Pebble Beach - California - USA
1700 17 Mile Drive,
Pebble Beach,
California (CA) 93953,
USA
+1 800 654 9300
Hwy 101 S, take Hwy 156 W, then Hwy 1 S, take Pebble Beach exit.
Welcome book in advance
Laird Small
Jack Neville
Chuck Dunbar
Cypress Point is the course you can’t play at Pebble Beach, but thankfully Pebble Beach Golf Links is one you can. “If I had only one more round to play, I would choose to play at Pebble Beach. I loved this course from the first time I saw it. It’s possibly the best in the world.” Jack Nicklaus knows a good course when he sees one, so who could argue with him?
Pebble Beach is Mecca for so many golfers and it’s such a joy that everyone can play here if they can afford it. At more than $400 per round, it’s not the cheapest green fee on the planet, but where else can you soak up so much history? The course opened its tees for play in 1919 and Jack Neville laid it out with a little help from Douglas Grant (the first Captain of Canterbury Golf Club in England), but the course we play today is primarily with thanks to Henry Chandler Egan who remodelled the course ahead of the 1929 U.S. Amateur Championship. The culmination of their combined efforts, with a little help from the “Golden Bear”, had probably resulted in the most spectacular and memorable golf course in the world. “If Pine Valley is the most dramatically beautiful pine-and-lakeland course in this country,” wrote Robert Trent Jones in the Complete Golfer, “Pebble Beach is its unrivalled counterpart among our oceanside courses. I say “oceanside” and not “seaside,” because “seaside has come to imply low-lying linksland, and Pebble Beach is quite the reverse. It is routed along the craggy headlands that drop abruptly into Carmel Bay. While the architects of Pebble Beach deserve acclaim for the intrepidity with which they seized the opportunities the headlands afforded, it remains an enigma to me why they did not invoke the same shot values for the interior holes. The interior holes could not have been bequeathed the gorgeous excitement of the holes along Carmel Bay, but the same grandeur of design could easily have been sustained.” Pebble Beach is a classically simple out-and-back affair but it makes the adrenaline pump. If you can ignore the beauty of the surroundings and keep your mind focused on the game, you might card a decent score. If you can’t ignore the thundering Pacific, just take a deep breath and enjoy yourself. With so many great holes to mention we’ll keep it brief. Holes 7 to 10 comprise of probably the greatest sequence of holes on the planet. Take a deep breath and get your wallet ready for the rollercoaster golfing ride of its life. |
Reviews for Pebble Beach
Pebble is a special place. Candidly you step on 1 and think....Am I at Pebble? You play 2 and 3 and similar thoughts rumble. You get to 5 and as you traverse thru to 11 you realize you just played maybe the best 6 holes anywhere. A few more ok holes and then 15 thru 18 are sublime. You'll have those that postulate Spyglass is better....They are uninformed. It's a big bite to play Pebble....Yes, But you can play Pebble.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
0 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from Doug Roberts
Price not withstanding, a must play. Holes 5-10 and 17-18 are even more breathtaking in person than they are TV.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
0 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from Donald Hudspeth
Wonderful experience in views that are hard to beat in the US. Like Portrush in Ireland, in my humble opinion it should be outside the top 20 and is not quite as good as Spyglass from a course perspective if you ignore the views. Still a fantastic few hours of golf and accessible unlike many others on the list.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
0 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from Thomas Turner
Iconic course that I'm sure would be fun and interesting if I played there every day for the rest of my life. Of course it is hard to separate the experience from the course as some others have stated. In my opinion, the incredible ocean views and fun of playing the same holes as your idols do not cover up a course laking in any quality. The ocean stretch is sublime, but the other holes have great interest with some outrageous green complexes and slopes. For me, it's as close to perfection as I have found on a golf course and I just hope I can get another chance to spend a few perfect hours on this course.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
1 person found this review helpful
See other reviews from Robert Blair
The most over rated golf course in the Top 25. Don’t waste your money. Great experience but 4-5 average holes. 4-5 awesome ones (don’t get me wrong) but if PB was on the coast of Ecuador and not California we it wouldn’t even get a mention. More doe if Tara Iti or Cape Wickham we’re next door to it then either PB would be 50 in the world or TI and CW would be 7&8.... go there for the experience. But not the golf.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
1 person found this review helpful
See other reviews from Steven Ivak
Wow, I find this is to be the most ridiculous comment I may have ever read. Obviously it's your opinion and that's fine, which are these average holes you speak of?
I play Cape Wickam once a year that place is incredible so we agree on that but to say Pebble Beach isn't worth going to play is absurd to put it kindly.
The place is steeped in history and I thoroughly enjoyed every single footstep, and every golf shot I hit was a thrill.
"if it was in Ecuador it wouldn't get a mention" guess what it's not in Ecuador mate, hypotheticals are used by people with no real argument.
This was the best-golfing experience I've had and I've had many.
Who likes controversy? Ok, I'm just going to say it, Pebble Beach is one of the Top 5 overrated courses ranked in the World Top 50 and arguably #1. That doesn't mean I don't think it's not a great course! Everything in the World Top 100 by definition is a great course so in essence we are always picking at straws when ranking them to a certain extent and then we haven't even touched on the matter of subjectivity.
So let me only speak objectively ha ha...the first 3 holes, really average, I mean they would not be special on a single course in the Top 100. The 4th, ok half the hole is decent. The 5th generally seen as great is highly debatable. Yes it has a beautiful location and it's hard with a narrow green for the length of the shot. Great it is not. 6 splits opinions, I'm going to call it a great hole because it has that rare element of quirk in the US and I really like the approach.
7 and 8 are the best holes on the course and yes all-world holes that deserve most likely to be in the lists of the best holes in the world. 9 is excellent, 10 is very good, then the holes up to 17 while good are not special. 17, I'd argue is considered great largely because of Nicklaus. Not in my book, especially because I'm looking at all courses stripped of their history when trying to rank them. What is special about putting a green that's too small and doesn't have many pin positions at the end of a long shot? Again it makes for a difficult hole but a great hole? No chance.
18 is another great hole, no arguments here. I'm counting 3 great holes, a whole bunch of sleepers and a couple others. An amazing scenic placement which is nearly impossible to think away and tons of glorious history that people can't separate from the course itself.
Doesn't sound like a World Top 20 course to me. Yet still it's ranked in the Top 10.
However, as a publicly accessible course it is most certainly one of the best in the US.
Again, don't get me wrong, it's great and I love the place. What's not to love? 6 hour rounds and a hugely tempting pro shop ala Disneyland to commemorate the experience and one of the best logos in the sport.
Love to hear your thoughts on why I'm wrong or right!
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
2 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from David Davis
David.
You are wrong. And, I couldn't care less about the pro shop.
The first three holes are not iconic, but the approach shot on 1 is demanding. For shorter players (me) the second shot on 2 is demanding (get close enough to the bunker and between the uprights). The tee shot on three is tough for 95% of golfers - find the fairway and not a bunker or the tree. (my scratch friends hate this shot too)
The 4th hole - I dare anyone to make the putt above the hole.
The most underrated par 5 in golf is the 6th hole. Even my scratch friends are nervous for the second shot up the hill.
If you one putt the 11th - consider yourself a golf god.
A GIR on 12 - you read the wind better than most.
14 - A par - golf god.
The most underrated moment in my golf life... Stand above your ball in the middle of the fairway on 16 awaiting your approach shot (as your best friend is trying to hack it out of the rough) and look up, stare through the trees and look out to the ocean. If you don't feel like somebody decided that today there is nothing that could be better in your life, then you have no golf soul. You will still make bogey, but you will love your life. That is what golf should be about. Bar none.
Never forget it is a tournament golf course. That is a design challenge. The scorecard is protected by some lengthy holes and some small green with enormous amounts of break.
For The Record... I don't like Spyglass. I have played PB 14 times in 9 years.
I mean, it’s Pebble Beach! Played here most recently right before the U.S. Open and it was a fantastic walk.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
0 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from Brian LaBardi
The landscape at Pebble Beach is undeniably gorgeous, and Jack Neville knew from the outset he had to take advantage of that spectacular coastline. And he did with holes 4 to 10 all played along the coastline to the furthest point of the course. This sequence of holes is undeniably one of the most dramatic in golf. Holes 7 & 8 are iconic.
And then there is the championship finish at Pebble Beach, when the links returns to the coast for the epic par 3 seventeenth hole, and possibly THE best finishing hole in tournament golf – the par 5 eighteenth hole. It's pure theatre, and something you will never forget!
While Pebble Beach is instantly recognisable from the images of the holes along the coast, the inland holes naturally suffer by comparison. But there are some good holes there of which I find the par 5 fourteenth and the par 4 sixteenth (set in its own ampitheatre) the most interesting.
Over the years the sandy wastes surrounding the playing areas have grown over, and these days the links is beautifully manicured, more akin to an inland course than a coastal links. The greens are small and unremarkable, but can be an elusive target to hit, even if the wind is not blowing. My advice would be to take a caddy, and strap in for the full experience. The caddies at Pebble are experienced and will save you shots. And some of them are real characters!
And don't forget to smell the roses...Take in the amazing views of Stillwater Cove, look around the course at the travelling caravans of people on each hole with groups of 4 and caddies all moving together. And then there are the zillion dollar mansions along the course boundary. Take photos. Take it all in. And afterward celebrate your round with a refreshment on the balcony at The Lodge overlooking the 18th green.
A round at Pebble Beach is more than a game of golf. It's an experience you will never forget.
Peter Wood is the founder of The Travelling Golfer – click the link to read his full review.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
0 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from Peter Wood
I just had my very first golf trip to California a few weeks ago and had the great opportunity to discover the Monterey Peninsula area and its beautiful courses.
After enjoying rounds at Poppy Hills & Spyglass, we teed up at Pebble at 7.30 on a sunny morning with very little wind & no fog at all. We walked the course and did not have to slow down or hurry up at any time during the round.
The course was absolutely stunning.
From the tee boxes to the green everything was in perfect condition.
We have been very surprised with the nasty rough and the very narrow fairways but a few weeks before the Us Open it is very easy to understand.
Finally, regarding the course, i must say that only holes 13 & 15 were disapointing.
All the rest of the course is as beautiful as you can expect. Holes along the sea are brilliant, beautiful & challenging (for a 3 hcp).
I live in France and have played many famous courses across Europe & GB and i must say that for me Pebble Beach Golf Links is one of the greatest golf experience i've ever had.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
0 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from GLOAGUEN
Growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Pebble Beach was *it* - the pinnacle of public golf in the United States. Thirty of the top fifty public courses on Golf Digest’s 2018 ranking didn’t even exist in 1991 – and many, like Bethpage for example, were still somewhat unknown outside of their local area. That left Pebble Beach as pretty much the singular fantasy course for a young man fueling his obsession with golf. When it finally came to pass that I stepped onto the first tee at the legendary course with a few dozen people watching, the nerves were almost too much to handle, and I hit one of the uglier duck hooks in my career. Fortunately, my ball remained a few feet in bounds, and things got better from there. The Pebble Beach scenery is unparalleled regardless of direction – from the ocean cliffs to the multi-million dollar mansions – and it makes up for some rather mundane holes interspersed throughout the round. We were lucky enough to play it twice on beautifully sunny, nearly calm days which surely made for a different experience than many others.
As the host of many a major amateur or professional championship, Pebble’s layout is well-known, so I won’t go through the “best” holes, but instead I’ll highlight the three most underrated ones. For me, those are: #4, the uphill short par four with a bevy of options for both long and short hitter, #12, the par three with one of the hardest-to-hold greens anywhere, and #14, the boomerang-shaped par five with a crazy elevated and false-fronted green that (unfortunately) was recently replaced because it proved to be too penal under today's green speeds.
Time marches on, however, and Pebble Beach has been criticized by some modern architecture critics of being too much of an example of target golf given its smallish greens and narrow fairways and due to the unpredictable Monterey weather, not often playing firm and fast. It’s a fair criticism and I agree that I’ve had more fun on occasion playing other golf courses, but all in all I don’t care that much about those criticisms. Pebble is a unique, high-end, world-class golf course, and every golfer should try to experience it at least once.
Respond to above review
Was this review helpful?
0 people found this review helpful
See other reviews from Jeff Kissel