Sebonack Club House

I have just returned from Southampton and have some new pictures of the almost-completed Sebonack clubhouse:

It blends in a lot better with the landscape now that it is clad with wooden shingles. Yes, it is a big building, but it is very tastefully done. The first two pictures here were taken from the first tee of nearby National Golf Links of America. It's no wonder they are not thrilled with the building, given that it looks down on them.

I did a tour of the inside and it will be one of the nicest clubhouses in the country when completed shortly. There is a lot of custom woodwork in the building. The spiral staircase in the entry foyer and the custom made cherry lockers with the Sebonack logo carved in are magnificent.

The last two pictures are taken from Sebonack's 18th fairway looking back up the hill across the second fairway.

We are happy to have our photo included in Forbestraveler.com's feature article on The Most Expensive Private Golf Clubs.

Seminole Golf Club

Seminole Golf Club (ranked #22 in the world) is located just north of Palm Beach, Florida in the town of Juno Beach. In the interest of full disclosure, I have never been a big fan of Florida golf. I find Bermuda grass difficult to play on, and the flat terrain in Florida, coupled with the omnipresent water hazards, have never left me enamored of golf in the Sunshine State. I was able to play Seminole this past winter and my expectations were high, as they should be when playing a course consistently ranked in the top 25 in the world.

History

Seminole, founded by E.F. Hutton, has a rich history of being a golf club for the corporate elite. Donald Ross designed it in 1929. Seminole’s history runs deep. The course has hosted kings and presidents: Eisenhower was an honorary member; Ford and JFK played it often; and the Duke of Windsor was a member. To give a sense of the level of prominence of its membership, in 1947 members included Joseph P. Kennedy, Henry Ford II, Jack Chrysler, Paul Mellon, Phillip Armour, John Pillsbury and Robert Vanderbilt. Seminole’s membership has always included titans of industry, politics and golf. Henry Picard, the 1938 Masters winner, was the professional at Seminole for 26 years and Ben Hogan spent a significant amount of time here playing and practicing.

Seminole's Clubhouse

Arrival

Arriving at Seminole, you feel like royalty. It is a golfer’s equivalent of being king (or queen) for a day. It has all the buildup and regalia of the State Opening of Parliament. This annual ritual is full of pageantry and pomp, as is arriving at Seminole. During the State Opening, the Queen arrives in her gilded carriage, while at Seminole we arrived in a rented PT Cruiser. Although she does not have to have her credentials checked to make the royal procession, we did our requisite stop at the front guard gate. Her ride is from Buckingham to Westminster, ours was down Seminole Blvd, the long entry road lined on the left with high bushes, which ensures Seminole’s privacy. At the end of the road, we made a sharp left through the hedges and turned into the club with the beautifully proportioned pink stucco clubhouse in front of us.

The drive in is enticing, because you can catch glimpses of the golf course through the hedges occasionally, raising your sense of anticipation. The Queen’s footmen help her dismount when she reaches Parliament. At Seminole, you drive into the gravel rock courtyard, and while you don’t have to dismount, you are greeted by a staff member who takes your clubs and parks your car. Since Her Majesty brings along her own cavalry, she is let in without hassle. We had to stop and check in again at the clubhouse foyer. She then walks up the steps to Parliament under a covered portico. After checking in, the golfer has the privilege of walking up an enclosed covered stairway through the Spanish style clubhouse, leading to the second level.

When you re-emerge in sunlight, a short walk leads you past what must be the least used swimming pool in America, situated right next to the clubhouse. The Sovereign proceeds through a series of corridors to approach The Lords Chamber. Your final turn down the walkway brings you into the locker room. Just as the House of Lords is the apex of parliamentary chambers, the Seminole locker room is equally as revered and respected. It is one of the most exciting golf clubs in the world to arrive at. The only things missing on our arrival were the trumpeters and beefeaters, although we would have our share of the latter after the round.

The Locker Room

The massive locker room is double-height and has a beautiful Cypress-beamed ceiling. Around the top of the room are animal-head hunting trophies and wooden boards listing the names of past champions. The room is ringed with polished pine lockers, and there is a big fireplace at one end of the room. There is a bar at the far end of the room and comfortable seating throughout. Enter the locker room here and you begin to see why Seminole is one of America’s hallowed golfing grounds that commands reverential treatment. It is one of only a handful of places in America where you get this feeling. The others are Oakmont, Merion, Chicago, Baltusrol, Winged Foot and Shinnecock (my educated guess is Augusta and Cypress are as well, but I haven’t played them yet).

Seminole Locker Room

The names on the boards around the locker room are a who’s who of golf history – Snead, Nelson, Palmer, Els, with an occasional celebrity name thrown in such as Sean Connery. This is a function of an annual Amateur-Professional tournament that Seminole hosts each year (The Coleman) where an amateur is teamed with a professional. It sounds like one hell of a tournament and as the names on the boards attest, it attracts some of the best in the world at both the amateur and pro level.

The Layout and Routing

I had not heard universal praise about Seminole prior to my visit. The thing I heard often about Seminole from those who have played it was: Great locker room, but the course is mediocre. On the other end of the spectrum, the éminence grise of golf architecture critique, Tom Doak, uses some of his strongest language in his Confidential Guide when he warns the reader “… if anybody tries to tell you it isn't a great course, either they've been treated like riffraff, or they don't know what good is.”

So which is it: Is Seminole over-rated or does the riffraff factor come into play? Is the locker room better than the course?

The course is set on sand ridges near the Atlantic Ocean and has changed very little since Ross designed it. Dick Wilson made some changes after the Second World War and Brian Silva restored the bunkers more recently. The course is built between high dunes along the Atlantic and an inland set of dunes along the back of the property that are about forty feet high. At the time the course was built, the marshland between the dunes was drained to create a compact area for Ross to build the course. What you see is what you get at Seminole. Standing on the first tee, you can more-or-less see all eighteen holes. Ross made economical use of the small piece of land to build the golf course. There are very short walks tee to green and very few trees.

Although the course is right along the Atlantic, it only has water views in a limited number of places, which tells you something about the height of the sand dunes. You can see water off the 12th tee, 13th green, 14th tee and only in a couple of other places. The front nine is away from the water and the back nearer the water. It is a classic links layout of two loops of nine. The front nine run counter-clockwise from the clubhouse and the back nine run clockwise and finish parallel to the ocean.

The course is not lush, does not have beautiful landscaping and is not over-watered. It is wide open and plays firm and fast, like a classic links course. To appreciate Seminole you have to look beyond the conditioning and see the artfulness of its design.

The Golf Course

The first hole, as is standard on Ross designs, is a relatively easy hole to start the round. You pay for this easy start on the second hole, which has a forced carry over water. The golfer’s second shot is to an elevated green that is tilted and repels balls. As I was to learn, this is one of the essential elements of Seminole: Fast, elevated greens that are hard to hold unless you hit the perfect shot.

Rees Jones, who is a member, says in the club history, “Seminole is probably the best bunkered course in America. A shot that hasn’t hit the proper portion of the green is likely to wind up in one of the greenside bunkers.” The crowned greens that are Ross’s signature at Pinehurst are also present here, but not as pronounced, which in some ways make them more difficult. It is a very subtle design that fools the golfer into thinking they can attack pins.

2nd green

The third hole, a par five of 504 yards, is a dogleg right. It also plays uphill to a green that is tilted front to back.

4th green

The fourth hole, a 450 yard par four is the #1 handicap hole at Seminole. Your long second shot is to an oblong narrow green that is crowned and tilts to the side. Welcome to Seminole!

Par three 5th green

Ben Hogan, who was a member, used to practice at Seminole during the month of March each year, in anticipation of playing at The Masters. Hogan's favorite hole was the 6th. A short par four at 388 yards and a slight dogleg to the left, it plays to an elevated, well bunkered-green. Apparently, Hogan used to play the hole by hitting a draw tee shot and a cut into the green. I was happy with my two straight shots and a par.

6th fairway from the tee

6th green

The course winds its way back to the clubhouse at #9. The first few holes on the back are delightfully similar to the first several holes on the front, but looping in the opposite direction. Eleven is a difficult hole and is one of my favorites. It is a par four of 420 yards with a forced carry over water off the tee. The second shot is up-hill to a green that slopes front to back and left to right severely. Putting off this green is not uncommon.

12th hole from the tee

Twelve was my favorite hole. A 367 par four that plays from an elevated tee box into a prevailing wind with a hedgerow down the entire left side. The green is the best bunkered on the course and is tilted sideways and oblong, making for a very narrow landing area. Even though you are hitting a short iron, the green looks so small and un-receptive that it is very hard to hit.

13th green

Thirteen is a beautiful up-hill par three nestled within the dunes, with the Atlantic Ocean behind.

The par five fifteenth is Arnold Palmer’s favorite hole. It is a 497 yard hole and asks the player to hit risk-reward shots twice. The first decision off the tee is how much of the lake to cut off on your tee shot. The dogleg runs to the right, so if you hit far enough right you have a shot at going for the green in two. The safer play is to the left and a pussy shot is to play the alternate fairway, which is far left behind a row of palm trees, but well away from the water. Your second shot is again over water, so you have two forced carries in a row. The green is elevated, well-bunkered and fast. Like all the greens at Seminole, it repels shots that are not hit perfectly.

16th green

Seventeen and eighteen parallel the Atlantic Ocean, and the prevailing wind is off the ocean. The eighteenth must be an impossible hole in a strong wind. The 417 yard par four is a dogleg left and has a fairway that slopes uphill and at an angle toward the beach. If the wind is blowing, you have to hit your shot over the sand dunes along the ocean and hope the wind blows it back to the correct spot on the small fairway. Architect Brian Silva, who restored the bunkers at Seminole, describes it perfectly: “the strongest feature of the golf course is its angles in relation to the wind.” The eighteenth is the perfect example of this. Although it looks relatively benign when you see the routing on paper, in reality it is very difficult. These subtleties make Ross’s design such a treat. The way the fairway is shaped is counter to the way the wind blows.

18th green from the side

Seminole is the exception to typical Florida golf. Although you have to look beyond the conditioning and wide open feel, if you judge it like a links course that plays firm and fast, you will appreciate that it is a great course. The elevation changes make it interesting, as do the difficult to hold crowned and tilted greens. The fact is, it has a great routing and is one of the best risk/reward courses ever built.

In many ways, I liken Seminole to The Old Course at St. Andrews and Shinnecock, both of which do not bowl you over upon first sight. Their greatness is in their subtlety, variety and the degree to which the course changes depending upon the wind direction and speed.

Seminole Locker Room

The Club

Despite my tattoo, cutoff shorts, surly manner and earring, I was treated well at Seminole and liked the course. Seminole has figured out how to be respectful of the past without being stuffy. They are on the right side of that fine line between guarding their privacy and being pricks or impressed with themselves. The attitude of everyone at the club was the same – friendly and accommodating. The caddies were the best I have personally seen in the United States. Seminole is upper crust without being uptight.

Seminole is a private club with a high percentage of members who do not live locally and has many similarities to Augusta National. It is only open from November through May. Consistent with its history, many of Seminole's members are of the corporate elite. It is one of those clubs that is coveted by the select group of über-golfers who collect high-end golf clubs in the same way your average golfer might collect balls or scorecards. Five ex-USGA presidents are members. I found it amazing that Hogan played there until 1980 – members still recount first hand playing with him.

Strictly speaking, Seminole has a great locker room – although it really is more of a combination of a locker room and bar. While it is world class, I personally think the locker room at San Francisco Golf Club and the clubhouse sitting area at Garden City Mens Club are just as good.

Does the overall atmosphere, exclusivity and the locker room influence Seminole's place in the world rankings? You would be naïve to think differently. So the course might be a tad over-rated, but when you throw in the whole package, it remains one of golf's standard-bearer’s. As Doak says, it is one of golf's aristocrats.

Augusta National Golf Club

No, I haven't played it yet. I'm just inspired after going to The Masters. Augusta National never fails to impress. It has a sacred feel to it, especially the beauty and solitude of Amen Corner. There can't be three better consecutive golf holes in the world. I had forgotten how quiet and reverential the patrons are, going to Augusta is a very civilized experience.

Watching the Masters in person is an experience every golfer should have at least once in their life. In the same way that people often comment that the terrain is steeper than it looks on TV, the sensation of watching the tournament unfold when you are there, in slow motion, is also pronounced. You can't really get a feel watching TV, with its continuous leaderboard, how exciting it is to hear the distant roars, wait in anticipation as the manual scoreboard is changed and visually see the running score of each of the leaders. I have a real sense of admiration for how the tournament organizers have been able to keep the tournament firmly rooted in tradition.

Now, to the important stuff. I have to focus my efforts on playing the course. I've got a couple of seeds planted to get onto Augusta, and as this quest has taught me, you never know which one will come through, so it's always a good idea to have a couple of options, in case one or the other doesn't pan out.

Option #1 is playing with one of the titan-of-industry members that I know either first or second hand. I already have the visual image complete: Flying down on their Gulfstream G550, having a 1982 Chateau Haut Brion with dinner, staying in one of the cabins on property, watching old Masters re-runs all night, playing thirty-six and flying back without ever going through an airport security check-in line. Both of my connections know I want to play, but protocol demands that I not ask directly. So I'm being patient. But it's killing me.

Option #2 requires patience. To be precise, a five-year wait. I have to wait for my volunteer duties to come up at The Masters. Volunteers are allowed to play on a day in May ("Play Day"). This explains why even the guys who have pulled bathroom duty greet you happily as you enter the mens room at the Masters. Wouldn't you be willing to clean toilets to get a chance to play Augusta? I'm hoping I get assigned rope duty on the 16th hole, but will take whatever they assign me.

One of life's great simple pleasures is a pimento cheese sandwich at The Masters. The $1.50 for this underappreciated treat on white bread is one of the greatest bargains in the world. We can all learn a lot from the best organized and run event in the world, including how to control your brand down to the smallest detail, like your own chocolate, chips, ice cream and moon pies.

Although I haven't played the course yet, one of my fellow blogging golf fanatics has, and I am including his link here so you can get a good feel for what it is like for a mortal to play the course.

The European Club

"STAY AWAKE - GET AROUND IN 4-HOURS - YOU ARE AN ATHLETE!," the scorecard at The European Club (ranked #98 in the world) shouts at you. The European Club is the masterpiece of Irish golf impresario Pat Ruddy. Ruddy's iconoclastic style and unique personality come through strongly at the European Club.

I first played the European Club six years after it was opened, in 1998 with a group of friends, and it was my virginal experience on a links golf course.

Ruddy's very Irish sense of humor is also present on the bottom of the scorecard where in addition to your actual score, there is also a place on the scorecard for, "What my score should have been." Local Rule #1 is: "Do not be a links lawyer. Play the ball where it lies when possible."

In his book describing "The European Club", Fifty Years in a Bunker, Ruddy explains that the name European Club was meant to be grandiose - "A Big and Brave Name - Claiming the golfing continent of Europe".




At the time we played, they handed you a little blue and white card, seen above, which talks about their philosophy of the game: "Our approach to golf is fundamentalist. Accordingly, you will not find fussy furniture on our links. You might take it to be spartan while we think it is akin to the way the game was at the beginning and as it should be now. Take your clubs, card and pencil and go out and do battle with the golfscape that requires no artificial adornment."

We met Pat Ruddy when we arrived at The European Club on our first trip. We walked into the austere clubhouse, and he immediately shot a good natured insult at us: how all Americans looked like clones. He was right: all six of us had on brown khakis and logoed wind-cheaters. The decor and ambiance of the clubhouse at The European Club are on a par with that of a motor-vehicle agency. Actually, less ambiance than that of a motor-vehicle agency, because at least DMV's now have TV's. As Ruddy explains, he doesn't believe in "trumpets and brass knobs." It's all about the golf.


The Golf Course

The golf course is adjacent to the Irish Sea Links, on Brittas Bay, in County Wicklow, about 40 miles south of Dublin. The bunkers on the course are lined with railroad ties (sleepers), and Ruddy's design philosophy is to use optical illusions as a hazard on the course. There are hidden dips and hillocks shielding fairways, and his use of mounds and other hazards are meant to put a golfer off his game by creating confusion and rewarding clear thinking. The course is unconventional in that it contains two loops of ten holes instead of two loops of nine. You actually don't play all twenty holes during a round. Holes 7a and 12a, both par threes, are put into play at various times in favor of some of the other par threes. When you receive the scorecard, the two holes that you aren't playing that round have a line put through them. The course offers views of Brittas Bay on fifteen holes. The European Club offers solitude, peace and tranquility. There are no houses, no highways and no low-flying planes.

Par four 3rd hole

The third hole is 499 yards from the blue tees and is typical of the style of links golf at The European Club. The hole plays downhill among the sand dunes. As with any links course, one of the major defenses is the wind blowing in off the bay.

7th hole

The seventh hole is the #1 handicap and has a small burn in front of the tee and down the entire right side. The left side of the hole has a reed-filled marsh jutting out as an illusion. The correct strategy is to favor the right side of the hole, but off the tee it looks like you should favor the left. Parts of the fairway are concealed behind the reeds in a brilliant use of optical illusion. Ruddy employs what he calls the "Reverse view telescope" effect on this hole; that is, everything looks further away than it is. I'm not sure how this sleight of hand is achieved but it works beautifully. The hole is 470 yards long and a bear under good conditions. Into the wind it is one of the hardest on the planet.

8th hole

The eighth hole is a narrow par four that plays 415 yards from the back tees and shows the classic links feel among the sand dunes.

The 12th hole at the European Club

The 12th hole at The European Club is a 459 yard par four. What makes the hole unique is that the green is 127 yards deep. For sake of comparison, this is longer than the length of the entire world-class seventh hole at Pebble Beach and longer by nine yards than the widest double green at St. Andrews. It creates that unique problem of a pin placement being anywhere from 412 yards when on the front of the green to 515 yards when on the back. Potentially a three or four club difference, without factoring in the tricky winds!

Hole 12a is a par three, reverse image of the 14th hole at Royal Portrush, "Calamity". At Portrush, there is a huge fall off on the right side of the green, where a mis-hit shot goes into an unfathomable void. On hole 12a, all the trouble is with the abyss on the left side. It is a heroic hole that plays 166 yards from the tips.

13th hole

The thirteenth is a long 596 yard par five, with four strategic bunkers on the left side of the hole and the bay on the right. When Tiger Woods played at The European Club he hit the green here by hitting a driver off the fairway.

16th hole

The 415 yard par four sixteenth hole shows off the inland scenery at The European Club. Similar to the beautiful Perthsire hills that surround Gleneagles in Scotland, the richly colored mountains that surround the European Club add to the overall idyllic beauty of the place.

The finishing hole used at The European Club used to be a weak hole. A 477 yard par four that plays back toward the clubhouse, it had a pond in front of the green which was out of character with the rest of the course. It was an anti-climactic finish that received much criticism. Ruddy converted the pond into a burn a couple of years back; his inspiration was the Barry Burn at Carnoustie, after watching Van de Velde melt down at the 1999 Open Championship. It makes for a much better finish.

I got the opportunity to play The European Club again two years ago on a golf trip to Ireland. The contrast between the first time we played and the second was stark. It took us several hours to get to the course from Dublin since the capital city has prospered so much in the intervening years. This is despite the fact that there is now a highway south of Dublin which should make the trip quicker. There has been so much development and population growth that we sat in traffic most of the way.

Despite the admonishments on the card, we also had a painfully slow round the second time. We played on a Saturday afternoon and had to wait on EVERY shot. I also thought that the course conditioning needed an uptick, particularly the bunkers. When The European Club first opened, there was no clubhouse, and Ruddy and his family used to sit in their car and take the 10 pound guest fee through the window of their car. The visitor fee is now 180 Euros a round. The price of success and a top 100 world ranking has begun to spoil it, no doubt.



Pat Ruddy

Pat Ruddy is a unique figure in the world of golf. He is the owner, architect and operator of The European Club. Part of the secret of his success was that he did much of the work at The European Club himself. He didn't have to pay architect design fees. He drove the bulldozer himself when shaping the course, had a minimal crew and built it without frills. He was also smart enough to build in stages, stayed within his budget, didn't spend on a clubhouse and basically did it as a pay-as-you-go venture, pacing his development of the course to coincide with his cash flows. Ruddy is a self-made man and self-taught golf course architect. He started his career as a golf-writer and evolved into an architect. Based on the brief time I met him and reading his book I found him to be an affable, sarcastic and witty man with a sharp sense of humor and a visionary.

The European Club was arguably the first course built to rate as a top 100 course. Ruddy had a passion to build a world-class course and do things his way. He chartered a helicopter to fly him around the Irish coast looking for an appropriate piece of land on which to build a proper links course. Ruddy's feat would be difficult to repeat today. Part of the secret of his success was good timing. At the time he started his venture the Irish government was giving out grants to spur tourism. Even for private clubs such as The European Club, as long as they allowed visitors, they could take advantage of the grants. Also, in the intervening years, and with the formation of the European Union, the Irish economy has exploded upwards, and Ruddy was no doubt a beneficiary of this.

While there have been several visionaries who have followed in Ruddy's path (Mike Keiser at Bandon Dunes, Herbert Kohler at Whistling Straits and Mike Pascucci at Sebonack), this jocular fellow did it the old-fashioned way, without the benefit of being a gazillionaire. I congratulate this Irishman, excuse me, European, on such a brilliant accomplishment. I like his attitude.

Ruddy also designed the Glashedy Links, located in Ireland's God's country - County Donegal. If you even get the chance to go there, I recommend playing both the Old Course and The Glashedy Links.

The European Club's Website

Cabo Del Sol (Ocean) Golf Course

The Corona warehouse came into view as our plane made its final approach to land in Los Cabos airport. It was an early sign that it was going to be a good trip. My mid-winter flight from Newark brought me to our friendly neighbor in the south for a welcome break. I was bumped to first class on the flight down and enjoyed the show from a group of big cleavage, silicon breasted, botoxed women and their oversized husbands with leathery faces on their way into the sun. All I had to do was put on my gold chain and my sweat pants and I would have felt right at home. There is a reason The Sopranos was based on a New Jersey Mafioso family.

The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Mexico to experience one of life's simple pleasures. That is, flying from a cold climate in the winter, arriving in the tropics and walking out of the plane directly onto an open stairway, with the warm sun beating down on you. It is a redeeming experience and is a much better way to arrive than walking through a jetway, through an air-conditioned terminal that is hermetically sealed.

It has always been a curiosity to me why no desert golf courses are ranked in the world's top 100 golf courses. There are many fine courses in Arizona, Nevada and Palm Springs that provide an enjoyable, different type of golfing experience -- that of target golf. The name of the golf course ranked #68 in the world threw me off -- Cabo Del Sol (Ocean). In reality it is a desert golf course laid out with islands of both green and fairway set among the desert.

I played the Jack Nicklaus-designed Cabo Del Sol (Ocean) under fine conditions this past February: seventy degree weather, a mild breeze, in the first group off the tee, with the sun rising over the water. It was my first round wearing shorts in six months and it felt great to play in such a nice location. You can see the brilliant day unfolding at Cabo del Sol below, with the cacti providing a nice frame to the sunrise.

The summary of the landscape at Cabo del Sol is: The desert meets the ocean. The summary of the golf course is: Jack Nicklaus-style forced carry shots and fast greens.

The first tee shot of the day, seen above, is typical of what you face all day at Cabo Del Sol: a forced carry over the desert.

4th approach to green

Often times, shots to the green at Cabo del Sol also require a forced carry over desert as well. The approach to the par five fourth hole, above, requires you to hit a shot over about 60 yards of desert and over a ravine, to an elevated green.

Cabo del Sol is located in the Mexican state of Baja California in Cabo San Lucas. Baja California is a peninsula of land between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. The course overlooks the Sea of Cortés and was opened in 1994. The course starts away from the water on a desert plateau and then gradually plays downhill until it reaches the water at the par three sixth hole.

The par three 6th hole

This 165 yard par three is situated in a dramatic setting among the craggy rocks right on the sea. The setting is made even more spectacular by the whales that fill the expanse behind this hole. Grey whales migrate the 12,400 miles to Cabo in the winter from Alaska to mate here. Whales are clearly an intelligent species spending their winters in Mexico! The water immediately offshore is extremely deep, which is what attracts the whales here. As you play the holes along the water, and this one in particular, you can see them continually jumping up in the water and also shooting plumes of water into the sky. I suggest playing Cabo del Sol between December and April so you experience the whales while you play.

Par three 6th hole

The par three sixth is one of the prettiest of its kind anywhere in the world and for my money rivals Pebble Beach's seventh for scenic beauty.

Behind the 7th green

The dramatic par three sixth is followed by another par three, the seventh, which is a 137 yard hole that plays at a ninety degree angle to the sixth and is parallel to the water. You can see the curious juxtapositions at Cabo del Sol, above, where Cactus plants in the desert meet the ocean. The sixth and seventh are the only holes along the water on the front nine. You don't return to the water until holes sixteen through eighteen, which finish along the sea. At this point, the course is routed back inland and plays up the plateau and then back down it again for the closing stretch of holes.

The view from the 11th tee

The 11th hole is a classic risk-reward hole. A very short par four at 328 yards, the hole offers a generous lay-up area down the entire right side. What is tantalizing, however, is that you can hit your drive just short of the green by hitting over the vast desert area on the left. Take the risk and you will have a very short shot to the green and a very good angle of approach. Miss it and you'll be down in the sand for a bit. Jack Nicklaus's courses can sometimes be overbearing and too difficult to play. I didn't find that to be the case at Cabo del Sol. As with this hole, the overall course is a nice bit of Nicklaus design.

12th hole, approach to green

The twelfth hole is a 473 yard par five and the picture above is the approach to the elevated and well bunkered green.

Downhill par three 13th

The 171 yard downhill par three 13th hole, seen above, again demonstrates the forced carry present on every hole. The greens at Cabo del Sol are among the best I have played in all my travels. They were in ideal condition when I played and were very fast.

A desert hazard at Cabo del Sol

The signature 16th hole

The sixteenth hole is the signature hole at Cabo del Sol and is featured on its scorecard. It is a 342 yard par four that plays downhill. The approach shot to the green should obviously not be long.

The par three 17th

The seventeenth hole, pictured above, is another forced carry to a beautiful, small green perched between the ocean and the desert. It is somewhat reminiscent of Pete Dye's Casa de Campo where he built several holes into the water. Golf Magazine has also compared this hole to the sixteenth at Cypress Point.

The 17th green

The eighteenth is a disappointing hole that plays along the water but doesn't really take advantage of the great terrain and beautiful setting. According to its website, Jack Nicklaus calls Cabo del Sol "the best three finishing holes in all of golf." I don't agree. Carnoustie is the clear winner here, followed by Merion and the National Golf Links of America.

You must take a cart at Cabo del Sol because the walk between green and tee is often quite long. The greens fee is steep at $325, but then again, you are playing one of the world's best golf courses in a dramatic location. Cabo del Sol was the first time I had tacos for breakfast, at the half-way house between the nines. It know it sounds unusual, but they are included in the cost of your round, and they are delicious.

Cabo del Sol is a worthy desert course among the world's top 100. Similar to Pebble Beach and Turnberry, Cabo del Sol also has a hotel on the property and I suggest staying there to soak up the experience and enjoy the great views.

The Cabo Del Sol web-site

P.S. My business took me from Cabo to San Francisco so I was unlucky enough to fly Alaska Airlines again. They practice flying the old-fashioned way: Run your flights late, lie about the delays, charge extra for inedible food, cram an extra 15 seats onto the plane and take an extra hour to unload the bags. Bravo.

Spyglass Hill Golf Course

Spyglass Hill Golf Course (ranked #81 in the world) is located on the Pebble Beach peninsula, adjacent to Cypress Point and a short drive from Pebble Beach and Spanish Bay. Spyglass is without question one of the top public golf courses in the U.S.

The following excerpt is a nice summary of Spyglass taken from its web-site: "Spyglass Hill Golf Course takes its name from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel, Treasure Island, published in 1863. Local legend maintains that Stevenson once wandered the Spyglass area gathering ideas for his novels. A unique aspect of this course is that the holes are named after characters in Treasure Island. Hole names such as "Black Dog" and "Billy Bones" are hints for the unwary. As players attempt to master this difficult course, they may hear the laughter of pirates in the distance.


Spyglass Hill was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., as a part of the master plan for the Pebble Beach ocean front. S.F.B. Morse, founder of Pebble Beach Company, and chairman of the board of Del Monte Properties, envisioned a string of golf courses around Del Monte Forest's shoreline. Morse commissioned Jones to design a course between Cypress Point and Pebble Beach."

The exciting first tee at Spyglass Hill

Spyglass is really the tale of two courses. The intoxicating holes along the bay (1-5) are dramatic, wide open and exposed to the elements. The inland holes (6-18) are difficult, tree-lined and play on terrain that slopes uphill.

The opening five holes at Spyglass are dramatic. I would be hard pressed to think of a golf course that has a better opening stretch of holes than Spyglass. The first hole, named Treasure Island, is a downhill sweeping par five that offers tantalizing glimpses of Monterey Bay through the trees as you stand on the tee. As you proceed down the hill, the hole sweeps to the left and the bay provides a wondrous backdrop for the green.

Spyglass Hill first hole looking down the hill

The second hole, a 349 yard par four named "Billy Bones," is one of the finest holes I have played in my travels. The tee shot is through an opening between a line of trees to a narrow fairway that slopes downhill and left to right. It is a classic risk-reward shot that rewards the more dangerous shot to the right with a shorter approach to the green.

Spyglass Hill second hole from the tee

What makes the tee shot on the second trickier is that if you want to play it safe to the left, the shot requires extreme precision. If you hit it too long to the left, your ball will end up in the ice plants (part of the carpetweed family, which tells you all you need to know), which is almost like an automatic lost ball. The short shot to the oblong, elevated green requires intense concentration due to the severity of the slope in the fairway.

Spyglass Hill second hole from fairway

The view of the bay from the second green is as good as you'll find anywhere, with the clubhouse at Cypress Point visible on your left. Overall, the hole has everything a great hole should have - dramatic scenery, great risk-reward characteristics, multiple options for low and high handicapper alike and a superb use of the terrain.

Spyglass Hill second hole looking back from the green

Spyglass Hill second green

Spyglass Hill par three third

The third hole at Spyglass Hill, named "Black Spot," is a tricky par three that plays downwind and downhill toward the bay. The nice views of the ultra-private Cypress Point and of the bay are an added bonus to this exciting hole, which sports a small green.

The fourth green (hole named "Blind Pew") is an oblong, multi-tiered green set within a sand dune, close to the bay. The green is reminiscent of the sixth at Kingsbarns or any number of greens at Cruden Bay. The 370 yard hole plays downhill the entire way with a huge sandy area down the left side.

The first five holes are truly invigorating, and if you play Spyglass, enjoy them, because the easy part of the course is now behind you.

Spyglass Hill fourth green

After the fifth hole, the course changes dramatically. The fifth and remaining holes play away from the bay, and there are no more views of the water. The rest of the course frankly feels more like Pinehurst than it does Pebble Beech. It winds its way through pine and cedar trees on the rolling terrain, leading to a difficult round of golf. When the AT&T Pebble Beach golf tournament is held each year it is played over three courses - Pebble Beach, Spyglass and nearby Poppy Hills. The pros complain about Spyglass generally, because it is such a stern test of golf. Holes six, eight and sixteen rank among the toughest on the tour each year.

My round was going very well at Spyglass until I reached the seventh hole, when, out of nowhere, on my second shot, it happened. Without mentioning the word, I will quote from two great golf writers who will explain my predicament eloquently. "It is the most demeaning shot in golf, and perhaps in any game," writes Henry Longhurst. "The ball shoots off knee high and almost at right angles to the intended line."

The next three holes were a living nightmare.

Bobby Jones explains how the affliction acts upon the mind. "Because of the fear of doing it again, by contracting the swing, the evil is cumulative, living upon itself."

I won't disclose my score on holes seven, eight and nine, but I am including a picture of the plane I flew home on, below.

Mercifully, I regained my composure on the back nine and finished with a respectable score.

The eighth hole at Spyglass Hill ("Signal Hill")

The eighth hole feels more like nearby Olympic Club, with its big elevation changes, uneven lies and narrow fairways. As with many of the inland holes at Spyglass, it plays a lot longer than the card indicates, due to the uphill terrain.

The tenth green at Spyglass Hill ("Captain Flint")

Notice how heavily wooded the back nine is in these pictures compared to the openness of the first five holes. There are several interesting features about the inland holes at Spyglass. The holes generally play longer than the yardage on the card indicates due to the continually rising terrain. Jones laid out 6-18 so that almost all the par fours play uphill and the par threes play downhill. As a result, the par threes are generally short, but still tricky, because the prevailing wind makes them play downwind, making club selection difficult.

The sixteenth hole tee shot at Spyglass Hill ("Black Dog")

The sixteenth hole, the #2 handicap, is a good example of how narrow some of the tee shots and fairways are on the back nine at Spyglass.

Overall, I really enjoyed Spyglass.

I look forward to my return to the Monterey Penninsula to play the last remaining course I need to play in California. With my round at Spyglass complete, I drove past the entrance gate to Cypress Point, the world's #2 ranked course. The entrance to Cypress Point is right off of the Seventeen Mile Drive. It looks like a tantalizing place, and I have now set my sights on getting an invitation there sometime soon.