Pebble vs. Spyglass - what to do?

[Wally Fairway]

I went with a group a few years ago....we played SG, L@SB, Del Monte & Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links- we couldn't get a tee time that worked for us on PB.

My advice is that if you have to choose one - the only correct answer is PB, more history, on the ocean, at the clubhouse/resort, etc. Don't get me wrong Spyglass Hill is an outstanding course, but it really isn't on the ocean, holes 3-5 play across from the ocean and there is somewhat of a view (compared to Pebble or L@SB or PGM).

If you are looking at playing 2 rounds, I would suggest playing Pebble Beach and then to save you hundreds of dollars play the 2nd round at Pacific Grove Muny. The first nine at PGM is exactly what you would expect in a muni course (short, some fences to keep your ball out of parking lots/apartments, slow play)....but the back 9 is a links course which plays along the Pacific, it might play slow but it is an enjoyable slow...and for about $50 it is a great buy

Here is a birds eye view of most of the back 9

[foulmouthedleon]

Alright, well I called at 7:00 on the nose this morning and got my tee time for 1:20 tomorrow with a caddy (the people I'm playing with also have a caddy).  I figure the clouds will be broken up by then and it'll be blue skies!

I'm taking plenty of pictures and plan a hole by hole write up of my experience.

Here's to hitting it long and straight!

[dlance]

Good choice.

I have played both courses and love pebble much more. Spyglass is more challenging, but to me only in that with the layout of the course they have eliminated my driver. When i went there i didnt' know this and tried to hit drivers and 3 woods off the tee and almost every time i ended up through the fairway and in the woods. If i get the chance to play there again i think that my driver may only see the course 2 or 3 times. That to me isn't fun if you are out there to play an enjoyable round. Especially since you said you hit the ball long. Good luck out there and don't you dare lay up on 18!!

[foulmouthedleon]

My Day at Pebble Beach

Hello everyone, not sure how many people will actually read all of this, but I’m writing this as more of a treat to myself.  But I did start this topic and promised a very lengthy summary of my experience (and it was one, for sure) at Pebble Beach.  So without further ado…

On Monday, August 6 I sat and watched the clock near 10 a.m.  Why that particular time, you ask?  Well unless you’re staying at Pebble Beach, and I wasn’t, there are only a certain amount of tee times available and they can only take reservations the day prior.  With me being on the East Coast and they the West, I was told to call precisely at 7 a.m. PST to try and get on.  I did.

My wife and I had flown into San Francisco Airport and had arrived around 1 a.m. that day.  We’d planned to find a hotel around the airport and then head down to Carmel/Monterey where we’d be staying the next few days.  My tee time was at 1:20, so that gave us the morning to get up and get going.  Well I’m going to start saving my money and open a hotel because we went to no less than 8 hotels heading south and all were booked solid.  Finally around 2:00 a.m. we were down in Palo Alto (Tiger’s Alma Mater, Stanford University) and got the last room in the place.  We hit the hay and I awoke at 8 a.m. with enough adrenaline to compensate for my lack of rest.  After all, this was the day I was going to play Pebble Beach!

We arrived in Carmel around 11:00 and went downtown for some breakfast.  We walked around a bit and then headed over to Pebble.  We walked through the Pro Shop eyeing the overpriced clothing and I got all set up.  The bill = $575 with caddy.  No worries, this was taken care of by my wife, brother and mother-in-law.  We headed over to the range at Spyglass where it was full.  I had about an hour to warm up so there was no hurry.  I’d brought my own clubs, so I had no excuse if something went wrong.  A man offered me his spot on the range and I happily accepted.  I took out my wedge, a club I mishit about once every 5 years, and did a few easy shots.  Ok, the ball was flying straight.  That’s good.  There was a deer (a stag?) on the range, so I made sure not to aim near it.  But I’m fairly sure it’s desensitized to anything and everything.  After a bucket, I decided to head over and work on some chipping.  My short game is my downfall, so I figured if I could get a feel for the grass and hit a few decent chip shots, it’d be the mental edge I needed to do well.  After about 20 minutes of that, we headed back to Pebble.

Now this is where the nerves set in.  Here I am, walking around with my clubs, I met my playing partners (a dad and his two sons from Denver), and rolled in a few putts on the practice green.  I’m not sure how much the speed of the green changes, but this green was fast!  No matter, I managed to make a few decent putts and felt good.  Ten minutes left, I met my caddy.  Nice guy.  The group ahead of us is on their second shot.  I’ve got everything in place.  My wife is talking to my caddy and I watch my playing partners tee off.  They were all better golfers than I am and were playing from the championship tees (blue), but I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone and I played from the whites.  As they start to walk forward, my wife and caddy have a look of shock as they thought they missed my tee off!  No, it was just the guys heading from the blues to the whites to watch me tee off.

And with that…we’re off!

Hole #1

I can barely feel my hands due to the amount of adrenaline.  I resisted the urge to take driver or even 3 off the first tee.  There were about 50 people mulling about so the last thing I wanted to do was make a fool of myself.  I grabbed a 4 iron knowing I could put it a couple hundred yards down the fairway and I did!  Yes!  Goal number one accomplished!  A perfect shot, albeit shorter than my playing partners, down the middle of the fairway.  My wife cheered and she was off to shop!  My heart rate went down to the double digits and I was off down the fairway on #1.  I had about 160 left to the green, so went with my 7 iron.  I pulled it to the left of the green and into the long grass.  Oops.  So much for my flawless round.  Remember my short game that I mentioned?  Well here’s where it comes into play.  Except I didn’t practice chipping out of this stuff, my lies were all nice and in a 2” cut.  Nevertheless, I chip it and it lands…in the greenside bunker.  Damn.  I get out and it lands on the green.  I two put and walk off hole number 1 with a 6.  You know what?  I’ll take it.  Even on a normal course it takes me a few holes to really get into the swing of things, pardon the pun.

Hole #2

With the first hole behind me, I shake it off.  This is a par 5 and my caddy hands me my driver.  I was tempted to use an iron again, but I don’t want to spend the whole day playing it so safe that I deprive myself of any fun.  So I hit a nice shot that ends up in the first cut on the right side of the fairway.  There’s no way I can get there in two, so I lay up short of the hazard.  Again, I pull my shot and it lands in front of the tree on the left.  I say to my caddy “You know what?  I’m thinking too hard.  My best shots are the ones I just go up and hit and don’t even think about.” Hey replies “Ok, let’s do that then.” I take my wedge, take half a practice swing and put it 30 feet from the cup.  Then it hits me…wait…am I putting for birdie on #2 at Pebble Beach?  Why yes I am.  I two putt.  But hey, I’ve just made par!  I’ll take it.

Hole #3

Those who have played or seen this hole know that you can hit it straight (play it safe) or cut the corner a bit and leave yourself with an easier approach.  Having just made par on the hole I was riding high so I took my driver, cut the corner and put it smack dab in the middle of the fairway.  My second shot is one of two that I consider the best of the day.  I hit a high fade that hit the side of the green and used the slope rolling to about 10 feet short of the cup.  I wanted to stay out of the bunker and thankfully I did.  And again I’m putting for birdie.  And again I miss.  But hey, two pars in a row!  “This is doable” I say to myself.  I can actually do well here.

Hole #4

My caddy told me that this is where the course started to get interesting.  If by “interesting” he meant picturesque then he was right as the fourth hole gives you the first real glimpse at Monterey Bay.  Words really can’t describe it…I’d just come off back to back pars so I was feeling good.  I put my tee shot in the right hand side of the fairway only to put my second shot in the left hand greenside bunker.  No worries, I was on top of the world!  I bladed the shot and it hit the lip of the bunker.  Hmmm, that wasn’t supposed to happen.  Let me try that again.  Nope.  Same result.  Ok, one more time.  Well damn.  Ok, you know what - let’s stop trying to be cute.  I turn 90 degrees right and put it at the base of the green where I two put.  Triple Bogey.  That’s no fun.  Time to move on.

Hole #5

This par 3 was one of my favorites to look at and I read the history on the plaque.  I’m still trying to shake off my triple from #4 so my caddy hands me a 6 iron.  I go with it and hit a nice high fade that goes into…the bunker at the back left of the green.  Oh Christ, not again!  Well this time I managed to get out and on the green (ok, just off it) but I three putted.  Yep, there’s that short game again.  That’s fine, though as I’ll take a bogey and move on.

Hole #6

Having seen this hole on television countless times, this was one of the ones that I was looking forward to the most, probably only second to #18.  I was the unofficial photographer as I was playing with my camera nearby, so the caddys took a right turn and mine handed me my driver and we did the long walk up to the tee.  I took a photo of my playing partners and went ahead and teed off from the blues with these guys.  The fairway was wide enough that I figured it was safe for me to hit from this far back.  Wouldn’t you know it, I outdrove them all?  I ended up on the left side just about 5 feet from the cart path.  Ok, not the shot I imagined but it’s a good lie.  I know we’ve all seen Tiger’s shot from the 2000 Open and I knew I had no chance of replicating it, so I took a 6 iron and was convinced that it wouldn’t get there.  I don’t know about anyone else, but this hole is very deceptive.  I powered my shot and it ended up on the right side of #8!  Oops.  No worry, I had about an 80 yard shot and chipped it on the green.  I again three putted as I was convinced that the green was faster than it was (and downhill, which it wasn’t as my caddy told me).  I took my bogey and moved on.

Hole #7

There’s something about this hole that’s just so alluring.  It’s so simple.  It’s not even 100 yards, though you’ve got water (ok, a cliff) if you hit it too far and a big bunker if you don’t hit it enough.  I took my wedge and as my caddy told me “It’s the exact same shot you just hit last hole.” Fair enough, I took a ¾ swing and my ball lands on the green.  Yep, I’m putting for birdie on #7!  Do I make it?  Hell no!  But hey, it’s another par and that’s just fine by me.  I’ve made par on three holes and I’m not even halfway done.

Hole #8

Many people say that this is one of the most beautiful and challenging holes on the course and, admittedly, I’ve never paid it too much attention.  Coming off my birdie, this was the only bottleneck that occurred in the pace of play of the day.  That’s awkwardly worded.  What I mean to say is that we had about a 5 minute wait to tee off.  The white tees are on top of the hill where you have one of the best views in all of golf.  My partners were all hitting from “down below” so I took this opportunity to give my brother a ring and tell him what the day was like so far.  Ok, let’s get to it.  I took my trusty 4 iron and put it at the right hand side of the fairway.  I figured that I’d take a 7 iron and put it near the green.  Yeah, not happening.  Maybe I was starting to get a bit cocky or maybe it was the 400 foot dropoff about 30 yards in front of me, but I hit my shot and the ball did a right hand turn into Monterey Bay.  Damn.  My caddy had now adopted my demeanor and shrugged his shoulders and said “let’s hit form the drop zone, don’t worry about it.”  As I looked at the hole I said to myself “Look at this, I’m not going to hit from the drop zone.”  I take another ball, drop it and take another swing.  Ok, it clears the ravine and lands in a nice little tuft of grass that’s about 9” long.  It’s not in the bunker, mind you, but it’d be better if it was.  I swing. I miss.  Huh?  The ball is now embedded about 6” lower in this grass than it was before.  I take another swing and catch it thin.  Now my ball is on the other side of the green.  I putt. I miss.  I putt.  I miss.  Ok, this is just getting embarrassing now.  Finally I manage to make the ball in the hole.  That’s the object, right? I have no idea what I made on that hole.  My caddy put me down for an 8.  I remembered that when I tipped him at the end of the day. Let’s move on.

Hole #9

My God, are we nearly halfway done?  Someone please make time stop!  This is going too fast!  Now with all my detail, I simply can’t remember a lot about #9.  I’m scratching my head trying to think of anything that comes to mind with this hole.  Perhaps it’s because I’d just had my ass handed to me at #8 that this hole is somewhat of a blur or maybe it just wasn’t that memorable to me.  I suppose there always has to be one, right?  Looking at my iPad and through the 200+ pics I took, even then I didn’t seem to take that many of this hole.  My scorecard says 5 so I bogeyed it.  Odd that I’d forget even one of these holes, but I’m drawing a blank here.

Hole #10

I thought that I put my tee shot on the beach, I mean literally the beach!  But my caddy have me a “safe” sign and I took him at his word. I thought he was trying to be nice, but sure enough my ball was sitting up on the far right side of the fairway.  I took my 7 iron and put it you know where…the bunker.  I managed to get out in two shots (note to self: work on bunker shots in addition to putting when I get home) and then, of course, two putted.  Not bad.  One of my playing partners actually did go on the beach and went down and played the shot.  Ironically enough his shot wasn’t bad but ended up in the bunker.  Sand to sand.  How about that?  We also had about 20 people watch us from the actual beach.  An entertaining hole.

Hole #11

Ok, not THIS hole I remember!  Along with #7 and #18, it ranks up there as one of my top three favorites on the course.  It’d been a few holes since I’d made par so I set out to change that.  Again, my caddy handed me the driver and told me to aim at a telephone pole and I’d be good.  So I hit perhaps the best drive of the day to the left center of the fairway with a great shot at the green.  If memory serves, this green is the smallest on the course and looking at some of my pics from the day, it really was/is tiny.  After some accolades from my playing partners, I took aim at the green. Maybe I was a bit full of myself, as I hit it over the green and into, yep, the bunker.  I didn’t want the sand to get the best of me again, so I just took my wedge and used the backstop on the green and hoped for the best.  Perfect!  My best sand shot of the day!  I ended up 6 feet from the cup and rolled it in for a par.  You read that right, I actually one putted a green!

Hole #12

This is another long par three, but after what I’d accomplished at the previous hole, I was feeling good.  I took a 4 iron and hit it a bit too long.  I had a chip shot off the back of the green which was nearly impossible to stop next to the hole.  Did mine?  No.  It rolled about 30 feet by, but I did have an uphill put.  It was short and I had a chance to save par if I could make a 12 footer.  Yeah, no happenin’.  I bogeyed it and was once again humbled by my putting game.

Hole #13

This was a fun little hole that might have fallen into the ranks of #9 (read: forgettable) if not for one little thing my caddy told me.  There’s a large house on the right side of the fairway that used to be Bing Crosby’s.  As everyone knows he was a huge golfer (obviously if he had a house on a golf course) and probably made Pebble the spectacle that it is today.  My tee shot was on the first cut on the right hand side of the fairway and for the first time I decided to use my 3 wood.  Big mistake.  I pulled it and it ended up in the 9 ^th or 10 ^th fairway.  But some kid saw my shot and pointed out the ball.  I chipped it short of the green.  My second chip rolled through the green and I two putted.  Double bogey.  Yeah, I need to work on my short game.

Hole #14

I hate this hole.  Really I do.  Even before I played it, I hated it.  My only frame of reference is my Tiger Woods video game that I play and even there I’m lucky to make par.  But I’d decided I was going to put all of that behind me and see if I could own this thing.  My drive hooked a bit and ended up on the right side of the fairway.  I was in the rough, but the ball was sitting up (or it looked to be, anyway) so I figured I’d take a 5 iron and just put it a couple hundred yards in the middle of the fairway.  A good plan.  Poor execution.  I hit it fat and managed to advance it up about 150 yards and still in the rough.  Ok, let’s try that again.  Pretty much the same result.  There was a man who I assume was the homeowner watching us and I’m sure he’s seen about everything.  I was now within wedge range and said “Hey, it’s a par 5 – no big deal.” Well I hit the shot just short of the green and in a divot where many others’ balls had rolled down to. This is an evil green.  I put too much juice on my putt and ended up three putting.  Yeah, I hate this hole. I took a picture of my clubs sitting off the green.  They looked sad.

Hole #15

This was a hole I was looking forward to and I always get it confused with #16.  I don’t know why, but all I knew was that one had a fairway that went down left and the other had a huge bunker in the middle.  I was determined to make amends for #14 and had a great tee shot, right in the middle of the fairway.  And then it happened.  I took my 7 iron and had a great shot to the middle of the green.  I don’t know if fatigue was setting in or not, but my caddy described it as “loosey goosey.”  What actually happened was me totally slicing the ball and it ended up in the rough.  Hmmm…well, I knew I was getting tired and this is a long course, even longer when you walk it and you’re used to riding in a cart.  But I didn’t want to get frustrated as I knew my day was nearing its end.  I put a wedge shot up on the green, two putted and settled for bogey.  Let’s not do that again, shall we?

Hole #16

Ok, THIS hole was the one that I was thinking of and it looked a lot different “in person” than on television or the Tiger Woods game (my only basis for comparison).  Nevertheless, I made a good tee shot that set me up for a nice second shot.  My caddy gave me my 8 iron as he thought I might have a difficult time with the 7 after what happened last hole. I agreed and told him I’d give it a bit more.  The shot was perfect…if it had gone about 5 more feet.  Instead it ended up in the bunker.  I attempted to hit out, but didn’t make it.  So instead of trying again, I just hit out and decided to chip on.  It was then that one of my playing partners, a 19 year old, gave me some unsolicited advice.  I know he was only trying to help but I find it highly unlikely that one sentence from some kid is going to change my game for the better.  Anyway, I two putted a took my bogey.

Hole #17

I’d sent my wife a text, who was having a drink at the Lodge, saying I was getting near.  And I have to admit that #17 was, for me, the most intimidating hole that I’d played.  It’s a long par 3 with the bay in the back, guarded by a few sand traps and the green isn’t exactly deep.  I wanted to finish up on a high note but I felt the urge to go for it.  Nope, no going right for me.  I took my 4 iron, hit a high fade and landed it on the green.  This was another one of those greens that looked to me like it was downhill, so despite my caddy’s advice that it was flat, I putted very carefully.  Guess what?  He was right.  Sonofagun.  Ok, so now I’ve got about a 15 footer for par. If you’ve been reading this whole entry (and kudos to you if you have), you’ll see that making one putts isn’t exactly my forte.  But I lined up, waited for everyone else to finish (they’d all made bogey) and drained it.  YES! I made par on #17!  Take that #8! I don’t really know what that means, but I felt that I’d had some vindication for some of my earlier holes.

Hole #18

Here we are.  Yep, this is it.  You all know what it looks like so I won’t waste time describing it.  The sun was setting, my wife was up near the green waiting for me to tee off and I had a lump in my throat.  Again, this was it.  #18.  I was always the last to tee off since I was playing from the whites, so when it came down to it, all eyes were literally on me.  I had the foresight to give one of the guys my iPhone so they could do a video of my tee shot. (It’s below).  As I said in the prologue, I had very few goals other than to have a good time.  I wanted to hit it straight and long on the first tee and hit it in the fairway on #18.  I hit the ball high by nature.  It’s just the type of swing that I have.  So I took my driver and swung away.  Oh my, that’s low!  It went out over the bay and then started to rise and swing towards the fairway.  “Oh come on!” I said.  My caddy said it was in the fairway, but with the sun in my eyes I couldn’t tell if he was telling me what I wanted to hear or he saw something I didn’t.  As it turns out, he was right. There it was, sitting parallel to the two trees in the fairway.  My God.  Ok, I know someone told me not to lay up on #18 in a previous post, but there was no way in hell that I could have made the green from where I was.  So I took my 3 wood and decided to give it another chance.  Another low shot but in the fairway with about 130 to the green.  By this time my wife was watching and I took a 9 iron to see how close to the hole I could get it.  I put it just on the green by a matter of inches.  Am I putting for birdie on #18?  Yes I am.  My wife had now joined us and had the camera. I wanted to do well, but I put too much on the ball and it arched to the left of the hole.  Now I had about a 9 footer for par.  I couldn’t miss this one.  Or could I?  Yep, I did.  I tapped in for my bogey but it also concluded one of the greatest days of my life.

Conclusion

For me, and I’m assuming others reading this, Pebble Beach represents the pinnacle of what we as golfers embody.  Odds are we won’t ever play Augusta so for me Pebble Beach is pretty much it.  I think I’ll always compare each golf course to Pebble and I’m willing to bet that they’ll all come up short.  It was a great day and though I’m not proud of my short game, I knew that I wouldn’t be going in.  I made par on 5 holes on Pebble Beach.  This is the same course the pros play. I’m happy with that.  My scorecard says 98, so I’m thinking my caddy was pretty generous with me.  Hey, if it says 98 then I’ll take it.  I broke 100 at Pebble Beach!

If you read all of this, congrats!  I did this more for me, but figured that others would like a hole by hole (and in some cases, shot by shot) memoir of sorts of Pebble Beach.  I’ll play it again, no doubt about it, but until then I’ve got my memories – and a few hundred pictures!

[MSchott]

Great write up! Thanks for the detail. Almost felt like we were with you. And the video on 18 was great. Congratulations on a nice round and on a memorable day!

[HitTheStick]

Great review...I just returned from Pebble Beach and it was great reliving the memories through your own. I can totally relate to that feeling on #1 tee. All I kept thinking was "For the love of God, don't top it off #1 tee at Pebble Beach." Put it right down the middle... Of course, the golf Gods got one back... my 2nd shot on #18 went into the cypress tree in the middle of the fairway and never came out....

Let's hope we both get back!

[RonTheSavage]

Fantastic write up! Congratulations and thank you for sharing.