Not Interested in Playing

[Ira Fishman]

The debate over the first hole at Pebble Beach prompted me to scan the Top 50 on the Golf Magazine list (Ran’s list after all). Pine Valley is not on my bucket list because I am just not good enough to play it. But I certainly would love to walk it.


The course I have the least interest in playing though is Pebble. $500+ for a 5+hour round on a course that seems to have 6-7 very good to outstanding holes and a bunch of not so good holes.  Even if money were not an issue, I’ll pass.


Ira

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Walking PV is easy. All you have to do is to attend the final round of the Crump Cup Crump Cup  on a Sunday, usually held on in late September or early October. Spend the weekend in Atlantic City or Philly playing golf and enjoying some good meals.

[Pete_Pittock]

Walking PV is easy. All you have to do is to attend the final round of the Crump Cup  on a Sunday, usually held on in late September or early October. Spend the weekend in Atlantic City or Philly playing golf and enjoying some good meals.

That is the Crump Cup.  Years ago I took advantage of the conjunction of the Crump Cup with the Walker Cup at Merion one weekend earlier.

[John Kavanaugh]

I played Pebble twice this January and never waited on a shot. One of the biggest failings of my golfing life was not going there sooner.

[Rob Marshall]

It might have taken me 5 hours to play but when it was over I wished it had taken longer.

[Tim Leahy]

The debate over the first hole at Pebble Beach prompted me to scan the Top 50 on the Golf Magazine list (Ran’s list after all). Pine Valley is not on my bucket list because I am just not good enough to play it. But I certainly would love to walk it.


The course I have the least interest in playing though is Pebble. $500+ for a 5+hour round on a course that seems to have 6-7 very good to outstanding holes and a bunch of not so good holes.  Even if money were not an issue, I’ll pass.


Ira

Just admit that you are too cheap to play Pebble. LOL.  There is no other reason. I have played Pebble many times and have never taken more than 5 hours and loved every minute on "the finest meeting of land and sea in the world". Jack's favorite course for a reason.

[Jim Sherma]

I have not played Pebble - but two guys that I know that both know golf and are very tight with cash told me that they would happily have paid again to play again - one has gone back and one has not had the chance yet. Of the stupid money courses it’s one that is likely to at least not make me feel sick to have spent the cash.

[Mark_Fine]

Ira,
I realize Pebble is expensive but it is absolutely one of the greatest golf experiences in the world!  Golf courses in general (at least when it comes to the architecture) should not be judged by what it cost to play.  To really compare courses fairly you should be first off the tee with no cost to play.  Unfortunately how you play along with so many other factors will impact most golfers opinions but in this situation at least the cost won’t bias you and you will never have to wait to hit a shot.


I still haven’t played Friars Head in part because of the $700+ unaccompanied fee but I eventually will and I know I will love the golf course. 

[Matthew Rose]

I couldn't afford it, but I did it anyway. No regrets.

I felt like I had to do it once in my life. I did it two weeks before I turned 40.

[Matt_Cohn]

I don't think anybody who has been to Pebble Beach would say that have little or no interest in playing it.

[MKrohn]

We had a terrific day at Pebble and despite having various people tell us how long the round would take, we were done in 3:30.


We didn't stay on premises and just turned up the evening before asking for a tee time, we told there was one at 7.30am (or around that time). Perfect for us as that's the time we play at home. Father and son in front of us and the three of us walked on a spectacular low breeze day, was very pleased we decided to play.


On the same trip we played Pasatiempo, Riviera, and Cal Club. I would go back to the latter two before Pebble but I also live and play on similar (dare I say more picturesque) coastline.

[Duncan Cheslett]

A mate of mine at Cavendish regularly sports the Pebble Beach cap he bought there while on holiday a few years ago.

He jibbed at attempting to justify to his wife the cost of a round and a set of rental clubs.


It is one of the great regrets of his life.

[cary lichtenstein]

The debate over the first hole at Pebble Beach prompted me to scan the Top 50 on the Golf Magazine list (Ran’s list after all). Pine Valley is not on my bucket list because I am just not good enough to play it. But I certainly would love to walk it.


The course I have the least interest in playing though is Pebble. $500+ for a 5+hour round on a course that seems to have 6-7 very good to outstanding holes and a bunch of not so good holes.  Even if money were not an issue, I’ll pass.


Ira

lol

[JMEvensky]

I don't think anybody who has been to Pebble Beach would say that have little or no interest in playing it.

I agree and think this is all the "proof" you need. I've known people who bitched about the price and/or pace of play before playing PB, but all of them were happy they did it after--most of them wanting to go back.

[Tony_Muldoon]

In 2008 a business we'd started was hemoraging cash and the came the collapse.


Our Californian holiday was all paid for, so I played Pacific Grove for 20 bucks.  Next morning I got to PB at breakfast time.  Bought a yardage book and found a nice lounge overlooking the 18th.  I opened the door to the terrace and just went for a walk.  In next two hours nobody asked me any questions or gave me strange looks.


If I get back I'll pony up.

[Steve Salmen]

My lone round at Pebble was a Christmas present from my parents in 1991.  I waited until the week after Tom Kite won the US Open in 1992 to get down there.  Though I thought the golf course and views were memorable, I thought Muirfield and SF (the two best courses I had played until then) were more my cup of tea.


I would play Pebble one more time, either with my wife or special friend.  Otherwise, I'd much rather play Pasatiempo.


If I had not played Pebble, I think it would be eating at me.  It's like when friends tell me they're playing Erin Hills.  I'd never try to dissuade them from playing a US Open course.  I've played it once and will probably play Lawsonia many more times than I ever play Erin again.


They should both be experienced and enjoyed and save judgement for afterwards.

[Jay Mickle]

I look forward to returning to Pebble in the next year or so. I still wear the all cotton shirt that a I got 52 years ago. At that time with a stay at the Delmonte Lodge($50) you had access to Pebble, Spy Glass and Cypress (each I recall was $25). I believe that the following year Cypress ended access (perhaps I had been a little to wild and crazy). Some courses are worth the price just for the memories.

[Niall C]

I kind of get where Ira is coming from with PB. I played it a few years ago with some good friends on a bucket list type tour built around PB as the main attraction. It was my friends must play course and while I was interested I was more concerned at playing Pasatiempo. I played well at PB, playing to my handicap and with a couple of birdies. Would I play it again ? Well probably, if money was no object, but it wouldn't make might fly the Atlantic to play it. For some reason it didn't catch my imagination and having played it I'm more than satisfied without feeling the need to play it again.


Niall

[Kalen Braley]

Niall,

That sounds about right.  I've yet to play it, only walked it a couple of times, but I can't say its a burning entry on my bucket list, even if its on there.  Thing I've always wondered thou, if Pebble had gone private way back when, which course would people salivate more over...  Pebble or Cypress?

[Ira Fishman]

I consider my myself a wise steward of our resources, not cheap 😄. I ponied up for two rounds for my wife and me last year at PH2 and gladly do so again. Perhaps my hesitations about PB is that the setting of a course is not that important to me. I also ponied up for Castle Stuart and Kingsbarns but would not do so again. On the Castle Stuart trip, we played Swinley Forest, St. George's Hill, and Woking. I would take any of them on 9-1 split versus CS regardless of cost.


For those of you who disagree with me about PB, which highly regarded course is on your not need to play list?


Ira

[Lou_Duran]

Niall,


With Turnberry in my backyard, PBGL would be relegated to a 6-7 on the Doak scale.  I have a friend in Dallas who visits at least once for a couple of rounds each year and often twice.  Me, I liked the course a lot more the second time around- even #s 1 and 2 are now very credible holes at a top 20 or so all-world, but that is not the one in the area I am dying to play again.


I loved Erin Hills and Whistling Straits- Straits.  Long to play there again.  East Lake and WF-W are two that I am fortunate to have played, but am in no hurry to get back.  As a big fan of C & C's work,  Friar's Head has been very high on my list, but at $700, it is not going to happen.

[Pete_Pittock]

I scratched Pebble Beach off my bucket list in 1969, had a room on 18, ate dinner there and maybe spent $100.  If I got a chance to play any course, I would probably take it unless it is awash in sand (my current bugaboo). Some courses are off my list because they are walking only and no mention of medical carts.


I do not think air travel is a safe option, so I am ordering sleeping bag liner, weighted blanket and gloves/sanitizers and gettting my vehicle road ready. At 210,000+ it is performing better than me.

[Gib_Papazian]

Ira,


If you can fly the ball 200 yards off the tee, you can play most of PV . . . . . . Pebble Beach is worth the cost of admission just to breathe the air. Or just go walk around it (nobody cares) in the early evening and go play Pacific Grove for $50.


Everybody forgets what a fabulous experience at Spyglass (Dad's favorite course) and Spanish Bay, which is beguiling, beautiful and wonderfully fun. 

[Peter Pallotta]

Interesting: even Ira notes that there are a half-dozen outstanding holes there; I'd have thought that would be enough to warrant at least one play. So a question for well-travelled golfers who have played many of the greats: if a 'bucket list' had nothing to do with history or fame or prestige or far-flung locations but only the quality of the golf-gca, are a half-dozen outstanding holes enough to put a course on the list? Or do they also have to be the kind of outstanding holes you couldn't find anywhere else? Or would there have to be more like a dozen outstanding holes?
Or: is there no such thing as a bucket list that *doesn't* factor in history, fame, prestige or a far flung destination?

[Ira Fishman]

Interesting: even Ira notes that there are a half-dozen outstanding holes there; I'd have thought that would be enough to warrant at least one play. So a question for well-travelled golfers who have played many of the greats: if a 'bucket list' had nothing to do with history or fame or prestige or far-flung locations but only the quality of the golf-gca, are a half-dozen outstanding holes enough to put a course on the list? Or do they also have to be the kind of outstanding holes you couldn't find anywhere else? Or would there have to be more like a dozen outstanding holes?
Or: is there no such thing as a bucket list that *doesn't* factor in history, fame, prestige or a far flung destination?

Peter,


To be a stickler, I said “very good to outstanding”. As mentioned elsewhere, my top four are Lahinch, CPC, North Berwick, and PH2. They all have some combination of history, fame, prestige, or far flung location. They also all have more than 6-7 very good to outstanding holes. But not far behind them for me is Pasatiempo which has some fame and history because of MacKenzie and Hollins but that is largely inside baseball stuff. The back nine alone has 6-7 great holes. I am not sure how one would characterize the Heathland courses. London is not a far flung location (well, at least not pre the pandemic) and their history, fame, and prestige are limited relative to courses that have hosted Majors or are generally in the top 10 to 20 in the rankings. Yet the three that I have played mentioned above have way more than 6-7 very good to outstanding holes. More importantly, they have a coherence of routing and variety that make the courses as a whole outstanding. So I think that you pose an excellent question, but I think the answer is yes there are bucket list courses that are not dependent on fame, history, prestige or a far flung location.


Ira