out on a rocky peninsula. It’s the best hole on either course at MPCC. It could only get knocked off this list by the next two holes…
at Cypress Point, 135 yards, par 3 This is the appetizer before the main course, and in some ways, it’s more palatable. The beauty of this petite par 3 is inspiring, as the amoeba green sits on the other side of a cozy cove of Pacific Ocean, with stunning MacK- enzie bunkers and a forest of unique Cypress overloading your senses. Even the jagged fence around the tee is striking. My favorite walk in golf is through a tunnel of Cypress from the 14th green to the 15th tee, but others prefer this one…
No.15
at Cypress Point, 233 yards, par 3 The walk to the 15th tee transports you to a different world. The walk to No. 16 is more like a football player emerging from the tunnel. It suffi- ciently fires you up the most daunting shot you will ever take—a 220-yard carry over an angry sea, with wind batting down anything but the most purely struck shot. Hit the green and brag about it for the rest of your life.
No.16
at Cypress Point, 386 yards, par 4 We could have kept this unbeatable stretch of par 3s going with No. 17 at Pebble Beach, but I have to take advan- tage of the most beautiful peninsula of golf I’ve ever seen. No. 17 at Cypress Point looks like a version of No. 16 built for Bubba Watson, as the green drifts over the Pacific Ocean, behind a rocky sea wall, about 310 yards off the tee. For us mere mortals, you tee off from a perch above the 16th green and launch a drive left, right or over a grove of Cypress, before playing across to the slippery green that is fortified by ocean short and right.
No.17 Want to Play 36?
at Pebble Beach, 543 yards, par 5 Is it even close? Is there a better finish- ing hole in golf? Or even a better tee box to take a photo? But Stillwater Cove quickly morphs from serene to scary if you need to squeeze an extra birdie or eagle out of your round. Any self doubt will be exposed by a drive that should be taken left of the trees in the fairway and hug the rugged coastline, and an approach that must once again challenge the ocean. Even if you’re just trying to escape with a par, two bunkers and out of bounds punish cowardly blocks.
No.18
When Golf Magazine created a list celebrating the top 500 holes in the world, 12 of them resided in Pebble Beach. And even some of those didn’t make the Pebble Beach Dream 18. So here is my Second Team All-Pebble Beach course, weighing in at 6,844 yards with a par of 73:
No. 1 at Spanish Bay, 550 yards, par 5 No. 2 at Spyglass Hill, 349 yards, par 4 No. 3 at Spanish Bay, 407 yards, par 4 No. 4 at Pebble Beach, 326 yards, par 4 No. 5 at Pebble Beach, 192 yards, par 3
No. 6 at MPCC’s Shore Course, 545 yards, par 5
No. 7 at MPCC’s Shore Course, 226 yards, par 3 No. 8 at Poppy Hills, 415 yards, par 4 No. 9 at Cypress Point, 289 yards, par 4
No. 10 at MPCC’s Shore Course, 543 yards, par 5 No. 11 at Poppy Hills, 161 yards, par 3
No. 12 at MPCC’s Dunes Course, 434 yards, par 4
No. 13 at MPCC’s Dunes Course, 534 yards, par 5 No. 14 at Spanish Bay, 576 yards, par 5
No. 15 at at MPCC’s Shore Course, 413 yards, par 4 No. 16 at Spanish Bay, 200 yards, par 3 No. 17 at Pebble Beach, 177 yards, par 3
No. 18 at MPCC’s Dunes Course, 507 yards, par 5
A recently restored tee box on the 10th hole at Pebble Beach makes the par 4 potentially driveable.
WINTER 2015 /
NCGA.ORG / 43
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