When will you play @ Pebble Beach?

[TaylorMadeTaylor]

when I win the US open there.

[Goddess1]

I would love to play Pebble Beach in the near future but will need to save up to do so.

[Chas]

First I need a better game and more money, but hopefully those things are coming.

If I were you I'd settle for just one - like I have. Just playing the course is the main thing, the heck with the, ahem, score ....

[balls are cheap, and you aren't going to be on TGC or nuthin']

[Clambake]

If I were you I'd settle for just one - like I have. Just playing the course is the main thing, the heck with the, ahem, score ....

I agree with Chas here, with one exception - don't worry about being good enough and simply concern with yourself with having the money so that you don't feel like playing Pebble is a financial sacrifice. The last thing you want to do is to be walking down those hallowed fairways worrying yourself about how much the experience is costing you. But for all those who think they shouldn't make the pilgramage until they're a much better golfer, please don't think that way.

My wife and friends have pestered me for years to go play Pebble, and I kept saying "not until I'm better". Well, I got my game a lot better and played Pebble the summer before last, and am proud to have played it well. But what I quickly reallized while playing - I think the epiphany hit me around the 3rd or 4th hole - that for most of us Pebble shouldn't be about shooting a great score or feeling like you've brought the course to its knees (which you likely won't anyway). Pebble is really about the history, the setting, the ambiance. Seeing those bronze plaques by the practice green. Standing on the first tee knowing you're about to tee off on a lovely afternoon just like nearly all the game's great players have for many decades. Feeling the morning fog brush your cheeks as you stroll down the fairway, and watching it slowing lift through the treetops. The sounds of the sea lions barking in the distance and the waves hitting the rocks below you on #6 as you look up the hill planning your second shot. Staring down at the green on #7 thinking "its so short - here comes a birdie" only to find yourself having to sink a six footer for bogie. Staring across that chasm on #8 recalling that Nicklaus calls this hole the greatest par 4 in the world, and at the moment you cannot help but agree. Standing on the 18th tee looking down at the same view that the game's major champions have shared, only in their case they're under the most intense pressure possible while you are only wistfully realizing it is about over. And of course reminiscing over the whole wonderful day in the Tap Room afterwards, soaking in the history of all those photos on the wall plus the liklihood that there is someone you recognize at another table (last time I was there we had Jerry West sitting at the table beside us and Condaleeza Rice was coming in the door as we were leaving - now there is an eclectic pair!). It's funny that with most rounds I've played with friends the conversation invariably is about how we played; the good breaks and bad, the funny shots, the lucky bladed wedge, etc. But after that first round at Pebble none of us were talking about the games at all, but instead putting all the history in context with what we just walked and saw. Great shots like those of Nicklaus, Tiger, Watson, etc. Difficulties like "how the @#$% does one stop a ball on that top tier of #14 and avoid the quads" like we saw at the ATT. So for all those that feel you only "deserve" Pebble when you're a much better player, don't look at it that way. If you love the game and enjoy its history even just a little, you deserve it far more than you know. Just go with the mindset to enjoy Pebble for what it is - one of golf's truly great venues that brings a spectacular setting together with fantastic golf course that has tested the world's best at the highest levels. Enjoy the journey, not just the end result.

[Cas57]

But what I quickly reallized while playing - I think the epiphany hit me around the 3rd or 4th hole - that for most of us Pebble shouldn't be about shooting a great score or feeling like you've brought the course to its knees (which you likely won't anyway). Pebble is really about the history, the setting, the ambiance. Seeing those bronze plaques by the practice green. Standing on the first tee knowing you're about to tee off on a lovely afternoon just like nearly all the game's great players have for many decades. Feeling the morning fog brush your cheeks as you stroll down the fairway, and watching it slowing lift through the treetops. The sounds of the sea lions barking in the distance and the waves hitting the rocks below you on #6 as you look up the hill planning your second shot. Staring down at the green on #7 thinking "its so short - here comes a birdie" only to find yourself having to sink a six footer for bogie. Staring across that chasm on #8 recalling that Nicklaus calls this hole the greatest par 4 in the world, and at the moment you cannot help but agree. Standing on the 18th tee looking down at the same view that the game's major champions have shared, only in their case they're under the most intense pressure possible while you are only wistfully realizing it is about over.

I've been fortunate enough to play Pebble twice quite a few years ago and the first time I played was exactly what Clambake just said. If the opinion of a newby means anything, I wouldn't wait to experience playing that course either. The other suggestion I'd make is to take a caddy and walk the course instead of taking a cart. When I played they gave us the choice of either a caddy or a cart at the same price excluding a tip (tips were not mandatory and the caddy let me know that), taking the caddy was well worth it.

Very good description, btw!

[xxsoultonesxx]

This is on my bucket list. I will make it happen with a tax return or something in the next few years.