8th hole at Pebble-A hole for the ages

[John_D._Bernhardt]

I find myself dreaming of this hole as often as any on earth. The moment I get on the plane to SF, thoughts of placing the tee shot in the right place to set up the 2nd shot fill my mind. I love the blind 3 wood, for me, to set up a 4 to 6 iron to the green. That 2nd shot, being a significantly downhill while balancing the small green with cross winds and the ocean cliff, make for a rare moment in a golfer's life. The fact you are on top of the golf world with a view down the great 9th and 10th holes to the beautiful white beaches of Carmel. Or looking across to Point Lobos leave one wanting to drop a bag of balls and hit the shot over and over till the sun sets in the west.

[A_Clay_Man]

John- It is an indescirbable feeling, isn't it. It is so powerful that even those who noramlly don't "get it", Get it there.

I'd say it is $250 worth, of the $350 green fee.

Beside the golf lore, there are others. Some good, some not so good. I'll leave the downer ones out, but if your lucky enough, on a hot/sunny day, naked sunbathing can be viewed at low tide in the secret cove.

One of the great sins EVER, was when the powers that be, inorder to help pick up the pace, moved the white tees up to the forward teeing ground, up the hill. Not letting the majority of clientel experience the thrill of the blind tee shot.

 I will never forget my virgin tee shot there. Reading the sign that said 245 to cliff's edge. I thought, perfect, that's about how far I could hit it, and put to a yard of the edge. The subsequent 6 iron vaulted towards the green and I felt the indescribeable.

[Tim Weiman]

John:

I have played PB five or six times, but I will always remember playing #8 for the first time. I hit a pretty good tee shot leaving 185 yards to the green. After selecting a five iron for my approach, the wind made me a little nervous.

So, I went back to my bag and took out my five wood and blasted it over the green. Somehow I managed to get up and down.

Playing great holes for the first time can leave lifetime memories.

[brad miller]

Maybe the best 2nd shot par four in the world, but not the tee-ball, what other par fours have 2 more equally challenging and FUN shots, and more interesting greens for that matter? (from memory, rather small with pitch, but not much internal contour)

First nomination, #17 TOC

[ChipOat]

Jack Nicklaus says the 2nd shot on #8 is his favorite in all of golf.  In the words of Fr. Guido Sarducci, "that just about covers it".

[Buck Wolter]

Feb 20, 2000 10:40 am, Wind blowing in about 20-30mph, not raining yet but I'll play 16-18 alone in a horizontal rain with puddles on the greens.

Pushed my drive and watched the caddies exchange pessimistic looks. Found it in the rough about 1 yard from cliff, way to the right. With the wind blowing exactly right to left had to hit a heroic 5 wood out over the water and let it drift back towards the green for any chance at par. Somehow I manage the first perfect shot of my life as it lands between the front right bunker and the green which should take just enough steam off it to snuggle it next to the front pin. Instead it hits a sprinkler head and bounds into the back left bunker. Good bunker shot, missed the come-backer, tap in for the best /worst bogey of my life.

No other hole elicits a memory like that for me, 2 1/2 years later it's like it was this morning.

[ed_getka]

Drive in the fairway, gulp while looking at the volkswagen hood as target green, perched on a cliff. Played for short left bunker knowing my fade would be on the green, hit a  straight shot into the sand. Blasted out to about 6 feet and sank the putt for PAR. I golfed with my brother on that trip at Pebble, Spy, Spanish Bay, and Pasatiempo. Memory for  a lifetime. Bonus was my brother took a photo of me blasting out of bunker on #8.

I'm glad Adam thinks that hole is worth $250, since I ONLY paid $225 for my round. What a bargain.

[Gary_Nelson]

Three days after the wedding, my new bride and I are at Pebble... she's driving the cart and I'm playing.  A ten-minute wait for #8 green to clear... several trips to the edge of the cliff to force my pounding heart even further up my throat.

Second shot from the left rough, 3-iron about 200 yards.  The shot was pure and ball never left the flagstick.  The ball hit the green softly and checked up about 10 feet left of the hole.  My birdie putt slipped by but the par putt was an easy tap-in.  

I still remember it as if it were yesterday.  Definitely worth the $195 green fee for that shot alone.

The "maintainence meld" that day included seals barking and otters swimming in the bay.  Can't wait for the return trip.

Gary  

[THuckaby2]

I'm loving these PB #8 stories, but damn it must be an easy hole with all these pars and birdies and under par lifetimes...  

Come one, is anyone man enough to describe "not so great" playings of this hole?

I'll start.  I've been lucky enough to play Pebble 10+ times, so what the hell.  One of my first times I come to 8 tee with a decent score (for me) going and so decide to play "smart" and not tempt the cliff.  Lay WAY too far back - leaving 215 or so to the green, into a little breeze.  Blast a 4wood way right into ocean.  Drop up by cliff, dunk a mid-iron from there into the same bitter sea.  Third one finally gets over and hits green, from whence I three-whack.  All thoughts of score cease for the day.

I'd have to guess my story is way more representative of the majority of attempts on this wonderful hole!

TH

[Mike Hendren]

Alas, the Huckster has dunned me into an account of my less than steller experience with no. 8.  My 3-wood from the tee is thin and lo and behold hits the small stone directional marker in the hillside and caroms skyward.  I'm forced to layup and unceremoniously fan a five iron into the wrong side of the great meeting of land and sea.  Naturally, I'm long and left with the next shot and then, oh never mind!

I am granted redemption soon thereafter, however, by fading my Dad's whippy shafted persimmon 5-wood into the 10th green and two-putting for par.  Hence, my new favorite line:
"Sure, eight and nine are great golf holes, but ten is grossly underated!"

[THuckaby2]

Fantastic - love it, Mike!  Maybe I'm a sadist or masochist, I don't know, but I always enjoy stories like that more than the "good" recounts!

That is classic in any case.  Love the line also.

Reminds me of my dear ole dad in our first time playing Pebble... huge backup on 15 tee... we wait forever, then it's time to hit... he skulls a little screamer that hits a decorative rock by the red tee, careens HIGH back over our heads, and lands in someone's yard behind the back tee.  There follows stunned silence amongs the dozen people there... then one tiny twitter leads the entire assemblage into raucous guffawing.  My youthful "you gotta hit three from the tee, Dad" is met with "just get in the f**king cart."

You don't wanna know what he did on 8 on another trip... suffice to say we have a great picture of him hitting off the beach.  I can't give him too much crap, I tried it to another time.. oh yes, one can get down there - you just have to go to the green side and repel backwards.

TH

[Peter Galea]

A week after playing Pebble I get an oversize envelope in the mail from a good friend. I open it and surrounded by a nice black matte is a photo of me rumaging around in the kikuya about 15 feet below 8 green. A caption in gold ink reads, "The whereabout's of Pete's ball will never be known."

[John Bernhardt]

It is a hole for the ages. I love these stories for mine are a mix of great moments and discust from missing the chance at greatness.

[ed_getka]

Tom,
 I've only played it once and am not willing to sacrifice my great memory there, unless my son drags me there after he forgoes his college education to pay the green fee which will probably be about $10,000 by then.

[Pete_Pittock]

I played it once in 1970, as my second round of golf after a year in Vietnam so I was able to keep my head down real well, most of the time. Played from the tips, not by choice. The drive was like so many others, just short of the cliff in the right rough. But I hit a terrible topspin lob that just cleared and bounced into the front bunker and I had to putt to the center of the bunker because I didn't have a full swing in any direction except the ocean. A routine out and two putt for a double didn't detract from the hole at all.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Pictures


Hope this works.

[Dan Kelly]

Told this story once before, here. (Anyone know how to get access to old, locked, best-of-the-old-GCA threads? I know I did it once, recently, at home, but can't seem to figure it out now.)

Played Pebble once. June of 1986. Hit trademark low screamer of a driver straight up middle of 8th fairway. Ball HIT aiming stick -- bounding forward only far enough (can't remember how far) that I had what I guessed to be a full, hard 3-wood to green. Hit CRACKIN' 3-wood straight at stick. Ball hung over bay for near-eternity .. and finally landed ... about 3 feet from hole ... and bounded up the green, maybe 25 feet past. Fastest putt I'd ever seen. Barely tapped it. 10 feet past. Missed the comebacker.

That 3-wood was the shot of my life.

As they say: Some bogeys are better than others.

[Bill_McBride]

The hardest, most death defying shot on #8 is not the shot across the ocean.  It's the chip shot from behind the green after you have chickened out and hit the 5 wood instead of the 4 iron "to make sure you get across."  Now you are chipping straight down hill, in effect trying to stop your chip on the hood of your car before it gets to the hood ornament. LOL remembering that shot!  Did manage a bogey after the chip back uphill from well in front of the green, dangerously close to in the water from that side!