First Pebble Beach Impressions

/

I walked all 18, but to save you a cart or caddy fee, I'll just stick to some things that stood out.

Overall, the course appears to be in excellent condition with fairly benign rough in most places other than the immediate bunker surrounds, which are extremely severe. Most of the setup touches look excellent, and Jack Nicklaus's 5th hole has aged quite nicely. Thanks to exploding bunker sand and time, it has settled nicely into an old looking hole. Plus, look for the tees to be moved around the 5th to liven things up.

That said, here are a few other observations and images. (You know the drill, click on the image to enlarge.)

The third hole (below) has long been one of my favorites and while I've seen images and aerial flyovers of the new bunkers, to actually get to see this atrocious addition in person was particularly disheartening because it has stripped a wonderful bit of subtlety from the course. Prior to the bunker installation, drives not drawn around the corner would run through the fairway into rough, leaving a hanging flyer lie with OB lurking over the green. Barring a really terrible lie, the fairway bunker shot is now easier to control and the scarier elements for the elite player largely eliminated. Plus, they are woefully out of proportion for the hole and look more like beamed in Bay Hill bunkers than Pebble Beach originals.

Davis Love tees off on the sixth (below), which has been dramatically improved by the decision to move the fairway closer to the ocean. However, the swath of rough leading into Arnold Palmer's poorly-scaled new fairway bunkers leaves a lot to be desired. It'll be interesting to see how players attack this, but I'm guessing that in benign conditions there will be a lot of three woods off the tee, which was probably the desired effect of the new bunkers (you know, to offset today's improved player athleticism and force a longer club into this reachable par-5).

Below is the previously mentioned rough leading into the fairway bunkers. It didn't stop one player from reaching the sand though:

You have to be comfortable with heights to sit at the top of No. 7's huge grandstand (below). But the view is worth it.

The much talked about 10th fairway (below), where the tight mow next to the hazard will be worth watching as predicted. My first impression is that the slippery slope into the rocks will only be a factor if the course gets extremely firm and fast. Either way, it's an amazing hole. Big newsflash there.


The best angle to approach the 11th (below) is unfortunately bathed in rough.
 

More than the mown-down turf leading into the world's largest water hazard, the tight turf leading into Pebble Beach's fairway bunkers figures to make a difference along with the extreme fescues on the outer edges. Expect to see a meaningful role played by Pebble Beach's bunkering this week.

"Had I really been invited to play in the Swallows?"

/

Alan Shipnuck managed to crash the elite gathering where grown men gather to discuss their vegetarian diets, the best Birkenstocks and in general, their desire to foster world peace. Though I'm getting a better idea why SI, the leaflet that it has become, wanted $100 to renew my subscription (and didn't get it!):

Had I really been invited to play in the Swallows? Still, deep down I knew I was unworthy, and I figured Perocchi would either come to his senses or get talked out of inviting me. Months went by without any contact, and slowly my hopes dimmed. Then one day in March, I opened my mailbox to find a beautifully designed invitation. I couldn’t have been more excited had I found one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets. I read and reread the schedule of events: rounds at Cypress Point, Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill; cookouts by day, ­jacket-and-tie dinners by night. According to the invitation, all events were mandatory to foster “the Swallows spirit.

Well how else are you going to foster Middle East peace?

There was only one problem: The entry fee was $5,500. I have four young kids and a bloated mortgage. Devoting that much of the family budget to three days of golf was out of the question. I called my editor in New York City, who I knew has always had his own fascination with the Swallows. I gingerly explained that I was in need of a corporate sponsorship.
“We’ll pay,” he said, in the tone of a fairy-tale bad guy offering a magic potion, “but you have to write a story about it. ”

Damn editors...

Shipnuck goes on to detail how the Silver Oak set gets Pebble Beach closed for the day so they can brainstorm how to grow the game. I tell you, I was touched. Especially after reading this item from Steve Elling about Open qualifiers having to dodge various outtings the week before the U.S. Open.

"What we're saying is, 'Guys, you've got to lay back of this cliff because you won't have any rough to stop your ball if you hit it too long.'"

/

We've heard a lot about the elimination of turf buffers along the cliffs at Pebble Beach but haven't seen much in the way of images. The look of turf right into the cliffs is sensational, though I can already hear the bitching by players!

Brett Avery reports on some additional last minute tweaks to the U.S. Open setup and provides some images of the changes. The work on No. 8 seems sure to make players a little less aggressive with their tee shot lay-ups.

The aiming rock was removed and the fairway shifted dramatically to the right, toward the cliff, long ago in preparation for the event. But only a few days ago the mowers removed all rough at the end of the fairway, too.

"And please, spare me the spiel about how Eastwood and his gang rescued this gem when they purchased it in 1999."

/

You know I was just about to question the usefulness of John Hawkins' Angry Golfer column, but then he has to go and deliver a beautiful rant about those guys who show up at the Masters in their golf shoes, and follows it with gem on the excessive pricing at Pebble Beach.

Monuments such as Pebble Beach should be reasonably affordable to people who work for a living. And please, spare me the spiel about how Eastwood and his gang rescued this gem when they purchased it in 1999. This is an operation driven by lthe pursuit of profit, making one of the game's transcendent experiences a hazard of red ink to those who would most appreciate it.

I have no problem with the Pebble Beach folks charging what they can get, but I do need to hear a lot less of the sob story Hawkins refers to.

They need to know that many of us heard the numbers they're doing straight from Paul Spengler's mouth. This is no .org we're talking about. 

Tiger A Pebble Beach Investor?

/

In Kenneth Weiss' story on the California Coastal Commission's rejection of the proposed Pebble Beach expansion, he writes:

Ueberroth and other company officials asserted that some development is needed to help Pebble Beach's 130 investors — including Tiger Woods — make a reasonable return, pay for upkeep on the peninsula's famed 17-Mile Drive and meet other expenses.

Is this well known? I don't recall reading this anywhere? 

Pebble's 9th...Why Can't There Be More Holes Like It?

/

I watched five minutes of the Crosby AT&T today. Between the blinding white bunker sand (thanks Arnold) and Kenny G talking to the camera, I just couldn't take it. And that was before the traditional blimp shot showing the 9th and reminding me of what a simple, elegant and strategically sound hole Chandler Egan created.

Notice how simple the strategy is. You play right and flirt with the ocean, you open up the better angle of attack. You play left, you have to come over that massive greenside bunker. This isn't rocket surgery, and yet...no one builds 'em like this anymore.

230136-270094-thumbnail.jpg
No. 9 sketch by Joe Mayo230136-269714-thumbnail.jpg
No. 9 at Pebble Beach circa 1929 (click to enlarge)