GolfHos

See you in a week or so fellas.  Early to bed tonight and on the road at 3:00 AM.  If you hear a roar at about 10:00 AM Tuesday something special happened on #7.

Woot.   [sm_buddies]

Safe travels whisker baja.

 [sm_buddies]

Enjoy

Safe travels and have a great trip! [sm_beertoast]

Have a safe trip. :)

Last night here.  Reno tomorrow.  Home on Monday.

Pebble Beach tore me up.  First tee nerves were shattered.  Topped my tee shot and ended up with a quintuple bogey.  Tripled #2 due to a pathetic failure to extract myself from a bunker.  Settled from there for the most part.  Two pars, one of them on #7; one GIR, again #7; quite a few bogeys, two of which included a penalty stroke.  It was either par, bogey or massive blowup. 

Fabulous course but in my opinion a bit overrated.  Pacific Dunes is better at a fraction of the price.  Pebble does have that history though and it makes a big impact.  You find yourself thinking of Nicklaus, Watson, Kite, Woods, etc. on the appropriate holes.

Another round and I think I could shave ten strokes.  Local knowledge is a must.  Smallest greens I've ever seen so knowing where to miss is a must.  However, at the price I doubt I'll play it again.  Been there done that.

Peace out.

Very nice Whiskers!

I had heard the same thing from another friend that played it.  Spendy.  Should have taken a caddie for the knowledge, and wouldn't play it again.    But oh the history.


Hope your vacay is going sweet!  See any other Ho'ers on the West Coast Swing?

 [sm_beertoast] [sm_buddies]

Sounds great Uisce.  [sm_beertoast]

I haven't played Pebble but I have made the trek to Bandon/Pacific Dunes twice. I have nothing but great things to say about that place and your comparison is interesting.

Home now and a chance to expand upon my comments.  Pebble is a fine, fine course.  Its ocean holes are magnificent and it's hallowed ground in so many ways.  You can't walk up #17 without thinking of Tom and Jack.  It's truly magical.  The same can be said for #7, #8, #9 and #18.  Very good holes.

However, there are a good 4-5 completely average holes and a couple that are downright poor designs.  Even the best hole on the course (#8 IMO) has its downside.  You don't know what to do off the tee.  It's completely blind.  You consult the yardage book, aim at a rock and hope for the best.  Without a forecaddy telling you it's safe to go you could easily take someone out.  The second shot on #6 is blind and, for a new visitor, turns a great drive into a layup hole.  The first hole is absolutely unremarkable as are a couple of holes in the middle of the back nine.  The long par-5 #14 has an impossible green even with a PW in your hands and after a big drive and a solid hybrid I had 200 yards left (granted, two club wind in my face.) 

Pacific Dunes has only a couple of average holes and no poor holes.  When you compare golf-to-golf I believe it's better than Pebble with room to spare.  If you add in the history and the views of the Monterey peninsula it brings Pebble closer.  For me though, it's all about the golf.  Pacific Dunes is right there in front of you.  No tricks but makes you earn your score.  It's good for a 24 'capper and also for a 4 'capper.  Pebble is much harder.  It would destroy a high 'capper.

Pebble is #2 on my list of U.S. courses that I've played.  It's not better than the top Irish links courses I've played (European Club, Lahinch).  I haven't even played that many of the very top courses around the world but I guess I expect Pebble would fall middle of that pack for me. 

Very enjoyable and if didn't cost a small fortune I'd play it again.  But it's not the best of the best as so many ratings would have you believe.

Sacrilege?   [sm_dontknow]

I don't think so. I've heard too many similar reviews of Pebble from people. I still want to play it one day though.

Yep.  I wouldn't for one second try to dissuade someone.  It's right there at the top of the list of must-play courses.

One of the guys I played with is a part-time professional photographer.  His wife must have taken 300 photos during the round.  He gave me his card and I just checked his site.  He has a few dozen photos of the round along with some other fabulous shots of his vacation.  Check out the lone cypress photos on page 8.   [sm_thumbsup2]

The Pebble Beach photos start here are go for a few pages: http://www.jonberryphoto.com/gallery/3084072#P-6-15

I'm the guy with tremendous presence (http://www.jonberryphoto.com/gallery/3084072#171205031-L-LB) second from left in this particular shot.

Hey thanks for the mention - Pebble was tough and I agree a good bit overpriced for all it offers. I got beat up but I'm not a cold weather golfer. (who knew it would be that cold in July) 57 degrees plus wind chill and coming off the ocean - it was just chilly enough to need a windshirt and just warm enough to sweat too much in it.
I had good hopes starting the round and by the last two holes I was glad it was over. Being a solid 9 handicap and used to long drives in the middle - none of that happened at Pebble. It was humbling to say the least!

At least you guys who I got to play with was a great bunch of guys. For that it was a great round of golf and a fun way to spend the day.

Jon Berry

Those pics are AWESOME!

Oh by the way which one's Pink, errrr I mean Jon?

Oh and Uisce...you're presence is spectacular.  :o

seldom do you see a man who, in standard golf forum tee box posing, has his driver rise above the buttons of his polo shirt.

Don't forget that whiskey swings a 58 inch driver.

lmao

Woah, that's some wicked HTTP_REFERER action you have going on there jbear.   ;)  Glad you dropped in.

More short jokes from you lot.  Unbelievable.  You know I'm sensitive.

Golf glove.  True story.  I had it five minutes before I walked on the tee and couldn't find it anywhere.  Did have a spare though. 

Didn't help much.

Played well today though.  Maybe it needed a round under its belt.

I use sitemeter which gives all sorts of detail. I saw your comment on the web page and figured the hit was yours when it showed up. Sure enough when I clicked on the in link, it brought me here - so  i joined to say thanks. You didn't leave an email trail so there you go.

Thanks again for looking at the pics y'all. I would have preferred to shoot the course at dawn or dusk - but having a round to play - i just let my wife do her best - set it on automatic - and away we went.

maybe im just too lazy or blind to spot it on the site, what camera did you use for those?

Aske, in case jbear doesn't get back in the near term, it appeared at a glance to be a high-end Canon.  Maybe a 30D or better but what do I know.  Big old EF lens on it.

Looked very, very nice and obviously, in the right hands, the results it produces are top shelf. 

Close Jon, but it is only a 20D... I'm waiting for my allowance and to recover from Pebble to place the order for a Mark III. The lens was a 24-70mm ƒ2.8 L. I was nervous about the other $6000.00 worth of lenses in the trunk of the car the whole round... but i guess it was misplaced worry in that particular hood! On the website, there is a shot of Half Dome in the last remaining sunlight shot with my 300mm ƒ2.8L - now that lens is magic every time I put it on the camera.

Sort of like my old Ping ISI drier with the prototype Fujikura shaft. I called it the bomber - 300 yards nearly every time and usually straight as an arrow. The head got loose and I had to send it back to ping for a new shaft... and that particular Fuji was no longer available. The R7TP with the 757 Speeder Stiff is as close as it comes - and as you saw at Pebble even that wasn't workin too well that day.

www.freegolfinfo.com/join/forums


 ;D

LOL, I wondered which of you it would be.   ;)

jbear does hit it long.  I can attest to that.  He wasn't all that straight that day... but who among us was?   :-\

My tee game was generally *feces*e although I did poke a couple out there pretty good.  But, as on #3, I'd usually follow up a good drive with a sh@#k or ch@#k.  Woe is me. 

lol ;D