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