While Spyglass Hill does serve up some great visuals and variety, the real star of the design is it’s remarkably strong collection of par-4’s.

I was able to play my round at Spyglass Hill a week after the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and a heavy stretch of rain the preceding days. Despite the wet conditions, the course was still in great condition with some very punishing rough.

The design of the course blends a variety of elements through its 18 holes as you play upon exposed dune land along the ocean and as well as tight tree lined corridors. The mix of both expansive and intimate settings through the routing makes for a very well balanced experience. 

From the tee, being in the fairway was the key to scoring. Despite playing a fairly short yardage at 6200 yds in trying to stick to a Course Rating close to par, the course felt plenty long. Green complexes are exceptionally penalizing with use of deep bunkering and often times elevated putting surfaces that put an extra premium on approach shots.

Despite being a very good design, it all felt a bit soulless and lacking that intangible charm. There are no obvious elements that I would consider to be negatives and there are a handful of really great golf holes, but I did not walk off the course with that elated feeling that can come from other courses of less stature.

While it seems that the first hole is truly a standout for some, the downhill par-5 opener almost forces a layup with no obvious miss to play more agreesive second shots. The fairway narrows and abruptly ends into the penal rough forcing an awkward wedge into a tough green. The short par-4 second is another awkward design that almost forces a very short tee shot followed by a tough blind approach to a very elevated green site. Again, the aggressive play is taken away due to the thick rough encircling the green.

The first real highlight hole is the iconic fourth. Not overly long, the visual from the tee obscures the true nature of the generous fairway. The unique, narrow green snakes between two dunes and provides the real test with a challenging approach to get the ball close to the pin. The visual lines on this hole are what really stood out to me and the truly unique green isn’t wasted on a more tame overall design.

Working back up the hill into the trees, I found the par-4 sixth to be an exceptional transition hole. A longer dog-leg right that plays long, the expansive putting surface helps soften the approach a bit. However, getting the ball into the cup becomes a challenge if one finds themselves too far away from the pin. Another strong par-4, the dogleg-left eighth works back uphill as well with an off-camber fairway that makes holding the short grass a challenge.