into a forest of pines and ponds. Here Jones has reproduced the calm, deep beauty of Augusta National or The Olympic Club. Even the wildlife seems undisturbed at Spyglass. So how exactly did the NCGA score such a wonderful
place to call its first home? It’s quite a story. The Spyglass Hill Golf Course project
could have just as easily ended up in San Francisco, Carmel Valley, at the current Spanish Bay site, or even on a shoot- ing range. Instead, the NCGA established its first tournament
home in Pebble Beach. Six years before Spyglass Hill opened, the NCGA had
swelled to almost 100,000 members from 200 different clubs. Headquartered in San Francisco on Montgomery St., the NCGA was weary of wearing out its welcome. It leaned heavily on its member clubs to host some 40 tour- naments a year. So the NCGA began exploring the possibility of own- ing a course. The idea was batted around by executive director Bob Hanna and then-NCGA President Francis Watson, but any chance of building a course in the city was quickly squashed by the San Francisco Water District. The idea was brought up again in a joint meeting with
the SCGA during the 1960 California State Amateur at Pebble Beach. Former NCGA President and director Erwin Heieck broached the subject, and Watson thought it was an important enough proposal to approach Del Monte Properties founder Samuel F. B. Morse. After more than a year of internal dialogue within the
NCGA to determine whether the project was feasible or folly, sights were set on a course in Pebble Beach. “I would like to see it accomplished with headquarters
at Pebble Beach,” wrote Watson to Morse. “It is easy to visualize a ‘Golf House.’” Morse eagerly replied just a day later. “I like the idea very much of a Golf House,” Morse
wrote. “The trophy room at Pebble Beach, which is also the bar room, is in reality a golf trophy room. I also like the idea of making Pebble Beach the official course for the CGA and the NCGA.” Pebble Beach as the home course of the NCGA.
Wouldn’t that have been something? While more letters exchanged over the course of the
next year, the project was still very much in limbo. In 1962, the NCGA studied the available sand dunes adjacent to the Del Monte Sand Plant, which would become the future site of the Links at Spanish Bay. There was also land in Carmel Valley, where Carmel Valley Ranch was later built, and the shooting range facilities near Hotel Del Monte, where Monterey Pines was later constructed. Hanna began moving in on the Spanish Bay site, and
phoned Jones to invite him out to the property. But Morse fancied a course that would begin near Pebble Beach, wander out toward Cypress Point and Monterey Peninsula CC, before returning home. “It was a good use of the land,” Pebble Beach Company
36 /
NCGA.ORG / SUMMER 2014
Pebble Beach Company founder Samuel F.B. Morse (left) and Spyglass Hill architect Robert Trent Jones Sr.
46 46 45 41 21 11 9 7 5
NCGA Championship History at Spyglass Hill
NCGA Amateur Match Play Championships NCGA Four-Ball Championships NCGA Public Links Championships NCGA Zone Championships NCGA Associate Club Championships NCGA Master Division Championships NCGA Senior Championships NCGA Women’s Championships NCGA Junior Championships
PHOTO: PEBBLE BEACH COMPANY LAGORIO ARCHIVES
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