and every conceivable side interest. Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Pasa- tiempo are among the greatest public courses in the U.S., with Poppy Hills and TPC Harding Park and Bayonet and CordeValle and Edgewood Tahoe and Saddle Creek and the reborn Silverado all must-plays. If you hunger for more ocean views—and who among us doesn’t?—peg it at Pacific Grove or Spanish Bay or Half Moon Bay or Bodega Harbour or Presidio. You can make the case that Northern California has more truly memorable public courses than the rest of the country combined. Meanwhile, the well-connected can fill out their itiner- aries at Monterey Peninsula Country Club—the finest 36-hole facility in the U.S.—or in the western edge of San Francisco, which offers a density of superb clubs to rival anything in Westchester County: San Francisco GC, Olympic, Cal Club, and Lake Merced, with Harding right next door if the need arises for an emergency 18. At many of NorCal’s courses, both public and private, things are done with a uniquely Californian flavor. In the heart of the Napa County, Maya- cama boasts wine lockers for its mem- bers, and the club has a “wine director” and two assistants on staff. A greasy hot dog at the turn? Nah, how about a sand dab sandwich (Monterey Penin- sula) or fish tacos (Palo Alto Munici- pal) or “martini bruschetta,” made with green olives, cocktail onions, Blaze’s green beans and tomatoes with a dry vermouth dressing (Wente Vineyards)? For those who like to watch golf, and not just play it, Northern Cali- fornia offers endless entertainment. Pebble Beach remains the sport’s ultimate stage. What is the single most memorable swing of Jack Nicklaus’ career? His 1-iron on the 17th hole at the 1972 U.S. Open. Tom Watson? His chip-in on No. 17 at the ’82 Open. What is the greatest performance in golf history? Tiger Woods at the 2000 Open. What is Woods’ most thrilling comeback? The 2000 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The Crosby Clambake, as I prefer
to call it, is one of the sport’s liveliest spectator experiences—the perfect mix
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of golf, Hollywood and good cheer. It’s not easy to score an invite, and it’s ex- pensive, but the fact that any amateur can play in it should put the Crosby at the top of of every golfer’s bucket list. Or maybe you’d prefer to tee it up alongside Tom Watson and other legends at the First Tee Open, Pebble’s annual Champions Tour stop. It offers one of the coolest formats in the game, with Joe Blows paired with tour players and charming kids representing First Tee chapters from across the country. Another vastly underrated spectator experience is the Pebble Beach Invita- tional, which every fall pits PGA Tour, Champions Tour and LPGA players against each other on the same leader- board. The tourney dates to 1972 and counts Johnny Miller and Juli Inkster among its past champions. Admission
golf ’s greatest bits of folklore is the The Match at Cypress Point, which in 1956 pitted NorCal heroes Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward against Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. Almost as celebrated is the day 10,000 fans turned out to watch Ward and Venturi in the final match of the San Francisco City Championship. The City, as its known, remains a cher- ished institution in which hundreds and hundreds of dreamers, hackers and hus- tlers turn up every year with a chance at glory. A good number hone their game at The Olympic Club, which holds a unique place in the Northern California scene. Olympic is for serious players only, where club championships are conducted with cut-throat inten- sity, but everyone convenes at the bar afterward for a convivial telling of war stories. Miller learned the game there, and Venturi and Tony Lema (1964 British Open champ) were regulars, too. But it doesn’t take Olympic to produce Tour-level talent; other tracks birthed the likes of Lawson Little (1940 U.S. Open), George Archer (1969 Mas- ters), Roger Maltbie, Inkster, Patty Shee- han, Paula Creamer and Christina Kim. Why does NorCal
Charles Barkley is a regular at Edgewood’s Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe.
produce so many great players? The challenging courses are certainly a factor,
is free and fans can roam the course without gallery ropes. The LPGA now visits Lake Mer-
ced every spring, and the
Frys.com Open has become a staple of the PGA Tour’s fall schedule, with both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy set to play in 2015. TPC Harding Park is en- trenched in the rota for golf ’s biggest events, as it will host the 2015 Match Play Championship, 2020 PGA Championship and 2025 Presidents Cup, nicely complementing the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Northern California owns the past, as well as the future. One of
as are the conditions: ever-changing weather and incredible bio-diversity, forcing golfers to play through fog and wind and rain and (occasionally) heat, while learning to putt any green, negoti- ate any lie, and play out of any kind of sand. But there is another, metaphysical quality to golf in Northern California, something that both lifts the spirit and lowers the index. (It’s no surprise that Michael Murphy, the author of “Golf In The Kingdom,” is a NorCal guy.) In a place of such beauty, it’s impossible not to be inspired. To paraphrase one of our great philosophers, it just doesn’t get any better than this.
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