Pebble Beach on your 40th birthday

[Anthony Gray]

 I hope the wheels don’t come off but I believe there are a few that can relate to this. Some cannot so I would politely say to them as the Scots say “bugger off”. This is not meant for everybody and I have been reluctant to post this. But true gentleman golfers have an appreciation of a golf dream come true and a passion for a golf experience with a childhood friend.


 The core of this thread is a life long desire to witness GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTURE (Pebble Beach)


 There will be spellage mistakes and West Virginia grammar


 


 

[Anthony Gray]

  One Score and minus four years ago I received a phone call from the girlfriend of a childhood friend.


 She said for her boyfriend’s birthday she wanted to pay for him to go to Pebble Beach and golf. She asked if 9 could arrange it and she said she would pay his fees.


 So I started to plan the trip for Lou and I.


 The names will not be changed to protect the guilty.


 

[Anthony Gray]

 For kids that golfed in West Virginia, Pebble Beach seemed unattainable. First of all it was California and no one we knew had ever been to California. California might as well have been a other planet.


 We knew it took a airplane to get there and being in an airplane would have been as likely as us being in an Apollo rocket.


 We were not “Country Club” people so our golf was at very minimalistic courses. Few even had bunkers.


 So to see Pebble Beach on television was almost catatonic. Pebble Beach looked nothing like anything we had ever seen before.
 We had been to the beach but it definitely did not look like that.


 The beach we all ventured to was Myrtle Beach, this California beach beach had very little in common. Pebble Beach had white sand, waves and even golf around the ocean. My god was it real.


 In West Virginia we had what was called “miners vacation”. Which is a shutdown of the mines for a period of time in the summer. And many families would make the long drive to Myrtle Beach for a week. I like to think it was part of our culture. A ‘coal culture’ that seems to be under attack today.


 In the 60s and 70s nobody we knew went to Myrtle Beach to golf. We went to camp. Google says it 8 hours and 11 minutes to Myrtle Beach from my home now. In the 60s and 70s you can double that because of the lack of interstates and oh yeh pulling a pop up camper. I wander how we ever survived that trip with no air conditioning in our station wagon with the fake would on the side.


 Side note: I did make the same trip from Morgantown West Virginia to North Myrtle Beach in my FIERO with a childhood female friend and her Australian roommate who was on the university track team. We took turns driving while the other two shared the other seat.

[Anthony Gray]

 [size=78%]https://www.bdtonline.com/opinion/columns/miners-vacation-was-the-once-a-year-break-for-local-coal-mining-families/article_bfc52f7a-d401-59a7-b50a-a380ce11813c.html[/size]


 Here is a very accurate article about ‘Miners Vacation’. Reading this was emotional for me.


 Coal is more than a way of life for us. It is a CULTURE.  It is a people.


 The people of North Central West Virginia are proud and hard working.


 In College Football Nick Saban has 7 National Championships, Fielding Yost has 6.  Both are from Marion County West Virginia where I went to grade school. John McKay has 4 national championships and Jimbo Fischer has one. Both went to high school in Harrison county West Virginia where I went to high school. And both of those coaches had fathers that were coal miners same  as mine.


 Fielding Yost as athletic director at the university of Michigan contracted the good doctor Alister MacKenzie to design the golf course at The University of Michigan in 1920.


 The Pete Dye golf course in Bridgeport was made with coal money.

[Anthony Gray]

 [size=78%]https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/mizzou/because-of-his-dad-nick-saban-did-the-right-thing/article_d6285176-a2d6-57aa-afca-c96f3c91035f.html[/size]


 He never thought he would be a hall of fame coach or make millions year. But he knew he did not want to in that hole everyday. Being one of the most successful coaches in history was never a thought.
 
 

[Anthony Gray]

 [size=78%]https://www.wvpublic.org/news/2018-11-20/farmington-no-9-the-west-virginia-disaster-that-changed-coal-mining-forever[/size]






 My fathers mine (Mine 41)  backed up to this mine and mined the same seem of coal.


 Two men that would become football players of note grew up in this mining camp. Frank Gatski and Sam Huff. Both can be found in Canton at The Pro Football Hall of Fame.


 Gatski is seldom mentioned as the greatest winner of all time. But he holds the record for the most professional football championships at 8. That’s one more than Tom Brady. He shoveled coal before by chance after an unremarkable high school football career he was discovered by a coach at Marshall University. Then after college he had a chance meeting with a football coach at the West Virginia high school basketball championships that was looking for football players to play for the newly formed cleveland Browns. The rest is history.
 Frank Gatski was given travel money to attend tryouts for the first year cleveland Browns. He kept the money and hitchhiked to the tryouts.


 Coal means a lot here. Golf not so much.


 One of my earliest memories of golf was the coal miners has a leagues they played it with each other. As a kid I looked forward to in one of those leagues.

[Joel_Stewart]

Fantastic idea.  I've done 3 birthday trips down there and its always memorable.


The only thing missing is his friends.  It's better celebrated with friends and family. I suggest you make it for four and see who might come.

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

People like to put down PB, though it is very expensive, it is worth every penny for that first time.  There is something magical when you enter 17 Mile Drive.  If the trip hasn't happened yet, be sure to enter from the Carmel gate.  I still remember trips through there as a very little kid as we were driving up to SFin the 60's.

[Anthony Gray]

  Let’s get to golf.


The golf courses I played as a kid were Apply Valley and White Day both in Marion County West Virginia.


 Apple Valley was across the road/hill from my subdivision. If the neighborhood kids could get there before 12 in the summer on weekdays it was 50 cents. My god 50 cents. They encouraged the kids to come and have fun.  The adults were very patient with us. It was community.


 Apple Valley was a nine hole course with considerable length. So a par on a hole was not a possibility for a grade school kid like me. But for my older brother it was. He was 4 years older than me and a natural. At this time he was in the 6th grade and I was in second.


 My brother was patient with me when all the neighborhood kids played. I remember going to apple valley as a group. Picture Fat Albert and his friends. That was us. No country club kids here. Just a bunch of kids in cut off shorts, tank tops and canvas converse tennis shoes.  I remember the opening tee shot from a very elevated tee was a favorite. But the best part of the course was the finish.


 The finish was a short par 3 that had OB behind the green that was a parking lot. We all had a fear of damaging a car but we wanted that par. The 9th was my only hope. I never pared it. Even when I used Baby Huey.


 Baby Huey was a sawed off driver that one of the kids had. It has mystic powers and at any time It would unleash its inner powers and result in the ginormous drive or that pin high runner from 50 yards. Baby Huey disappeared one day and has never been found again. It may be hid in a temple in Ethiopia. It’s orins are believed to have been rescued from a garbage dump.


 One of my favorite golf buddies breaks 90 on a great day. I love him and he’s like a brother. One day on a par 3 around 160 he said “I’m using this”. And showed me the  club head. It was a Coores Light 5 Wood. He places his tee ball hole high and it subsequent rounds would pull out the Coores Light 5 Wood. This club had super natural abilities in his hand. He had found his holy grail of golf clubs. His Baby Huey.


 The best memories I have about apple valley now that I’m in my late 50s is not of golf. But of a big brother that had patience  with me. He didn’t tell my mom to keep me at home. He allowed me to go along even though I had nothing to offer him and frequently got in his way and the way of his friends.


 I remember watching his swing and knew it had tempo when I didn’t even know what tempo was. I just wanted to kill it and swing hard. Still do. My brother has been the club champion at his country club and I can proudly say I’ve only scored better than him once. In one of the greatest days of my life two brothers of a coal miner from Kentucky/West Virginia got to hug after putting out on the Old Tom Morris green.

[Anthony Gray]

Fantastic idea.  I've done 3 birthday trips down there and its always memorable.


The only thing missing is his friends.  It's better celebrated with friends and family. I suggest you make it for four and see who might come.

 Wonderful Joel. Thank you.

[Anthony Gray]

People like to put down PB, though it is very expensive, it is worth every penny for that first time.  There is something magical when you enter 17 Mile Drive.  If the trip hasn't happened yet, be sure to enter from the Carmel gate.  I still remember trips through there as a very little kid as we were driving up to SFin the 60's.

 Could not say it better. It is magical. Almost surreal. The trees at the begging of 17 mile drive appear to be animated.

[Anthony Gray]

 Ok let’s get to Lou.


 He’s my cousin Vinnie with blond hair plus 60 pounds. And maybe one or two inches shorter.


 He’s had more black eyes than Mustafa Hamsho. Never backs down from anybody and will never walk away from getting his face punched. Of course he’s Italian.


 He will fight you over paying for dinner. He loves women but at times can be on the border of being verbal abusive. My cousin vinnie “like I need this now!!!”


 He looks like a cuddly teddy bear but is very squeamish to the touch. When sitting at a booth together if your knees accidentally touch he will jump and pull away and loudly proclaim WTF. Like Francis from STRIPES don’t touch him. And for gods sake don’t touch his stuff. He will not drink after anybody or each after them. If you drink out of his drink it’s garbage now. Take a bite of his cheeseburger, he Ned’s a new one.


 He’s been in one of my weddings and my team kicked his ass in the Jerry West basketball league in grade school. I even outscored his entire team when Lou was the leading scorer in the league. Lou was one year behind me in graduation 83’ to 82’ but we are the same age.


 Lou’s parents are both immigrants from Italy I believe. If not his grandparents were. I know they could speak Italian and have been to their house many times. His mother was a tiny woman that always held your face when she greeted you. Had the warmest eyes and her love for people showed through. His father was old school. A WW2 veteran who was shot in the war and was saved when the bullet was stopped by his prayer book. He had received military honors and is recognized in the community as someone of honor.


 I’ve golfed with Lou many times. We always fight like like we are kids in the neighborhood riding bicycles but that kinda seems normal. When golfing with him you have to be a silent statue or you will be blamed for his errant shots or missed putts.


 I need to say his hair is always perfect. Slicked back and we’ll groomed. 


 He likes to look neat and fashionable. One time Lou was trying on golf shorts. (His waist is much greater than his length) he asked what I thought. Since the disparity of waist and length, I said “do you think they are a little long?” . They fit him good but the shorts were about 4 inches above his ankles. Lou look at me ready to fight and said “you trying to be f@&#ing funny?”  He always got his pants and shorts hemmed.


 Lou’s fashion would become an important issue in our trip to Pebble Beach.


 


 

[Anthony Gray]

 As a golf partner Lou is a 3. As a friend a 7. As a a West Virginian a 10. There’s a bond. For all Mountaineers. We know each other. We love each other. We understand each other.


 When golfing with Lou like I said before you must be a statue and not move. At times even a corps and not breathe.


 On the 18th tee at Bell Meadows Lou took several practice swings. After each he glanced back with an intimidating glare as if to dare us react. We all stood silent fearing we would have to punch Lou in the face if he challenged us after we moved or exhaled during his shot. Lou’s history was he would not stop his verbal attacks until he was punched. After that peace arrived.


 The 18th tee ball had to contend with a cluster of trees to the left and right so the pressures was on. After his false starts at the tee shots to see if we were going to disrupt him, Lou finally pulled the trigger and unleashed his driver. He had his weight on his back foot and the ball ended up in the cluster of trees at the same time the F word exited Lou’s innards.


 Lou stomped toward me with steam coming out of his ears and spittle coming out of his mouth and his finger touching my nose. “YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT TALKING!!!!!!”   And there we have it. Mental telepathy proven to be effective on the golf course. I braced myself for fisticuffs when one of our playing partners rescued the day. He stated pace the tee box with an explanation of the resent events.


 He shared “I know what just happened. You were thinking that he was thinking and then the thinking stuff about thinking and I was standing beside him thinking about the thinking and now the golf ball is in the trees”. This got Lou’s finger off the top of my nose and after we got calm we graciously allowed Lou to tee off again after the others teed off. Lou produced the exact same shot.


 This occurred after I had finished 10 years of college and had returned to my hometown for a year at the VA.


 I wouldn’t be in town for long.






 

[Anthony Gray]

 The Pete Dye golf Club is in the hometown of Lou and I. I have never played it.


 I can. I know members and staff. But for some reason would rather not. Coal money built it. It is a “Championship” course I believe but I’ve never pulled the trigger.


 I like Dye courses. I believe his favorite is Teeth of the Dog. I’ve played it several times.. My X father-in-law caddied there. Sawgrass is fun. I live close to The Honors. But why haven’t I played Pete Dye in West Virginia.


 I think because given a golf day in West Virginia I’ll take the places the coal miners play. The natural minimalistic nine holers were kids could walk for 50 cents as kids and catch crawdads in the creek. Maybe that just feels like golf more.




 I nice thread would be how does your early golf experiences effect the way you see golf course architecture. Raw and natural with green locations around hazards is how I see golf. The manicured well kept overly bunkered courses don’t seem like golf as much. The courses I grew up on were basically links golf in West Virginia. Dirt fairways or at least hard and as Sam Snead said about TOC “looks abandoned “. Yardages on sprinkler heads. What!!!! Are you kidding me. WE DONT WATER  THE FAIRWAYS.

[Anthony Gray]

https://murialesrestaurant.com/


 Much of the golf experience for me is about the locals and the city.


 If you ever play Pete Dye in West Virginia please go this restaurant. It is the best Italian food in the world in my experience. There is a large Italian population in this area and a few mom and pop restaurants that are amazing. This one is just off the interstate and across the street fro where Mary Lou Retton grew up. Mary Lou Retton’s father was on the West Virginia university basketball team that barely lost the national championship. I believe her uncle holds the highest wining percentage of all college basketball coaches.


 I’ve been to Italy. I like the Italian food here in West Virginia better. More sauce and it’s richer. 10 years ago I went here and in the waiting area was someone from golfclubatlas. Crazy but true. And in the middle of the photos on the walls of Italian greats and mountaineer greats like Billy Joe Mantooth you can find a photo of Pacific Dunes. Rocco loved golfing there.


 

[Matthew Rose]

A round at Pebble Beach was in fact, my 40th birthday present. My birthday is in February.

Maybe a month or so before, I was sitting around musing that I should probably do something big and important.... my wife asked me what that was. As a joke I said "I dunno.... fly to California and play Pebble Beach? But that's a ridiculous amount of money and logistics".

A couple days later, I woke up with an envelope on my computer keyboard. I opened it up and there was a printout of a tee time for three and a flight reservation. I ended up taking my dad and my older brother.

I ended up playing at the end of January, about two weeks before my actual birthday, and before the Pro-Am. I got perfect weather and perfect course conditions. One of the greatest days of my life. My only regret is that I sprayed the ball pretty badly.

[Anthony Gray]

A round at Pebble Beach was in fact, my 40th birthday present. My birthday is in February.

Maybe a month or so before, I was sitting around musing that I should probably do something big and important.... my wife asked me what that was. As a joke I said "I dunno.... fly to California and play Pebble Beach? But that's a ridiculous amount of money and logistics".

A couple days later, I woke up with an envelope on my computer keyboard. I opened it up and there was a printout of a tee time for three and a flight reservation. I ended up taking my dad and my older brother.

I ended up playing at the end of January, about two weeks before my actual birthday, and before the Pro-Am. I got perfect weather and perfect course conditions. One of the greatest days of my life. My only regret is that I sprayed the ball pretty badly.

 Beautiful Mathew

[Anthony Gray]

 
 After 10 years of college I finally was in a position to take up golf on a regular basis. I had irons from different sets and did not have metal woods.
 I liked the minimalistic public places more than the country club. I moved up to irons from the same set and the Calloway metal woods. Walking these public courses often alone I found them to be peaceful and I noticed how the green sites fit in with land much like they did in West Virginia. I developed a passion to understand more about the origins of golf and what made one course better than others.


 I had a chance meeting with someone that had been to St Andrews and in few months later I was there. I watched Payne Stewart win the US Open sitting in the Dunveagan.


 I discovered the Top 100 list and decided to try to play what I could and become a student.


 I got a call from Lou around this time and he had Tickets for the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville so we made it over to Sawgrass while we were there. We saw a cluster of bald eagles which I had never seen before. The most memorable part of the day was 17.


 The young man we played with was from Austria and I was always a club more than him. He put his nine iron into the water so I used my 8. Barely made the green but left me with a 10 footer which I made. My only birdie of the day.


 Lou’s older brother was with us that day.

[Anthony Gray]

 Pebble beach seemed unattainable. As kids we were blown away by the beauty of it. Its boldness above the ocean. Memories of Tom Watson beating our hero Jack Nicklaus are still painful. After Watson raised that wedge above his head on 17 the final day we wanted to hit him over the head with it. How dare he defeat our hero. He was only lucky we exclaimed.


 Pebble Beach was the Holy Grail. I had been to Scotland and golfed St Andrews but Pebble Beach was number one on the list. It’s price seemed out of reach.


 St Andrews was much cheaper. I would return to St Andrews for 10 straight years. I used credit card points for my plane fair, I stayed with locals and they used their local ticket points on me. It was cheaper for me to travel to Scotland and golf than go to Myrtle Beach and golf.


 I read an article in a golf magazine on the logistics to golf Peeble Beach. It said you have a tee time for every two days you stay at The Lodge. And the best way to get there is fly to LA then take a small plane into Monterrey airport.


 Wrong. It was in December and that small plane from LA is often delayed and even canceled due to the fog. So after what seemed like days in the LA airport I finally made it to Monterrey.


 As a kid in West Virginia I had never experienced such beauty. The trees were much different. When we thought of California we thought of LA and Hollywood. Movie stars and Wilt the Stilt and  the Zeke from Cabin Creek. It was not a land of forests. We were ignorant to that part of the country. None of our friends had cement ponds in their backyards and there was never traffic jams and smog.

[Anthony Gray]

 My first trip I had arranged for 6 days i believe. I had to stay 2 days for every round. As I said before I got in later because of the cloud delay. I found 17 mile drive and went through the gate. I was so unsuspecting of the road to the course. The flora and nature was like a fairy tale. The forest almost appeared animated and the vegetation was so full I felt like I was almost in a tunnel.


 My car had the temperature on its rear view mirror. I saw the temperature dropping every 5 seconds. From the 70s the temp ended up in the 50s. And then there it was. Pebble Beach. The first glance is still engrained in my mind. It was looking over the 14th green to the cove in the distance. I made it.


 I was alone and that made it even better. No one to distract me.  I could feel the place with all five senses on high alert.


 My friend Pokey would meet me in a couple days I would watch his dream come true also. I would have the place scouted and make sure his days were the best.


 I was surprised The Lodge had no air conditioning. It doesn’t need it I suppose. The smell of the fire reminded me of my home in West Virginia. I was at peace.

[Anthony Gray]

 I’m an early riser. I never use an alarm clock and usually my eyes are open at 5AM. My father modeled me to be productive every day. Get up and accomplish something. No time for the morning cartoons like the other kids, get up and do something productive. So my body and mind is made for that.


 When traveling I like the first tee time. I play fast and don’t like to get behind slow players. And I’ve usually been up for a cuuple hours anyway. When not playing I like to walk the course when the mowers are on it. The course in the morning without golfers has a much different soul.


 So at Pebble beach I’m up at 2AM. Such a nice place at that time. And then later when the sun comes up and the course awakes.


 So I had the first tee time. I elected not to take a caddy because I just wanted to focus on the experience. Carrying my own clubs seemed to make it more intimate and more like golf. After a few holes the caddy for my playing partner started to chime in. I guess he got frustrated watching me check out my course guide.


 He always kept a scowl and there was not an ounce of happiness on his face. His voice was like he was gargling with hot lava while he spewed out words. He was The Phantom. And I was lucky to be part of his group.


 I’m uncertain if he told me to put my course guide away or if I did it out of fear he would bite it in half and swallow it. But a couple-le holes into the round I had found a caddy. And a classic. I told him to consider that he’s double bagging today and I will pay him after the round for his services. I think he smiled but I’m not sure because I could not tell if he had a mouth under his mustache.


 I don’t remember hitting many shots that day until the 17th. But after the round I had shot par on the back. Maybe my best 9 holes ever. On the 17th The Phantom corrected my read and I sunk a long birdie. On 18 he did it again and I made a long par putt. Back to back bombs. Have not repeated that since. The Phantom was with me.


 I knew The Phantom was a must for Pokey when he teed up two days later.


 The course was as advertised. A premier golf experience. Number 8 was the best second shot I had ever seen. 7 was a jewel. Picked up on 9 after landing in the front bunker going over into the unplayable deep stuff. 12 I always par it but don’t like it. A local place has the same green as 14. 2 should be a par 4 with a closer tee box. 3 has under appreciated architecture. Left is a better angle to the green but demands an exacting tee shot.


 I fulfilled a dream.

[Anthony Gray]

 The third day I was at PB I got in line. Much like TOC. First day got in late no chance of golf. Second I had a teetime. Third I knew the policy.


 A golfer can get in line in hopes of a tee time or to fill out a foursome. People staying at The Lodge have priority over the other walkins.


 Up at 3AM I had a really good chance. I was there when the doors opened but got rudely jumped. But they were not staying at The Lodge. Oops. I was first in line.


 I was placed with a wonderful family who were not golfers. They were away for Christmas Break and thought they should give it a try. The mother backed out which opened a space for me. They had planed to just pay for the four spots anyway but decided to open the spot. It was me.


 No caddies. Just a mom and a dad and their two adult sons. It was a blessing to me. I remember absolutely none of the golf other than a photo I have of the father on 6. Beautiful people.


 I would end up visiting them in marina del Rey a few years later when I went to the Rose Bowl. They were neighbors with Robert Horry and I watch an unforgettable sunset from there roof. My elderly golf buddy DW cut his toenails in front of their big screen as I took a walk with the father.


 My second round at peeble beach was about what makes golf the best sport. Which is the company more than the course.


 The father worked at Miller Meats in LA. He 3as a meat broker. I visited the him at work and it reminded me of “Trading Places” and wagering on pork bellies.

[Garland Bayley]

...
 Baby Huey was a sawed off driver that one of the kids had. It has mystic powers and at any time It would unleash its inner powers and result in the ginormous drive or that pin high runner from 50 yards. Baby Huey disappeared one day and has never been found again. It may be hid in a temple in Ethiopia. It’s orins are believed to have been rescued from a garbage dump.
...

I believe the inscription in Geez on The Church of our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, Ethiopia says they are guarding the treasures of The Ark of the Covenant, and of the sawed off driver Baby Huey.

You would have liked Addis Abeba Country Club back in the day. They didn't water fairways either. My understanding is that now it is fully grassed and irrigated.

[Anthony Gray]

...
 Baby Huey was a sawed off driver that one of the kids had. It has mystic powers and at any time It would unleash its inner powers and result in the ginormous drive or that pin high runner from 50 yards. Baby Huey disappeared one day and has never been found again. It may be hid in a temple in Ethiopia. It’s orins are believed to have been rescued from a garbage dump.
...

I believe the inscription in Geez on The Church of our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, Ethiopia says they are guarding the treasures of The Ark of the Covenant, and of the sawed off driver Baby Huey.

You would have liked Addis Abeba Country Club back in the day. They didn't water fairways either. My understanding is that now it is fully grassed and irrigated.

 The same place of the ORIGINAL large headed putter Nicklaus used at the 86 Masters. If you touch you will die unless you are smeared with goats blood.

[Anthony Gray]

 
 The next day Pokey had arrived. We had breakfast at the restaurant that looked over Stillwater Cove. It was surreal for both of us. Pokey gave grace before the meal and it was special. Humbling and grateful.


 We met up with The Phantom and the weather was perfect. The Phantom was usually the first caddy off because of his seniority but he waited for us.


 By the ninth hole Pokey has The Phantom’s voice down perfectly. The Phantom knew the yardages but more importantly how the course played.


 On 15 my tee ball was on the left side of the fairway where now lies a hole filled with sand. The Phantom says 190. I looked at the 150 marker just ahead of me. The Phantom with gravel in his throat “Ypu can look at the 150 all you want, it’s 190”. Yep, it was a 5 wood.


 The Phantom offered us a piece of his artwork the next time I came to town. He made art out of driftwood.


 My next trip I went to meet up with him but sadly learned he had passed. His body was found on the beach below the 5th hole. Uncertain if he had fallen or had a health crises when he was on the beach. He had made the visit to Pebble Beach much more memorable for us.