Pebble Beach (photos)

[Rob Miller]

Since Pebble is Pebble, I'll keep it simple and just post some photos of the course as it's preparing for the Open. 

It was a cold and windy day here and although some sunshine would have been a nice little bonus, it was fun to play with the challenge that the Monterey peninsula can provide.  Facing the par 5 14th against the wind makes the hole jokingly difficult.  Three good shots and I was still nowhere close to the green.  Good stuff.

The stretch from 6-8 and closing with 17-18 were some of most fun I've had playing the game. 

The photos themselves are not my best, but it's difficult to take bad pictures of the ocean holes on this course.  Enjoy.



1st, par 4 376







2nd, par 4 502




approach




Looks innocent until you are up close-




Not a good place to fall short. 



View from behind the green




3rd, par 4 374 - cartpath!  Actually I was surprised how many people took carts, even with caddies. 









bunkering on the 3rd




4th, par 4 327




the 6th hole looms large throughout the course.  Here's a view of it in the distance from the 4th fairway.




5th, par 3 187






6th 500 yds par 5







Just trying to give some perspective on how steep the transition is here. 





7th, par 3 106 - only 109 yards in the US Open







8th approach (par 4 416)




look back at the 8th





9th, par 4 462




look back at the 9th

[Rob Miller]

*My photo-taking ambition dropped off after the ninth hole, so photos are a bit sporadic from this point*

10th, 430 par 4




11th, 373 par 4

look back on the 11th





12th, 201 par 3




13th, 393 par 4


I was trying to eat a hot dog and fend off seagulls who were also interesting in eating my hot dog, so no photos...


14th, 572 par 5






approach on the 14th






A look back at the 14th green.  Hard to show how small the landing area is and how steep the drop off is on all sides. 





15th, 396 par 4





16th, 401 par 4


This is NOT the 16th at pebble, but somewhere down the road.  I was too cold for an actual photo of the 16th so enjoy this instead




17th, 178, par 3





a look back on the 17th




18th, 543, par 5

The tee box at 18






Look back at 18







This is also NOT pebble, but couldn't resist adding it at the end.

[Robin Doodson]

Wow!

Course looks unreal. i have always thought Pebble Beach to be a bit bland and soulless but have only seen it on TV. looks like it has been roughed up a little with a very distinct theme. i believe the Palmer corporation were involved in a redesign for the open. anyone got any idea of the scope of the work? were bunkers, greens etc. rebuilt?

robin

[Andrew Summerell]

Thanks Rob,

I remember being surprised the first time I played PB how many houses & biuldings, & how close to the course they are, as some of your pictures show. A little bit like a housing estate course.

How do they handle the crowds with the houses so close? Do they barricade them off or steer crowds to the inside of the course?

[Anthony Gray]

   Love theses threads. Thanks. The mow line on 6 sure has changed.

  Anthony

[Kalen Braley]

Thanks for the photos, it looks good.

Not to re-visit an old controversy from the past....but as it concerns the 1st hole, I don't get the endless posts I've seen on this site how its a medicore/plain jane/blah/ordinary golf hole.

I'm not claiming its a world beater, or anywhere near the league of #8 or #18... but a medicore golf hole?  For real? 

[Adam Clayman]

The 3rd hole's bunkers on the long side of the fairway are an abomination. The arbitrary mow lines on 14 look silly. And the sand's colors are so so so... Tennessee.

[Chris Flamion]

I am surprised at how few corporate tents appear to be up.

The course looks great.  Thanks for the pictures.

[Michael Taylor]

My entire knowledge of the course stems from Tiger Woods PGA tour games...

How different the course looks in real life. Holes like 1 and 3 look nothing like what I imagined.

Do you have a photo of the tee shot on 8?

Pup

[Rob Miller]

Thanks Rob,

I remember being surprised the first time I played PB how many houses & biuldings, & how close to the course they are, as some of your pictures show. A little bit like a housing estate course.

How do they handle the crowds with the houses so close? Do they barricade them off or steer crowds to the inside of the course?

Andrew- I was also surprised and initially a bit disappointed as well.  I remember my first thought is that with all of the corporate play on the course some of those houses would be right in the line of fine.  Sure enough, at some point on the back nine, one guy in my foursome hit an errant shot and -thump, thump- off of a house.   Oops. 

The houses are well fenced off and not easy to access (save from a golf ball) so it's probably not a major issue for the Open. 

---------

Pup-  here's a photo of the tee shot on 8.  It's hard to visualize what is coming from the 8th tee even when you know the hole, perhaps because 6 and 7 are so good.  Mind the caddies and cart. 

[Matthew Petersen]

Thanks for these photos.

I have never played Pebble but was there for the 2000 US Open and remember being stunned at how much more dramatic it is than it seems on TV (or in video games). That second shot on 6 is one of the more terrifying things I've ever seen.

I had heard they'd made changes to the third hole but hadn't seen it until now. Overall, I like the changes, as far as I can remember of what was there before. Still not a great hole, but better without the trees encroaching at the corner so much.

[Matt_Cohn]

18 tee doesn't look so good!

[Jordan Wall]

What about those trees just off the right side of the fourteenth fairway!?  Aren't they new?  Why!?

[jonathan_becker]

Rob,

Interesting photo off of #8 tee.  It keeps tricking my brain into thinking that the tee shot is slightly downhill.   

[Jed Peters]

How anyone can find that much fault in this golf course is beyond me.

[AndrewB]

I thought Mike Davis was going to pull the rough in partly up the steep slope left of the 14th green in order to prevent all balls from ending up in the same place under the tree, with the intention of creating more options.  In the picture it doesn't look as if this is the case.

[Tim Leahy]

The sea was angry that day, my friend, like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli.

[Duncan Betts]

I know its fashionable to knock this golf course, and every time I hear another person refer to it as 'overrated' and 'average' and 'just a course' and 'would be nothing without the views' I wonder if I had played the same course.

I then see pics like this and am reminded that I did in fact play the correct course and its an absolute beauty.  Glad I'm not fashionable enough to continually criticise such a classic to keep up with the Jones.

[Adam Clayman]

I had heard they'd made changes to the third hole but hadn't seen it until now. Overall, I like the changes, as far as I can remember of what was there before. Still not a great hole, but better without the trees encroaching at the corner so much.

Matthew- What else do you like about the changes to the third?

In the above picture, you can make out the one pot bunker that sits on the inside of the dogleg. Elegant simplicity. Dr. Mackenzie thought the hole was one of the best. Today's iteration, with that bunker complex disfiguring the elegance and the simplicity, is grotesque. The irony is their justification for adding that hideous bunker complex. They actually did it to make the hole tougher for the Open. In reality, those bunkers provide a frame of reference, making the tee shot a whole lot easier than before. And, recovery from that bunker also is much easier that when it was long rough. One interesting note about the third. Someone found an old yardage book and from the original back tee, the carry distance, over the pot bunker was a mere 140 yards. This illustrates one of the subtler deceptive aspects of a thoughtful design that those who don't see the abomination, with their  cursory observations, miss. 

Jed, The course is not being criticized. Elements, of ill-conceived change, are. Same is true at Riviera. The course is still a treat to play even with changes to specific elements that the original designer was careful /thoughtful not to make.

[Adam Clayman]

Dave, as it is right with the golf god's world, in the International Caddie Cup, I totally wussed out on that drive and was a long way away in deep rough, on that hillside (185y). Knowing my predicament, I choose to play a lay up to the front left. Still having some nervousness about me, I took the club back slow, and stayed down. When I did look up, I'm asking "where is it, where is it" only to catch a glimpse of a white blurr landing five feet from the back right pin. No one was more shocked than I since my intentions were to play safe. I love misses.

[Adam Clayman]

That's one of the reasons I don't get upset at a bad shot. I know I'll be on the receiving end of some good karma, eventually. I even appreciate the fact that early spring (now) is the best time to get the bad karma out of the way.  

BYW, Dave, that shot I described was suppose to be a low runner, playing short of the left green side bunker. It was so poorly hit, it ended up being this perfectly struck high fade, right at the pin.

[Sean Leary]

Rob,

Interesting photo off of #8 tee.  It keeps tricking my brain into thinking that the tee shot is slightly downhill.   

His photo is from the white tee. From the Blue tee, its uphill and blind.

[Sean Leary]

God, #5 looks great.

WAY, WAY better than what was there before.





 

[Matthew Petersen]

I had heard they'd made changes to the third hole but hadn't seen it until now. Overall, I like the changes, as far as I can remember of what was there before. Still not a great hole, but better without the trees encroaching at the corner so much.

Matthew- What else do you like about the changes to the third?

In the above picture, you can make out the one pot bunker that sits on the inside of the dogleg. Elegant simplicity. Dr. Mackenzie thought the hole was one of the best. Today's iteration, with that bunker complex disfiguring the elegance and the simplicity, is grotesque. The irony is their justification for adding that hideous bunker complex. They actually did it to make the hole tougher for the Open. In reality, those bunkers provide a frame of reference, making the tee shot a whole lot easier than before. And, recovery from that bunker also is much easier that when it was long rough. One interesting note about the third. Someone found an old yardage book and from the original back tee, the carry distance, over the pot bunker was a mere 140 yards. This illustrates one of the subtler deceptive aspects of a thoughtful design that those who don't see the abomination, with their  cursory observations, miss. 

Jed, The course is not being criticized. Elements, of ill-conceived change, are. Same is true at Riviera. The course is still a treat to play even with changes to specific elements that the original designer was careful /thoughtful not to make.

Adam,

To be fair I have never played there so I'm simply going by my memories of walking the course during the 2000 US Open. My memory could well be wrong.

The bunkers are neither here nor there for me. I don't see the necessity of the long bunkers as it seems like being on that hill in the rough created a tougher shot than a fairway bunker shot (though i don't know how deep those are). The short bunkers I think you are correct about, they don't add much challenge for the good player and probably help in picking a line.

But my memory of the hole (and again I could be mistaken) was that it used to demand a draw around the trees to have any real shot at finding the fairway at all. It seems like some of those trees have been cleared back, giving a few more options, which is preferable.

[jonathan_becker]

Rob,

Interesting photo off of #8 tee.  It keeps tricking my brain into thinking that the tee shot is slightly downhill.   

His photo is from the white tee. From the Blue tee, its uphill and blind.

Thanks, Sean.

I figured that must be the case, but I didn't realize that the white tees were that far separated from the blues.  I've been to Pebble and walked a few holes, but I never made it out to #8.