Course Review: Pebble Beach Golf Links

There are many good reasons why legendary Pebble Beach Golf Links, which this week hosts the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, is ranked by respected 'Golf Digest' as being the No 1 public golf course in America .

For apart from its great natural, seashore beauty, few courses can match this near-100-year-old lay-out for sheer excitement when it comes to your first tee off.

You will know, for one thing, that you are treading the same hallowed ground as most of the world's greatest golfers who have played there in the five US Opens and umpteen US men's and women's Amateurs, including Bobby Jones, ranked by many as the greatest amateur of all time.

You will have seen or heard much about the great challenge the course can offer, especially when assisted by the elements, and about its many unique holes that hug the rugged Monterey Bay coastline, providing wide-open vistas, cliff-side fairways and sloping greens splashed sometimes with angry surf and Pebble Beach's magic will surely sweep you up.

But it is going to cost you. The men who own and run this public course (as opposed to a municipal course like Torrey Pines) don't do it for charity. It's a business where supply and demand count for a great deal.

If you are a resort guest, a round at the Pebble Beach Golf Links will currently cost you $495 with a cart thrown in. If not, the green fee is $495 plus the cost of a cart. But for more on this subject see below under Golf Rates:

The Men Behind Pebble Beach

Early in the 20th century, Samuel F.B. Morse was tasked with turning the Pebble Beach area into a profitable and attractive piece of real estate in order to find a buyer.

He decided to create, as its major attraction, a one-of-a-kind golf course with unequalled scenic beauty and an element of difficulty that would always make it challenging and forever unconquerable.

Because he was more of a liquidator than developer, he had to minimize costs. He convinced his board that the course could be maintained by sheep and designed at no cost by two amateur golfers — Jack Neville and Douglas Grant.

Said Neville in San Francisco Chronicle in 1972: “It was all there in plain sight. Very little clearing was necessary. The big thing, naturally, was to get as many holes as possible along the bay. It took a little imagination, but not too much.

"Years before it was built, I could see this place as a golf links. Nature had intended it to be nothing else. All we did was cut away a few trees, install a few sprinklers, and sow a little seed.”

At the time, Neville was a two-time California State Amateur champion who, after winning the inaugural event in 1912 as a 20-year-old, would go on to win it five times, the last two on his own Pebble Beach Golf Links in 1922 and 1929.

His Pebble Beach Links co-designer Douglas Grant was also a distinguished amateur, but unlike Neville, who stayed on at Pebble Beach for most of his life working as a real estate salesman, Grant, the winner of numerous titles, both in the US and in Great Britain, the 1908 Pacific Coast Championship and the 1918 California Amateur, being just two of them, Grant returned to England where he went on to serve as captain of the highly esteemed Royal St Georges Golf Club in Sandwich.

The magnificently-manicured links that you and I can now play on and which is so highly ranked by 'Golf Digest', is a testament to the extraordinary talent and vision of those two outstanding amateurs for it is not hugely different to the original course they designed and Morse’s plan did, in fact, attract the right buyer.

In February 1919, shortly after Pebble Beach Golf Links opened, Morse founded the Del Monte Properties Company and bought the property himself and for the next 50 years, until his death in 1969, he was to head up a golfing resort empire that would also include three other award-wining championship courses, Spyglass Hill GC, The Links at Spanish Bay and Del Monte GC as well as some luxurious resort accommodation at the Pebble Beach Lodge, The Inn at Spanish Bay and Casa Palmero.

Along with all the golf facilities expected of an up-market golf resort of this nature including an excellent teaching academy, it also offers a world-class dining experience, excellent shops carrying the best in golfing equipment and apparel and other luxury goods, a scenic 17-Mile Drive, a high-tech Spa at Pebble Beach and top-rate tennis facilities.

The greatest change to the original course was the new 5th hole designed by golfing legend Jack Nicklaus. It was built on a parcel of prime, ocean-front land that the Pebble Beach Company had wanted to re-acquire for 80 years.

Not altogether ironically, Nicklaus, the owner of more than 105 professional titles, including a record 18 majors, is the only player ever to have won both the US Open and the US Amateur at the Pebble Beach Links. Perhaps that's why he has been quoted AA saying: “if I had only one more round to play, I would choose to play it at Pebble Beach. ’I've loved this course from the first time I saw it. It’s possibly the best in the world.”

Hole By Hole Tour:

To go on an electronic hole-by-hole tour of the course on its official web site you will need to click on: http://www.pebblebeach.com/golf/pebble-beach-golf-links/hole-by-hole-course-tour

Golf Rates:

Pebble Beach Golf Links: Resort Guests - $495 including electric golf car; Non-Resort Guests - $495 plus the cost of a car

Spyglass Hill Golf Course: Resort Guests $385 including car; Non-Resort Guests: $385 + car

The Links at Spanish Bay: Resort Guests $270 including car; Non-Resort Guests - $270 + car

Del Monte Golf Course: Resort Guests - $110 including car; Hyatt Guests $110 + car; Non-Resort Guests - $110 + car

Pebble Beach's Historical Time Line

1919, February 22 - The Pebble Beach Golf Links was officially opened.

1926, December - Del Monte hosted the 1926 Monterey Peninsula Open on Pebble Beach Golf Links, putting up a $5,000 purse and attracting most of the US's top  professionals and amateurs golfers. Harry "Light Horse" Cooper of Texas won with a 72-hole score of 293 - five over par.

1929, September - Pebble Beach hosted its first "Major" of that time - the US Amateur. Field favourite Bobby Jones tied for medallist honours but lost his first 18-hole match and seven-time Minnesota Amateur champion (1921-1927) Harrison Johnston went on to win the title with a 4 & 3 win over Oregon dentist Oscar Willing.

1935, August - In the heart of the Depression, Pebble Beach hosted the California State Open which began in 1919 at Del Monte. Pebble Beach head professional Cam Puget won the event and $300 on his home course. Pebble Beach hosted the event again in 1936 and 1948.

1940, September - The USGA returns to Pebble Beach for its 1940 US Women's Amateur won by defending champion Betty Jameson. The USGA also scheduled the 1942 US Men's Amateur for Pebble Beach but it was cancelled due to World War II.

1947, January - The Being Crosby National Pro-Am golf tournament is played for the first time at Pebble Beach after being played for 6 years before the second World intervened at Rancho Santa Fe (1937-1942.

1947, September - The US Amateur returns to Pebble Beach and is won by Skee Riegel.

1948, September - The US Women's Amateur returns to Pebble Beach and is won by Grace Lenczyk.

1950 April - Among the newly-formed LPGA Tour's first tournaments was the Weathervane Transcontinental Women's Open won by Babe Zaharias at Pebble Beach in 1950. It returned in 1951 and was won by Patty Berg.

1958, January - For the first time, television covers the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. Bing Crosby hosts the broadcast of the final round live from the 18th green.

1961, September - Pebble Beach again hosts the US Amateur, attracting one of the top international showings to date as it followed just weeks after the Walker Cup in Seattle. Jack Nicklaus saw the course for the first time and decided he liked it. He defeated Dudley Wysong 8 & 6 in the final match.

1972, June - Pebble Beach Golf Links hosts its first US Open golf championship. Jack Nicklaus wins by 3 strokes with a 2-over par 290.

1977, August - Pebble Beach hosts its second Major - the 59th PGA Championship. Gene Littler leads wire-to-wire but falls back in the final round to finish in a tie with Lanny Wadkins. And yes, Wadkins wins on the third playoff hole.

1982, June - The US Open is held at Pebble Beach for the second time. It features the most talked about shot in golf: the battle between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. Watson needs birdie to win but completely misses the 17th green. To accomplish his mission, he needs to sink a difficult chip shot. His chip finds the hole and he also birdies 18 to defeat Nicklaus by two strokes with a 6-under par 282.

1986 January - The Crosby Clambake becomes the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament.

1988, November - The second annual Nabisco Golf Championships (which in 1991 became The Tour Championship) brings the top 30 golfers to Pebble Beach. A rain delayed final round ends with Curtis Strange and Tom Kite tied; Strange wins on the second playoff hole to become the first golfer to win more than one-million dollars on the PGA TOUR.

1992, June - Pebble Beach Company hosts the US Open for the third time. Under brutal winds, Tom Kite shoots an incredible par round and wins his first Major with a 3-under 285.

1998, Pebble Beach Company constructs the new 5th hole at the Pebble Beach Links as designed by Jack Nicklaus. It opens for use in November, during the Pebble Beach Invitational.

1999, August - The 99th US Amateur Championship and the ninth USGA championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links also becomes the first to also use Spyglass Hill for the medal qualifying rounds. In the final, Tennessee's David Gossett defeats South Korea’s Sung Yoon Kim 9 and 8.

2000, June - The US Open returns for the 100th playing of the championship. Tiger Woods captures the trophy, besting his nearest competitor by all of 15 strokes and tying the lowest 72-hole score ever in this national championship.

2001, Golf Digest ranks Pebble Beach Golf Links as the No.1 Golf Course in America – the first time a public course has been so honoured.

2010, June - The US Open Championship revisits Pebble Beach Golf Links for the fifth time. A number of course enhancements, all under the direction of legendary Arnold Palmer, were completed to strengthen and enhance player appreciation, heighten the challenge, and exceed championship expectations. Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland becomes the first European to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

Contact Info

Call Resort Reservations at (0831) 920-6696
Call Pebble Beach Golf Academy at (0831) 622-8650
Call the Pro Shop at (831) 622-8723 or fax (831) 622-8795 for same day tee times.

Please note that Pull carts are not permitted on course.

Physical address: Pebble Beach Golf Links, 1700 17-Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, CA 93953.

For any feedback or ideas you are welcome to email: neville@golfweather.com.