[Tom Huckaby]

I just received a newsletter from Pasatiempo announcing that the old back tee on #3 - at 235 yards - has been restored - the new tee officially opened on October 15.

Question for the Pasa experts, or anyone who has seen it recently - where is the restored back tee?

I'm having a hard time imagining where it would go... the back tee I've always played was pretty much up against a fence.

Is it higher on the hill?

Lower, back toward 2 green?

Please explain, for the imagination-challenged (me).

BTW, that is going to be one BRUTAL shot from there... it'll be driver for me for sure - if I want to make the green that is.  Best play might be a layup somewhere over to the left... but then again it's no easy pitch from anywhere there as it will be blind with a sidehill lie.  Man this is going to be something from this "old" tee....

TH

[Jon Spaulding]

I got the same email......time to get back out there!

"Pasatiempo’s #3 Restored to Original Length

At nearly 240 yards, the par 3 third hole at Pasatiempo was a stern test when the course opened in 1929. Playing a club and a half uphill, the tee shot demanded a strong drive over a cavernous bunker that stretched across most of the fairway to a green that, save for a runway in the front, was almost completely encircled by bunkers. Widely recognized as one of the most difficult holes on the challenging championship layout, the third hole sparked debate about the true meaning of “par.”

In the decades after Pasatiempo opened, the third hole (like most of the other holes on the course) was altered to save money on maintenance costs; the dangerous fairway bunker was removed, some of the greenside bunkering taken out, and the championship tee moved up to 214 yards from the championship tees. This great hole faded in prominence as its spiritual cousin, the 219 yard par 3 16th hole just an hour away at Cypress Point Golf Club (also a product of collaboration between MacKenzie and Pasatiempo founder Marion Hollins), gradually became recognized as one of the finest golf holes in the world. For over 50 years, no one has played the 3rd hole at Pasatiempo as it was intended to be played by Dr. MacKenzie...until now.

In late 2008, famed architect Tom Doak finished his restoration of Pasatiempo, restoring many of MacKenzie’s original features that had been lost over years of neglect, and bringing Pasatiempo back to its place as one of the nation’s most elite public play courses. Doak's restoration brought back many of the third hole’s original features, save one…the back tee.

On October 15, Pasatiempo opened the restored back tee on hole #3, once again giving players the opportunity to experience this uphill 235 yard par 3 the way that Mackenzie designed it. Bring your game…and perhaps your driver… to the #3 tee box."

[Tom Huckaby]

Time to get back out there indeed!

And that sage Mr. Benham has made me understand where the tee must be - kinda down and below where it was before.  They must have removed the recent tee-pad and restored an old one that existed way back when.

Man I am still having a hard time picturing that though, as in my mind the tee I've always played backed up to the fence more or less.  But Mr. Benham showed me how that is not true.

235 uphill... whoa... that will be a driver for me, sad to say.  Might have to hit a cut 5iron, Jon.

 

[Mike Golden]

here is the satellite of the teeing area, I doubt this already includes the new tee:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=santa+cruz+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=36.995504,-122.023088&spn=0.000502,0.001202&t=h&z=20&lci=lmc:panoramio

did the original hole have a big cross bunker in the fairway that would make the tee shot blind as well?

[Tom Huckaby]

Mike G. - thanks - that definitely does not include the "restored" tee.  But I get now where it will be.  It still hard for me to get my mind around, given it seems the tee pad had to be removed and a new one created... but what the heck.  Down and lower and closer to 2 green the tee must be.

The original hole did have that cross bunker that was reinstalled not all that long ago, for sure.  Not sure if that made the hole blind.  But wow, that could be....

TH

[Mike Benham]

Yes, the original hole had the fairway cross bunker but the green is elevated so it is not a blind shot.

3rd Hole at Pasatiempo Restoration


The tee will be located behind the existing "back tee", approximately near the brown spot to the side of the cart path.

[Tom Huckaby]

Mike - with the tee lower, and the bunker more raised, isn't it possible that it would have been at least semi-blind?  That is you could see just the top of the flag maybe?

We need to test this out.

 

[Mike Golden]

Mike - with the tee lower, and the bunker more raised, isn't it possible that it would have been at least semi-blind?  That is you could see just the top of the flag maybe?

We need to test this out.

 

that's what I was thinking, that the tee box would be lower and would at least be partially blocked out by the cross bunker.

[David Stamm]

Man, this hole was brutal before. I can't say until I see it, but it could be even more intimidating than 16 at CPC now.

[Tom Huckaby]

Man, this hole was brutal before. I can't say until I see it, but it could be even more intimidating than 16 at CPC now.

I was thinking that also.  In the end, I think CPC still takes the crown... because as intimidating as 3 Pasa will now be, a missed shot there will still not mean automatic reload as it does at CPC.

TH

[SPDB]

I was there last weekend and I don't recall a tee that was on the same side of the path as #2 green. There clearly had been some work going on, as the entire tee area had been resodded between the upper and lower tee. Check out THIS AERIAL, which differs from the one shown above and features a longer, single lower tee.

[Ryan Chin]

What a beautiful green setting, benched into the hillside.

Smells like "half par hole" to me! Or a Billy Casper....hit it short on purpose, chip it up, one putt.

[David Stamm]

Man, this hole was brutal before. I can't say until I see it, but it could be even more intimidating than 16 at CPC now.

I was thinking that also.  In the end, I think CPC still takes the crown... because as intimidating as 3 Pasa will now be, a missed shot there will still not mean automatic reload as it does at CPC.

TH

You may want to reload if you miss it right.

[Tom Huckaby]

SPDB:  Hmmmm... that's a cool aerial, but that looks like the tee I know to me... can't see that that gets one to 235.  But my imagination sucks.  So I am gonna have to see this in person.  

Ryan - damn right that would seem to be the best way to play it - should allow for a pretty pain-free 4... and that might win the hole a lot of the time against those who go for the green.  Problem is, who can resist taking a crack at it?  It surely will be tempting...

David - you might want to, oh yes indeed.  Good point!

TH

[SPDB]

Huck:
It was about 205 when i played from the front of the tee. I think its safe to say that's a 25-30 yd long tee. Like I said, though, i wasn't on the look out and, full disclosure, I was hanging my head after a pretty big number on #2. That green is vexing, and that day's pin (back left on top of the knob) was diabolical.

[Mitch Hantman]

Tom H

I was there about 10 days ago.  The new tee is below, and to the right of the upper tee, closer to the 2nd green just like you suspected.  I believe it is to the left of the cart path, but perhaps the path has been moved since you were there.    I'm not sure about the path, as I was walking, and didn't pay attention to paths. 

[Mike Benham]

[Tom Huckaby]

Excellent stuff guys; verbal testimony and visual aids.  I can see where the tee must be now beyond a shadow of  a doubt.

A tough hole before is TOUGH now.  Those 19 yards will be very big.  It will indeed mean driver for me if I want to comfortably reach the green.  Hell it damn near was before.

TH

[David_Elvins]

I am not sure the fairway bunker would ever make the green blind.

Moving the tee right would have almost as much effect on making the hole harder as moving it back IMO.  The diagonal angle of the bunkering is increased especially to the  back right pin. 

[rchesnut]

I can confirm that the new back tee is directly behind the old #3 lower tee, straight back and still on the #3 side of the cart path, not over toward #2 as you might think.  It was necessary to do some clearing back there to regain the original tee site. 

The hole is now 235 yards to the middle of the green.  One mystery is the fact that opening day scorecard has the hole at 240, and we're not quite sure how that could have been possible...they may have simply measured from the very back of the tee, or been somewhat imprecise in their measurement.  In any event, it's 235 now, and for me at least there's no shame in pulling out the driver.  And while #16 at CPC does force you to reload if you miss it, those that dump their tee shot into the fairway cross bunker, or to the right, on this hole are looking at big trouble.  It's also a longer shot to this green, particularly when you factor in the club and a half uphill. 

Comparing this hole to CPC 16 is particularly interesting given the fact that these
par and a half par 3s were created by the same designer with a strong assist from the same woman, within a relatively short time span, and from the 3rd green at Pasa  on a really clear day you can look across the bay and almost see CPC.   Not quite.   

 

[Tom Huckaby]

Excellent stuff, thanks gents.  No more mysteries for me.. other than will I have the balls to lay up on this hole?  I doubt it.

TH

[Tim Bert]

Tom - perhaps you would find the layup exhilirating.

[Jason Topp]

Do the trees to the right interfere with the tee ball from the new tee?

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom - perhaps you would find the layup exhilirating.

Indeed yes!  That's exactly what I was thinking of.
 

Jason - Rob would know best, but methinks the trees are not in the way any more so than they would have been before. 

TH

[rchesnut]

The trees on the right don't interfere with the tee shot at all...the new tee is straight back behind the old tee, it's on the same side of the cart path.   It's the same shot, same angle as before, just 15-20 yards farther back.   

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