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Ultimate Golf Photo Tour: Pebble Beach Resorts
Long before building a luxurious golf resort along a U.S. body of water in hopes it would compare to century-plus-old courses built in Scotland or Ireland, there was Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Opening on Feb. 22, 1919, Pebble Beach remains every bit as relevant in the discussion of the country’s — and world’s — finest courses as any of the stylish resort courses built in the last quarter century. Jack Neville and Douglas Grant used the beautiful and bountiful Monterey, Calif., coastline to create a course that has been referred to as “America’s Course.”
Pictured: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Hole No. 7.
Pebble Beach's compilation of arduous and breathtaking holes is one of the reasons why the U.S. Golf Association has held 13 of its national championships, including six U.S. Opens — with another on tap for 2027 — on the course. It's as majestic in the occasional wet and windy “Crosby Weather” during the week of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am — once casually referred to as Bing Crosby's Clam Bake — as during the summer fogs that roll in off Carmel Bay.
Good luck trying to identify a signature hole, as Pebble Beach has a slew of options. The downhill par-3 seventh rivals the iconic par-5 18th in terms of sheer beauty. But if a hole’s worthiness is built on shotmaking difficulty, throw the ninth and 17th holes into the mix.
Pictured: Pebble Beach Golf Links — Hole No. 18.
Robert Sommers, the de facto U.S. Open historian who authored “The U.S. Open,” wrote, “Beginning with the seventh, you are playing golf of the most demanding order, each shot flirting with the cliffs along the edge of the bay.”
Included in that quartet overlooking Stillwater Cove is the par-4 ninth, which Tom Watson, the eight-time major champion and 1982 U.S. Open winner at Pebble Beach, says is part of a daunting trio of par-4 holes.“The real part of the golf course, which my dad put in my mind before I went to Pebble Beach back when I was in high school, was that Pebble Beach has the three finest par 4s in a row in the world — eight, nine and 10,” Watson said.
Pictured: Pebble Beach Golf Links — Hole No. 9.
Since its opening in 1919, The Lodge at Pebble Beach has been a landmark destination. It sits just beyond the picturesque 18th hole and the lodge experience has been enhanced with the addition of the Fairway One Cottages along the first hole.
Pebble Beach Resorts is made up of four courses, so while Pebble Beach is the oldest and most recognizable, a trip to the Pacific Coast destination should also include rounds at The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Del Monte Golf Course.
Spanish Bay, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum, opened in 1987. It has a distinctly Scottish look and winds beautifully through the Pebble Beach landscape. A round opens with the par-5 first hole that offers an expansive view of the Pacific Ocean in the background. A twilight round is highlighted by the tunes of a Spanish Bay bagpiper.
Pictured: The Links at Spanish Bay — Hole No. 1.
Spyglass Hill Golf Course's first five holes are considered the best opening stretch of golf in the world. Spyglass was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., opened in 1966 and has been part of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am since 1967. How good is Spyglass? It's been debated that the seaside course is the finest never to have hosted a major.
Pictured: Spyglass Hill Golf Course — Hole No. 3.
The 370-yard, par-4 fourth hole is believed to be the best of Spyglass Hill Golf Course's opening quintet — and arguably one of the greatest in the country. Writes Morning Read contributor Joe Passov: "Framed by the Pacific Ocean on the left and sand dunes everywhere, the hole is drivable under the right conditions, but only the foolhardy would give it a go, thanks to its one-of-a-kind putting surface. The right-to-left-sloping fairway leads to a tiny sliver of a green tucked into the dunes, and placed on a front-right to back-left axis."
> Read: Summer solstice at Spyglass Hill
Pictured: Spyglass Hill Golf Course — Hole No. 4.
