Spanish Bay Shines Among the Stars

Links at Spanish Bay #17

The Links at Spanish Bay is the "bargain" course among those operated by the Pebble Beach Resorts (not counting Del Monte), but there's nothing cut-rate about the golf to be played there. It's long enough (6,821 yards from the tips), tough enough (74.0 rating and 140 slope), and scenic enough to warrant a trip for its own sake. Spanish Bay is like the youngest sibling in a family whose two older brothers were star athletes before him in school. If they hadn't been born, he'd have all the raves to himself.

Spanish Bay has a links look with wind-swept fairways, tough waste areas and dunes to punish wayward drives, and greens that often invite a bump and run approach, although the turf is a little lush to rely on a ground game the way you would on a real links course.  Surf and sand are the dominant themes of the front nine, where you can practically walk in the water when playing the delightful par 3 eighth hole.

Enjoy the scenery and make your pars and birdies on the front side while you can, though.  The back nine is miles tougher.  Tough, but fun. From the gold tees, the front is par 35 at 3,042 yards whereas the back stretches to 3,379 and plays to par 37. The first three holes are birdie opportunities on the front, as is the 367-yard ninth hole. Even though the back offers three par fives, birdies are much harder to come by. The tenth hole, par five at 477 yards, looks like easy pickings but the relentless bunkers splitting the fairway on the second leg of the double dog leg say otherwise. The eighteenth, 524 yards, challenges you on every single shot. There are forced carries on the first and third and a major risk/reward decision on your second.

Three architects are credited with the design of Spanish Bay. Tom Watson, Sandy Tatum, and Robert Trent Jones, Jr., all are listed, although I suspect the latter did most of the heavy lifting when the course was built in 1987.  Regardless of who gets the lion's share of the credit, the trio designed a fine, worthwhile must-play course for anyone visiting Pebble Beach.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

For Pure Golf, Spyglass Beats Pebble

Spyglass Hill #3

Pebble Beach gets all the headlines, but Spyglass Hill is arguably the better golf course by many standards. It's measurably harder, has more than a few intimidating shots, and can more severely punish a near miss. Spyglass may not have quite as many iconic holes, but it has more than its fair share of fabulous scenery, too.

Sypglass has an interesting history. It was originally built by the Northern California Golf Assocation (NCGA) in 1966, its construction financed by members who put up cash and agreed to dues of $50 per year. There is still a membership, although I'm not sure what happens to them in 2016 when the fiftieth anniversary comes around. The course is owned and operated today by the Pebble Beach Company and the NCGA has moved its headquarters to Poppy Hills, which it owns.

Robert Trent Jones, Sr., designed Spyglass and many of us believe it to be his best work. By the numbers, Spyglass Hill is tougher than Pebble Beach. It's longer from all four tee boxes, measuring 6,960 vs Pebble's 6,828 from the tips. From the gold tees, the Spyglass rating/slope is 73.8/140 vs. Pebble's 72.6/136, a difference that's reflected on the other three tees as well. Jones' pop up greens and the natural elevation changes at Spyglass makes it play even longer than Pebble's relatively flat terrain, too. The extra 100 yards on the scorecard for the gold tees play more like an extra 300 yards when you take that into account.

The opening hole reflects the dual nature of the course--trees, elevation, and the ocean combine to make a classic introduction to the layout. The hole is a long, downhill par five with a tee shot that threads a corridor of pines to reach the dog leg at the bottom of the hill. Once you've cleared the corner, the hole turns left and greets the ocean. The extensive bunkers in front of the green echo the dunes and beach lying beyond it.

Spyglass isn't lacking in visual splendor. The first five holes play along the dunes, often close enough to the waves to see the water dripping from the surfers' eyebrows. The second hole, a 321-yard uphill par four (from the gold tees), plays to a green perched like a crow's nest overlooking the ocean.  It's followed by a truly great par 3. At 150 yards, the third hole plays directly toward the Pacific over a wasteland of scrub, dunes, and bunkers. The fourth hole, which Jones often said was his favorite par four, is short at 358 yards but has one of the most radically skinny greens you'll find anywhere. The last hole you play on the ocean stretch is the 169-yard fifth, where the green sits directly beneath the glass-fronted house made famous by Clint Eastwood in "Play Misty for Me."

The back nine at Spyglass is a pure test of golf, rewarding in equal parts accuracy, distance, and touch around the green. The 13th and 16th holes are long, demanding par fours playing 435 and 454 yards respectively. The two par threes on the side have water in play while the short (312-yard) par four 17th seems to have as many bunkers as trees--and there are a LOT of trees. The finisher plays up a steep, steep hill to a green with brutal contours. It's only 386 yards on the card, but plays like 486 and a bogey feels like a birdie.

Spyglass Hill is not for the faint of heart, but it is a rewarding, memorable golf experience that should have a place on everyone's bucket list.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Reflections on Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach Golf Links has nine truly spectacular holes and nine perfectly mediocre ones that somehow seem spectacular because of the company they keep. Add them all up, and playing there is a religious experience--which is the main reason you must do it at least once in your life. I've played the links several times, but it had been fifteen years since I last made the pilgrimage when I played Pebble last month. Regardless, every hole brought back memories of previous rounds. That's the way it is with mystical shrines.

Let me get one thing out of the way: Is Pebble Beach expensive? Ridiculously so. Who cares? How can you put a price on magic?  Forget the $495 greens fee. It's not like you're paying it every week, is it? Consider the price per memory and Pebble becomes one of the most inexpensive courses you can play.

While you're at it, forget your score, too.  You're not going to break the course record, so why ruin your memories by focusing on it?  (It's 62 for tournament play, held by Tom Kite and David Duval) Instead, just remember what it was like to stand on the seventh tee with the surf crashing around the tiny green below.  Or how it felt to take dead aim at the same pin as Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson on the historic seventeenth hole. And how can you put a price on playing perhaps the best finishing hole in America with the ocean to your left, OB right, and always a small gallery of onlookers hovering around the 18th green?

Pebble Beach should be one of the most fun rounds of golf you'll ever play, but what I find fascinating about it is how badly most of us score there considering how playable it actually is.  Most of the greens have generous approaches, the fairways are generally wide, and the bunkering tough but not impossible.  The greens are tricky, of course, but perfectly readable and usually role at resort-course speeds rather than the linoleum-fast Stimps you see on TV.

So what makes it so hard to go low on the course?  It's all psychological.  First, of course, there is the fame factor.  You've seen Tom Watson's chip-in on endless highlight reels, you've watched Ernie Els fall apart on the beach and Dustin Johnson die a thousand deaths in the bunkers, not to mention Tiger Woods lap the field in the U.S. Open.  Put yourself on that stage and see if you can stay relaxed!  There's always a crowd around the first tee, too. It's surrounded by golfers, tourists, caddies--all watching you try to hit less than a driver far enough to clear the dog leg.

Then there is the tour pro problem.  We think we play the way they do, so we inevitably bite off more than we can chew. If you have an honest course handicap of 13 or greater (which includes 90% of the golfers in the world), you should be playing from the white tees (6,116 yards, rating 71.3, slope 132) not the gold (6,445/72.6/136) and certainly not the blues (6,828/74.7/143).  Guess what? The scenery is just as spectacular and the truly iconic holes (6 through 9 and 14, 17, and 18) are just as breathtaking when you're hitting a mid-iron or a wedge instead of a three-wood into the green.

You also don't have to reach (and probably can't) the par fives in two or even the long par fours in regulation.  If you split the fairway on #2 (a short par 5 at 460 yards from the gold tees), you might consider it, but the penalties for a miss are severe. Number 8, the iconic 400-yard par four with the dramatic second shot off a 100-ft. cliff will murder your score if you go for the pin and hit less than a perfect shot. I once hit the flagstick with my approach and still ended up with a bogey!  And #9? At 460 yards for a par 4, it's a three shot hole--period.  If you want a better score at Pebble, practice your layups, not your long irons.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Pebble is a visually intimidating golf course.  From the fairway bunker through the dog leg on the first hole to the surf crashing along the entire length of the eighteenth, there's at least once frightening feature on every hole.  The stretch along the ocean from #4 to #10 is the scariest, of course, and that's also where you're going to battle the worst winds (until 17 comes into view). But if you look dispassionately at each hole, you can find a way to avert disaster and play it somewhere near par. Take an iron off the tee at #4, aim for the fat part of the green on #5, swing easy on your first and second shots of #6 (you can't get there in two anyway!), knock down a wedge on #7, play #8 and #9 as three-shot holes, and stay left all the way on #10. Easy-peasy!

Audra Kepler

One last piece of advice about enjoying Pebble Beach: hire a caddie.  It's a glorious, leisurely walk and you're going to have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, so why spoil it by sitting on your fat arse in a golf cart?  The caddie will guide you around the trickier holes, regale you with stories, and save you at least five strokes on the greens.  What's that worth? It will cost you $80 plus a generous tip ($35 to $55 minimum suggested), but you're already paying a king's ransom to play, so what does a few more bucks matter?

The caddies at Pebble Beach are generally excellent. Audra Kepler carried my sticks this year. She was filling time between her All-American college golf career, her appearance in the U.S. Women's Amateur, and her win in the NCGA Women's Am and the start of her professional career on the Symetra Tour. She was great company and a total professional so I asked her to loop for me the next two days at Spyglass and Spanish Bay--a no brainer.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Take a Lesson on Pebble Beach at Ashford Golf Academy

I've played Pebble Beach and I've taken a few (not enough) golf lessons, but I'd never done both at the same time until I visited the Billy Ashford Golf Academy at Bilancio. In case you're wondering, that's in Purchase, NY, not California. The Pebble Beach experience occurs on the About Golf simulator in Ashford's studio, which may not have sea breezes but does come complete with the sounds of shore birds and surf.

Billy Ashford

There are other places where you can play golf on simulators, but Ashford is the only PGA pro I know who incorporates the simulator into his teaching plan. I have to say it's a heck of a lot more interesting to try to work on a swing change using the pin on Pebble's eighth hole as a target than the usual driving range flag. Not only do you have some spectacular scenery to look at, but I have to believe it makes it easier to take the lesson from the range to the course for real when the time comes.

Another big advantage is that your swings are recorded on the simulator software so that you and Ashford have solid data about swing speed, efficiency, ball spin, and more to work with. This also means you can empirically track your progress from session to session.  Ashford also adds video of your swing to the lesson so that you get a really, really complete look at why your ball ends up in the Pacific instead of the fairway. He takes an extra step and emails the video to you with his analysis after the lesson, too, so you can work on it on your own.

Tired of playing Pebble Beach (don't you wish!)--there are dozens of other fabulous courses to choose from. The simulator and studio, which is located in the Bilancio personal fitness center, is available for a weekly round with your buddies, too. Ashford will also give group lessons and even arrange refreshments. It's all at Bilancio, 4 Manhattanville Road, Purchase, NY. For more information, email Billy Ashford or call him at (845) 222-9056. He also gives lessons to both members and non-members of Mahopac Golf Club during the regular season.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Love Those Caddies

Most lovers of the game know golf should not only be played on foot, but in the company of a caddy whenever possible. Among all the other things a caddy does, he (or she!) will be your psychologist, your swing coach, and your biggest cheerleader. I once eagled the second hole at Pebble Beach with a lucky chip, and I swear my caddy was so happy he almost wet his pants. What a great aid to my mental game that day!

Schlepping your clubs is the least important thing your caddy does, so don’t treat—or tip—him like a pack mule. A caddy knows whether that uphill approach requires one or two longer clubs, where your blind tee shot is likely to end up if you fade it a little, and just how irritated that member behind you is going to be if your slow play holds him up on the next hole. Then there’s putting—a good caddy sees breaks you’d need a micrometer to measure—the kind of local knowledge that helps you rake in the skins.

If you’re playing at an unfamiliar club, ask the starter or caddy master (it’s a good idea to slip him a few bucks, too) what caddies usually get for a round. Fees in Westchester range from $45 to $90 per bag, excluding tips. A fore-caddy, who accompanies players who ride a cart, will generally get about half that amount for each golfer. Don’t skimp on the tips, either—25% should be a minimum. These guys aren’t hauling your junk up and down all those hills just because they like to walk around outdoors with guys wearing spiked saddle shoes.

When you’re the guest of a club member, it’s extremely good form to pay both his caddy and yours—you’re also more likely to get invited back.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo