[Kyle Henderson]

Remembrances of a glorious March day with fine gentlemen… and Jon.

Colton and Spaulding on the 1st green.


Approaching the 2nd.


Spaulds working the flat stick.on the 2nd green.


4th green


Looking back at the 8th.


9th tee (the 9th hole of the MPCC Dunes Course is just to the right of the starboard ridge).


Looking back down the 9th


My elder plays his second on the par 5 10th


14th green


Spaulding and Colton walking up the 17th


17th green.

[Rob Miller]

Kyle,

Thanks for the photos. 

Any thoughts on the course?

[Garland Bayley]

Remembrances of a glorious March day with fine gentlemen… and Jon.

Colton and Spaulding on the 1st green.

Who is the geeky looking one?

[JLahrman]

Yeah how is this course?  It doesn't get a lot of ink.  I realize it has more famous neighbors but with all the hombres around here playing CPC, Pebble, MPCC, etc. surely some of them y'all must be trying out Spanish Bay as well.

[Kyle Henderson]

Remembrances of a glorious March day with fine gentlemen… and Jon.

Colton and Spaulding on the 1st green.

Who is the geeky looking one?

Colton is the geeky one on the left. Jon is the geeky one on the right.

[David Stamm]

Remembrances of a glorious March day with fine gentlemen… and Jon.

Colton and Spaulding on the 1st green.

Who is the geeky looking one?

Colton is the geeky one on the left. Jon is the geeky one on the right.

Is that a ProV1 in Jon's pocket, or is he just happy to be there.

[CJ Carder]

Yeah how is this course?  It doesn't get a lot of ink.  I realize it has more famous neighbors but with all the hombres around here playing CPC, Pebble, MPCC, etc. surely some of them y'all must be trying out Spanish Bay as well.

Spanish Bay was the first course out there that we played on our trip and I actually thought it was pretty decent.  Unfortunately, after Pebble and Spyglass the next 2 rounds, it progressively worked it's way down the list to 3rd out of the 4 we played.  Still, it has a fantastic setting, my only wish was that they figured out some way to take more advantage of the ocean.  I also seem to remember thinking that, for a "links" course (note I hadn't been to Scotland at the time) that it wasn't very firm and so the shots I imagined playing into and down wind were difficult to pull off.  Probably the biggest detractor for me overall was that the course is almost routed AROUND the hotel, so the stretch of holes on the non-ocean side (10-13) were a bit non-descript.

Speaking of those holes, Kyle, do you happen to have a picture of the green complex on 10?  I seem to remember a rather large bunker guarding the green that actually required some strategy to play around.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Kyle,

Do you think that a better course could have been crafted if the hotel was on the westernmost section of the property ?

[Kyle Henderson]

Patrick,

My thoughts can be found in Reply #11 of this thread, of which you were also a participant.


http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,34887.0/


Since that thread came about, I have learned that the environmental areas that detract so much from the course were added after it was completed to protect the native plant species found in the dunes, even though the dunes and plants were all placed their by man after the site was completely mined out in previous decades.

The Confidential Guide says (if memory serves) that the course would get a 7 without the environmental areas. until then, Doak scores it at a 5. It's in that ballpark.

[Adrian_Stiff]

The ugliest of the 4 stunning sisters I suppose. I really enjoyed Spanish Bay, I played it early 89, it was newish with fescue, though the fescue was struggling. Nice course that weaved in and out of linksland and back into pine, probably never realy had a stand out hole (or I cant remember one) but still well worth a play.

[jonathan_becker]

Thanks for the photos, Kyle.

I played it in May 2003 and the conditions were very firm and fast.  The setting is great, but the course is a little odd with the Inn in the center.  I've always wondered (along with many others) how much different the course would be if the Inn never existed.

I thought #1 and #2 were pretty cool in that you've got the scoreable par 5 to open the round and then the driveable second coming next.  It makes for some drama if you're going for both those holes.

I don't know how others feel, but I thought #10 was a fun hole as there are many different ways to play it.  I remember getting up and down for 4 from the front bunker.  I believe the hole is also a double dogleg if my memory is correct.

It's very overpriced, but the views are awesome and I enjoyed playing it.  It's funny to think how at the time this course was in my top 5.  Now, it's not in my top 20.

[Mike Benham]

Looking back down the 9th

Which means that the 9th hole of the MPCC Dunes Course is just to the left of the port ridge. 

[Kyle Henderson]

Looking back down the 9th

Which means that the 9th hole of the MPCC Dunes Course is just to the left of the port ridge. 

This message was furnished by the Department of Redundancy Department.

[Garland Bayley]

Kyle,

You are not going to convince anyone that Jon is geeky. Now with that other nerd, it's obvious.

[Kyle Henderson]

Kyle,

You are not going to convince anyone that Jon is geeky. Now with that other nerd, it's obvious.

Stephen Erkel?

[Jon Spaulding]

More like Stefon Urkell....the "cool" version of Urkel which appeared in 1 or 2 episodes?

I've always enjoyed the golf course, for what it is, not what it might have been.

On a positive note, it's the likely the only place on the peninsula where facial hair is banned, and provides a "breather" round from degree of difficulty or some of the pomp & circumstance of the bigger names....or both.

Julian Graham took extensive photos of the old sand mine on the property, which was an Owens Illinois operation. 2 of them hang in my office, one of which features a dozer feeding sand from the beach onto the conveyor line up to the mill, which sat roughly where the hotel is today.

I find the photo interesting from a historical perspective. There's still a sand mine up the road in Lapis which pulls material right out of the ocean.

[Garland Bayley]

So Chambers Bay was RTJ2's second course built on a sand mine?

[Adam Clayman]

The course goes around more than just the hotel. It goes around multi-million dollar condos, too.

Now what financial officer would've lost their job if they had let the golf course, with it's pittance of a revenue stream, take precedence over the real money makers, the hotel and real estate sales?

The course is not the best, but, it has a soul. And thanks to Rees, it's not the worst use of a sandy site ever built. 

[Terry Lavin]

The course goes around more than just the hotel. It goes around multi-million dollar condos, too.

Now what financial officer would've lost their job if they had let the golf course, with it's pittance of a revenue stream, take precedence over the real money makers, the hotel and real estate sales?

The course is not the best, but, it has a soul. And thanks to Rees, it's not the worst use of a sandy site ever built. 

Not the worst, but it's in the running.

[Adam Clayman]

That's just not correct, your honor.

As evidence, I submit previous posts on this thread from unbiased posters to past dogmas.

Do people love Sandpines? What disfiguring of the terrain exists at Spanish Bay?

[Tim Bert]

I went to Spanish Bay fully expecting to be underwhelmed based on many things I've read and heard.  I easily surpassed my very low expectations.  It was a nice "value" for NCGA members, if such a thing as value exists in the Pebble Beach resort suite of golf courses.  We ended up playing it 3 times, when we originally only expected to play it once.  I'd take CPC, Pebble, MPCC Dunes, and MPCC Shore over Spanish 5-0 any day, but I'd probably play Spanish 3 out of 5 vs. Spyglass.

I thought it was a lot of fun to play.  I thought the par 3s were all quite interesting, and we got to play some good pin placements on those holes.

A few more pictures:

The par 3 4th - a nice setting, a demanding shot, and an interesting green





The par 4 5th - looks like nowhere to hit a driver from the tee, but there's a lot of hidden room out there and some great slope to boost your tee shot if you land it in the right spot







The par 3 8th - probably my least favorite of the par 3s at Spanish, but I came about a foot away from having to pretend it was my favorite par 3 in the universe



The Par 4 11th - I think this one was called "top hat" - it had an unusual plateau in the middle of the green and the pin in this photo, while not obvious from the picture, was an extremely difficult placement.



The par 3 13th - I really liked this very short par 3 to a sliver of a green





The par 3 16th - You could really use the slope in the green to get the ball back to the right if you hit the right tee shot, which I didn't




Why am I posting photos of Spanish Bay when I just played Chambers Bay and Old Macdonald and I have almost 300 pictures of those two courses waiting to go?  I am not completely sure except that I saw this thread and it was a nice trip down memory lane to go back and look at my own photos of this pleasant surprise.  Again, not great but certainly enjoyable.
 

[Kyle Henderson]

Julian Graham took extensive photos of the old sand mine on the property, which was an Owens Illinois operation. 2 of them hang in my office, one of which features a dozer feeding sand from the beach onto the conveyor line up to the mill, which sat roughly where the hotel is today.

I find the photo interesting from a historical perspective. There's still a sand mine up the road in Lapis which pulls material right out of the ocean.

Do share!

[Jon Spaulding]

Dude, they're framed and hung in my office......taking apart, scanning, posting, putting back together would require you arranging yet another round at _____, at a minimum. Alternately, we might arrive at an arrangement with regards to DNA or bodybuilding lessons.

If someone could post some photos of the various shots on #10 that might be good for the mob. It's a good hole and arguably one of the best on the course along with 17.

[Adam Clayman]

I'm glad to see the pond on 8 in a photo. It shows how the zero plane of the water is not in fitting with the environment. When the pond had reeds obscuring the putting surface, the hole is a better hole.

[Kyle Henderson]

Just take a crappy photo of the photo, glare and all.

But since you brought it up, I'm pretty sure the favors I've done for you this year involved far more than the effort required in frame dissassembly, scanning and reassembly.
I underwent invasive cosmetic sugrery, took months of yoga, and a suffered through a pretty severe course of antibiotics.


 

Dude, they're framed and hung in my office......taking apart, scanning, posting, putting back together would require you arranging yet another round at _____, at a minimum. Alternately, we might arrive at an arrangement with regards to DNA or bodybuilding lessons.

If someone could post some photos of the various shots on #10 that might be good for the mob. It's a good hole and arguably one of the best on the course along with 17.

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