Retention Wall on Pebble Beach 18th Erodes Away

[Brad Klein]

Just saw aerial imagery of the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. A substantial section of the massive reinforced concrete retention wall alongside the second half of the fairway has washed away and fallen into the sea. The fairway is safe, for now, but unless this is a falsified report the news is ominous indeed.

[TEPaul]

From where we sit in the East the thought keeps recurring about our West Coast brethern of whether or not they'll truly come to understand the significance of the old cliche; "You just can't f... with Mother Nature!"

[Brian_Gracely]

http://pebblebeach.com/webcam/18th_java.htm

Should be interesting to see if they keep this live if damage has actually happened.  

[THuckaby2]

That's a great find, Brian, but of course we're gonna have to wait a bit to see anything.  It's still dark out here, ya know?
 

Now re this damage, if it is true - and I remain yet to be convinced - it would be very scary because we really haven't had THAT bad of storms yet this winter... particularly not recently... oh it has been raining off an on, but nothing like prior years.  If THIS caused that wall to erode, well then perhaps they ought to just give up and let nature take the hole, because who knows what will happen in a truly stormy future year anyway....

TH

[A_Clay_Man]

Wow! That was fast. That wall is not that old. So much for Still Water!

The japanese who owned Pebble, do deserve a lot of credit for the stewardship of the course. Building seawalls not only here on 18, but also along nine and ten. I wonder if they didnt' channel the good doctor since evidence of those walls along the 9th and 10th, is invisible.

[Dan Kelly]

From where we sit in the East the thought keeps recurring about our West Coast brethern of whether or not they'll truly come to understand the significance of the old cliche; "You just can't f... with Mother Nature!"

This is why I recommended, just the other day, "The Control of Nature," by John McPhee.

I continue to recommend it!

[A_Clay_Man]

Huck, I don't know boo, but, because it was described as the second half of the fairway, I wonder if it was the rain, persey. Ya See, that section of the fairway faces south (maybe a scosh west). In the winter, it's my understnading that the swells come from that direction. But as I write this, I realize I know less than boo.

Maybe they can blame it on the tsunami, and get some insurance coverage?

[THuckaby2]

Adam, I too don't know boo, but SOMETHING has to cause the large swells and ferocious surf that bash the wall and bring it down.  Usually it's the fierce winter storms you know we get... and those just haven't happened yet this year.  Oh, there have been some, but nothing of any big consequence.  That's what has me surprised.

As for tsunami damage, man that would have to be one REALLY slow-moving wave!

This is odd too - a guy in my class at Santa Clara was John McPhee.  There is just no way it's he who penned these tomes.  I know the guy well enough for that.  But strange that name comes up.  

[THuckaby2]

Huck

He's a Princeton guy.  

Thank the lord.  I was gonna lose faith in all truths if the John McPhee I knew turned into this type of author.

 

[NAF]

check out the pebble beach link now..

[THuckaby2]

This is odd too - a guy in my class at Santa Clara was John McPhee.  There is just no way it's he who penned these tomes.  I know the guy well enough for that.  But strange that name comes up.  

Huck,

You just never know.  John McPhee could be sitting around when your name comes up in conversation and says, "I knew I guy named Huckaby once, but there's no way in hell that he'd pen 9500+ posts on some internet website."
 

 
Oh no, they'd expect that once they heard what the site was about.

Hey, I am getting close to the magic 10,000 figure... hmmm.... Tom Paul has alluded to riches beyond one's wildest dreams lying after that milestone... the light is there at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Dan Kelly]

I recommend anything by John McPhee.  He can make anything interesting, absolutely anything.

That sounds an awful lot like a boast attributed (perhaps apocryphally) to Mr. McPhee himself!

I have heard that one of his early books ("Oranges") was born at a cocktail party, when he declared that it would be possible to write a good book about anything -- the clear implication being that HE could write a good book about anything.

I don't remember if he is said to have asked for nominations from the assembly, but he got one, shouted out: "Oranges!"

Thus, "Oranges" -- a good book.

[Dan Kelly]

...something looks a little amiss.

Yeah. It's not raining!

[THuckaby2]

Huh.  Looks normal to me.  Hey Brian, find us an angle from behind the green, will ya?  

And Dan, I keep telling you, it's SoCal that is getting flooded.  Oh, we've had our rain here, but it hasn't been bad at all yet.  Yesterday was beautiful, as will today be....

[Dan Kelly]

And Dan, I keep telling you, it's SoCal that is getting flooded.

Tom IV --

I know!

When are you going to figure out that the rest of us get a kick out of lumping all of you Californians together?

P.S. Yes, it's pathetic -- but what can we do? It's too cold here to play golf!

[THuckaby2]

Dan, we are sadly still one big state.  So OK, I get it.

 

Man that web cam still shows nothing amiss to me...

[Craig Sweet]

I hope they didn't lose any of those splendid caddies when the seawall slid into the ocean  

[THuckaby2]

wow redanman, this is gonna require quite the leap of faith.  I mean come on, so far the subject matter of these books would interest me about as much as a tome on South Siberian tribal dance.

But I do trust your judgment... so I will seek out ONE book, as a test.  Which one would you recommend as the first, to get me interested in this familiarly-named author?

It's gonna be your ass if this is a waste of my $20 and several precious hours of my life.

 

[Dan Kelly]

I will seek out ONE book, as a test.  Which one would you recommend as the first, to get me interested in this familiarly-named author?

You're a college basketball fan, right?

Start at the beginning, with McPhee's first: "A Sense of Where You Are" (a profile of Bill Bradley when he was still at Princeton).

Then try "Survival of the Bark Canoe," "Encounters With the Archdruid," and "Giving Good Weight."

Or "The Control of Nature," in which Mr. McPhee demonstrates what a bad idea Southern California was.

[THuckaby2]

Thanks, gents.

And while I do consider myself a NorCal homeboy (although born in SoCal, long story), well... I'm thinking geology as a subject might just be too risky and turn me off on the guy forever, however interesting he makes this.

But college hoops and Bill Bradley?

Now you are speaking my language.

So I shall start with that, if I can find it.  And by that I mean if it's in the Barnes & Noble by my house, I'll buy it.  No amazon for this flight of fancy.

And Kelly, it's now your ass as well if this is a waste.  And you don't want to be on my bad side.

 

[Dan Kelly]

It appears that I'm the expert in Early McPhee, Redanman in Latter-Day McPhee.

I've got some catching up to do!

[David_Tepper]

John McPhee wrote one of the best books on tennis ever in 1969- "Levels of the Game." It was a look at the world of amateur tennis in the late 1960's and focused on Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner-  how they grew up in the world of tennis from very different bakcgrounds.

[Scott Seward]

Okay I'll answer the call.

I work at Poppy Hills and can tell you that a chunk of the fairway 290 yards off the tee did indeed fall in. Since that is right in the PGA Tour drive zone, there is a concern. Its still very playable, just a tighter landing zone.

[THuckaby2]

Thanks, Scott.

One can barely see that in the webcam...

What's the chance of the damage spreading?

That would have to be the real concern, no?

TH

[Marty Bonnar]

How cool is it that a guy called 'Se(a)ward' is here discussing Se(a)walls... in Monterey!!

Cool!

FBD.

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