Poppy Hills - any tips??

[becksfan2185]

Took advantage of Poppy Hills appearing on Groupon earlier this month... and now my Dad, brother and I will be braving whatever winter weather Monterrey can throw at us and playing next weekend...

It is my first time playing the course (I have walked it during the Pro Am before) - anyone have any tips or interesting experiences playing Poppy?

Cheers,

Jefe

[WZirby03]

Hey.  I'm from Pebble Beach and have played Poppy many times.  If there is any advice I could give someone playing this course for the first time, it would be:

1) Golf Course Management !:  Play smart golf.  Very few straight holes.  Lots of doglegs, elevation changes, and fast [true] greens.  At Poppy, keep in mind your next shot: Where do I want to put the ball in order to give myself the best chance of putting it close to the pin.

2) Many of your second shots will require an extra club.  The course is just shy of 7000 yds, but it plays well over with all the hills.

Good Luck and have fun.

[WZirby03]

I almost forgot.  They have special score cards that are more like a booklet.  It contains 1-2 brief pages per hole describing what the hole is like.  It has every green diagramed with indicators about the slope of the greens.  Lastly, it has yardage layouts as well.  Try and ask the guy in the pro shop if they have any around.  They use to be right next to the register on the counter.  Helps a lot is you want to know what you are hitting into.

[OCdude12]

Looks like the round was played quite some time ago, but I've got a good story (won't sound very good initially) about Poppy Hills that involves me hitting my playing partner with my drive.  Was there about 8 months ago with a co-worker, we took the day off and made the drive down from SF for the day.  I'm playing the back tees and he's playing the middle tees, our round is going well, sun is just coming out and he made 4 pars in a row, having a pretty good round so far.  On #9, the back tee is set back about 35-40 yds in the trees, as I walk back to hit my tee ball my friend just waits next to the cart while I hit.  I'm a little hungover and still trying to find my swing but never thought to tell my buddy to watch out in case of a misshit.

I set up just like any other drive, he's just standing there waiting for his turn up ahead, until I flat out top-shank my driver and it is heading right towards him, hits him and goes ricocheting off 30 yards into the bushes.  I thought I got his shoe cause it made a loud sound, but as he is hobbling around the tee box in agony and telling me to just shut up as he tries to walk it off, he points out it hit him in the shin, lifts up his pantleg for the first time and there is a hole in his shin the size of a quarter with blood running out.  Needless to say, round over.  We go back to the clubhouse, they quickly call a fire truck that comes about 10 minutes later to take a look at it since while its going on he's in mild shock and about to pass out.  He calmed down after a bit enough for the fire fighters to ask if I can drive him to the hospital instead of needing an ambulance, so we go down to the local ER for him to get stitched up.  By this point we're able to laugh a little bit about it, thinking of the odds of that happening and thinking of the consequences if it had hit him anywhere else.  Best part is that while he's getting stitched up, he texts me to call the course to see if we can come back and finish our round.  What a gamer.  We end up going back out, bandaged up and finish the back 9, this time making sure he is behind me on every tee shot.  I now always tell people to move behind me cause I think about that every time I notice someone in a potential bad spot.  Goes to show you can never take enough caution in knowing where you are in relation to those hitting around you.  I have a picture somewhere, but my friend was telling me after the doctor cleaned the wound out he could see the tendons moving inside when he rolled his ankle around, gross.

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by WZirby03

I almost forgot.  They have special score cards that are more like a booklet.  It contains 1-2 brief pages per hole describing what the hole is like.  It has every green diagramed with indicators about the slope of the greens.  Lastly, it has yardage layouts as well.  Try and ask the guy in the pro shop if they have any around.  They use to be right next to the register on the counter.  Helps a lot is you want to know what you are hitting into.

I haven't played Poppy Hills for quote some time but it's a nice course but quirky.The scorecard mentioned above should be very helpful. Lots of doglegs which is typical RTJ Jr.