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at Spyglass Hill, 595 yards, par 5 Sending a baby draw through a bending chute of trees isn’t all that welcoming a start at Spyglass. But walking down the hill and turning the banked corner to a stiff breeze, white- capped surf and a gorgeous green set- ting surrounded by bunkers and dunes is as memorable an introduction to a course as I can imagine.


No.1


at Poppy Hills, 202 yards, par 3 While I’ll put the fi rst fi ve holes at Spyglass against any start in golf, I’m choosing to skip an uphill, side hill, blind approach skirting the dunes for a gorgeous, yet dangerous long iron at Poppy Hills over the riparian corridor. The dramatic face of the ravine is an eye-catching foreground, and hole locations can make the revamped green play anywhere from inviting to impossible.


No.2


The hike up the steep hill on the sixth hole at Pebble Beach yields one of the best views in golf.


is a humorous endeavor. You simply have to see this green to believe it. It’s as unique as anything you’ll fi nd in the world.


at Spyglass Hill, 172 yards, par 3 There are few places in this world more beautiful to spend an idle fi ve minutes than the back tee of the third hole at Spyglass, with the Pacifi c Ocean staring right at you, a postage- stamp green below, Cypress Point to your left, and a sprawling canvas of more Spyglass and MPCC’s Shore Course to your right. The tee shot itself is exhilarating, as you must calculate how much a puffi ng wind will add to an approach that plays 15 yards downhill to a virtual island green surrounded by dunes.


No.3


at Spyglass Hill, 370 yards, par 4 While I thoroughly enjoy the chal- lenge of feathering a short iron through the wind to this warped dou- ble-decker green the width of a bowl- ing lane—at least the surrounding mounds add a slightly more forgiving bumper lane effect—it’s my days as a caddie that hammer home this choice. Standing on a tee overlooking a sea of dunes and trying to explain to a group from Texas where the green is hiding


No.4


at Spanish Bay, 451 yards, par 4 The linksy No. 1 handicap is just pure Spanish Bay: pay-me-now-or- pay-me-later decisions off the tee, encroaching dunes and magnetized pot bunkers, an omnipresent wind howling off the ocean, and an exposed and elevated green, all while pointing you toward a killer ocean view that also unveils the 13th hole on MPCC’s Dunes Course and Point Joe.


No.5


at Pebble Beach, 506 yards, par 5 A storm stole the famous tree Tiger Woods gouged a 7-iron over during the 2000 U.S. Open, but the ensuing changes have made the par 5 even more interesting. A set of bunkers now pinch in the fairway and gently force it right, so those brash enough to go for the green in two must bust an aggressive drive that takes on the ocean. You are then greeted by the exposed and intimidating rock face of the cliff, which you must blindly carry with your second shot before hiking up to the top of the world for a spar- kling panorama of Stillwater Cove,


No.6


the Beach Club, and a remarkable vantage point of Nos. 4, 17 and 18.


at Pebble Beach, 106 yards, par 3 I look forward to this shot more than any other in golf. The simple joy of hit- ting a downhill pitch shot, and watch- ing it hang in the air before hopefully dancing on the green, is a shot I wish existed at every golf course in the country. Throw in the setting, scenery, history and tall-tale conditions—wind so brutal Tom Kite needed a 5-iron, and others choosing to putt down the cart path rather than risk sending the ball airborne—and it’s a hole that can make anyone’s round with one smooth swing. That is, if you have the guts to aim a wedge over the ocean, and trust that the wind will bring it back safely to land.


No.7


at Pebble Beach, 427 yards, par 4 As Jack Nicklaus says, No. 8 is the best par 4 in golf. Even the blind tee shot adds drama, as you trudge up the hill and hold your breath until you fi nd your drive safely short of the cliff in the fairway. Then there is a $495 fear factor shot, over the massive chasm to a steeply sloped green surrounded by bunkers. But even then, you don’t fully appreciate the scale of the hole until


No.8 WINTER 2015 / NCGA.ORG / 41


PHOTO: JOANN DOST


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