Spyglass Hill Golf Course - Unofficial review

Spyglass Hill Golf Course

Unofficial review of golf course

The Spyglass Hill Golf Course is a golf course located in the Monterey Peninsula of California. The course is part of the Pebble Beach Company, which owns the Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, and the Del Monte Golf Course. It was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and opened on March 11, 1966, after 6 years of planning, design, and construction. Golf Digest, in its 2003 - 2004 listing of America's 100 Greatest Public Courses, ranked Spyglass Hill ( known as the Glass ) 5th best. The course has been in the rotation for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am, a February tournament on the West Coast Swing of the PGA Tour. The course is a 6,862 yard par 72 from the championship ( blue ) tees; it has a slope rating of 148 and a course rating of 75.8. The first five holes all have views of the Pacific Ocean, and the other 13 wind through the Del Monte Forest. Phil Mickelson holds the course record with a 62, which he set in the first round of the 2005 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am. On February 9, 2006, Luke Donald matched Mickelson's 62 during first round play at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am.

The holes on the course are named after characters in Treasure Island, the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. The first hole ( Treasure Island, par 5 of 595 yards ) goes downward and to left almost 90 degrees. From the tee, a player can see the tops of the trees in the Del Monte Forest, the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the Monterey Peninsula. The green is fronted by a large bunker and the Pacific Ocean is in view. Another famous hole is the fourth, Blind Pew ( 370 yards from the blue tees ), which Robert Trent Jones has called it his favorite par four because of its options. The green is the most photographed on the course and is surrounded by ice plants.

Spyglass Hill is also featured in the popular Tiger Woods PGA Tour games, along with 'sister' course Pebble Beach.

The Monterey Peninsula in central California comprises the cities of Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, some unincorporated area of Monterey County and the private community of Pebble Beach. A variety of natural habitats are found on the Monterey Peninsula: littoral zone and sand dunes; closed cone pine forest; and Monterey Cypress habitat. Tourism is serves as the Peninsula's main industry. Tourism started on the Peninsula with a religious vacation settlement by Protestants from San Francisco. This settlement was also the beginning of the town of Pacific Grove. Today once smelly Cannery Row is a tourist center lined with boutiques, restaurants, and hotels.

Pebble Beach is a small coastal unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. Best known as a resort destination, the area is home to the famous golf course, Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Technically, Pebble Beach is not a city at all, but rather a corporation owned by the Pebble Beach Company. Residents therefore pay homeowners' fees for road maintenance as well as Monterey County property taxes. The community's post office is named Pebble Beach, but the U.S. Census Bureau regards the land as part of the larger census designated place of Del Monte Forest. Pebble Beach is in Monterey County on the Monterey Peninsula. It is bordered by Carmel-by-the-Sea to the south, Pacific Grove to the north, the City of Monterey to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

The Monterey Pine forest is habitat to numerous rare and endangered species including Hickman's potentilla and Yadon's piperia, both of which are federally protected species.