Spyglass Hill is possibly the hardest golf course on the Monterey Peninsula. The hilly land tumbles down towards the sea, leaving fairways lined with cypress and pines, laced with areas of brilliant white sand.















Spyglass Hill is possibly the hardest golf course on the Monterey Peninsula. The hilly land tumbles down towards the sea, leaving fairways lined with cypress and pines, laced with areas of brilliant white sand.















5
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.
The back nine plays exclusively in the trees and starts off with a super interesting downhill par-4 requiring less than driver as the fairway narrows dramatically leading to an extreme green site with incredibly deep bunkering on all sides.
The iconic par-3’s of the twelfth and fifteenth live up to expectations with some incredible visuals. While the two holes mirror each other with water playing short left and right respectively, the varying distances from the tee make each feel special.
The par-4’s of the sixteenth and seventeenth are the real gems of the back nine with semi-blind tee shots as the holes dogleg right, then left. The longer sixteenth requires a fade to setup a more welcoming approach to a great reveal of the green site. The short seventeenth requires an aggressive teeshot for a short pitch to an elevated putting surface while also allowing golfers to lay back for a full swing approach.
The strength of the par-4’s throughout the routing is what really saved this course for me. The real downer when playing Spyglass is the green fee which was $495 at the time of this writing. While it is an exceptional golf course in almost all respects, paying that much and it still feeling a bit sterile is a tough pill to swallow. It does not make another visit to the property a priority anytime soon when there are so many great options in the area.





The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
California, United States
New Jersey, United States
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
New York, United States
New York, United States
Overall rating
5.0
Overall rating
5.0