great holes, but I disagree. I really enjoyed the back-9, and saw some real strategy. My favourite hole on the course may have been #16. I loved the bunkering in the fairway and the options provided.


The green on the 11th, and holes 13-17 (with a new widened green) were spectacular. I was not let down in the least, and actually loved the bold bunkering on the 13th & 15th.

Greg Taylor

Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2016, 04:38:52 AM »
Pebble Beach is fun!


There's a couple of duds but the experience is worth it.

Niall C

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2016, 05:10:35 AM »
Ian
 
It’s nice to read your take on your first play at Pebble Beach. I too played it for the first time recently and the things that stood out for me were;


1 – how open in aspect the course appeared, particularly once you got by the beach club (?) at the fourth and fifth.


2 – the elevational changes which I wasn’t expecting, particularly at the 6th. As it happens I played well on the day and managed a good drive followed by a really well struck fairway wood to get to the start of the fairway on the upper deck. Given I hit a decent ball, not particularly long but decent, and was using modern equipment it makes me wonder how they coped with this hole in the early days.


3 – I agree about the size of the greens. They seemed incredibly small, a feeling which was exacerbated by the collar of rough around them. Little chance of running or bouncing a ball onto many of those greens I’d have thought.


4 – 7th hole – a very ordinary hole in an exceptional setting. Given it features on most of the marketing material my friends and I were looking forward to playing it and in truth it was a bit of anti-climax. If our expectations hadn’t been built up before playing it, would we have thought it a better hole ? Possibly but I doubt it.


5 – at the risk of seeming to contradict 1 above, I was very surprised at not only how many buildings you played alongside and around but also how many hedges and roads you either play over or cross. I was somehow expecting a more enclosed set up that you get on most other “great” courses.
 
Overall I really enjoyed the day which was helped by taking the advice offered by many on here and that was to go out first group in the day. As much as I enjoyed the course I’m not sure I’d rate it so highly if I got the chance to play the other such highly rated courses to compere. Certainly it’s got a unique feel to it which makes it so memorable and it is a great experience but not sure how good it is as a golf course relative to others.
 
Niall

JLahrman

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2016, 01:34:50 PM »
I don't know if I'd call #7 ordinary. Because it's so short, and it's so open to everything, it's very hard to feel like you've got the right club and you're hitting the right shot. My one round was on a calm day, but still, the shortness of the shot is disarming. I hit what I thought was a pretty good shot, but when it was in the air I really had no idea if my shot was going to be any good. It wound up about 15 feet below the hole, but until it landed I was worried that it was going to fly the green.

Tom_Doak

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2016, 02:33:09 PM »
It has been glossed over in recent years that the 7th green at Pebble is substantially larger than it used to be.  Jack Nicklaus widened it when they rebuilt the greens, sometime in the 90's I think.  The green I played in the 70's was EXTREMELY narrow ... a diagram in the old World Atlas of Golf shows it as 8 yards wide in the middle, then widening a bit at the back as it curved to the right.

SL_Solow

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2016, 02:54:24 PM »
Tom,  Thanks for the reminder.  I have the same recollection.  My first play was in 78 and the green was tiny.  Subsequent plays have always seemed that it remained small but was more manageable.  Great property with a very interesting routing.  A personal favorite.

JLahrman

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2016, 03:00:01 PM »
I think there have been some old pics posted here of the 7th green and it did look quite a bit smaller.

David_Tepper

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Benjamin Litman

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2016, 03:44:52 PM »
Just came across this recent, on-point article in LINKS Magazine about short par-3s: http://www.linksmagazine.com/best_of_golf/wee-wonders-the-world-s-best-short-par-3s


Somehow, the 11th at Shinnecock isn't mentioned in the article.
"One will perform in large part according to the circumstances."
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Chris DeToro

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #13 on: May 31, 2016, 04:57:53 PM »
Agree--I couldn't get over how small the greens were (in fact, they told us that there aren't any pin sheets because if you hit the green, you're going to be pretty close to the hole) and how difficult the course was in general.

MClutterbuck

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2016, 05:01:15 PM »
6 and 7 were part of the original routing I believe.  Fowler extended the 18th to a par 5.  MacKenzie moved the green further down the shoreline on 8.


How much was the green moved back? So is MacKenzie responsible for the best second shot in golf?

Tim_Weiman

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2016, 06:21:04 PM »
Ian,


Well done. Pebble is one of those courses hard to write about because so much has already been said.



Tim Weiman

Terry Lavin

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #16 on: May 31, 2016, 06:29:23 PM »
Ian,


Well done. Pebble is one of those courses hard to write about because so much has already been said.

Pithy but perfectly put!
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Matt_Cohn

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #17 on: May 31, 2016, 06:39:24 PM »
I was very surprised at not only how many buildings you played alongside and around but also how many hedges and roads you either play over or cross.


That's what I've noticed walking the course several times. There's so much squeezed around and through the golf course - roads, fences, the spa, the hotel, the pro shop, fences, the maintenance area near 11, hedges, houses. It doesn't really show that way on TV.

Sven Nilsen

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #18 on: May 31, 2016, 10:15:07 PM »

The linked thread has a few pictures of the various versions of the 7th.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,61371.0.html
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Matthew Petersen

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #19 on: May 31, 2016, 10:50:37 PM »
How do they handle the 14th green being out of commission? A temporary green?

Matthew Essig

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #20 on: May 31, 2016, 10:54:34 PM »
.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2016, 11:20:39 PM by Matthew Essig »
"Good GCA should offer an interesting golfing challenge to the golfer not a difficult golfing challenge." Jon Wiggett

Sven Nilsen

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #21 on: May 31, 2016, 11:11:50 PM »
Are we sure about that?


Most of the 1928-29 changes were done by Chandler Egan, with Hunter and MacKenzie contributing a few greens.  Is there anything out there that specifically credits the new 8th to MacKenzie?
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Ian_L

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Re: Impressions from a First Round at Pebble Beach Golf Links
« Reply #22 on: June 01, 2016, 12:19:38 AM »
How do they handle the 14th green being out of commission? A temporary green?


Yes, there is a temporary green in the fairway 100 yards or so short of the original green. I never played the original green, but it sounds like the hole is 1.5-2 strokes easier right now. I leave out the temporary green part when I tell people I birdied the hole.  ;)


I will post a couple pictures to the dedicated thread: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,62947.0.html


Joel, #6 was my favorite hole as well. Is there another hole in golf where you are required to hit over the ocean while clearing the face of a cliff some 50 feet above you? I'm sure somebody on this forum will find one. I was on the right edge of the fairway, and it was a very odd feeling to have that vertical face right in front of me.
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