Pebble Beach - Saturday 5 April

 WOW!!

Saying anything else is almost just a waste of words.  Pebble Beach was the main attraction for the majority of the members of the tour, and the experience was all that they had hoped for.

 

Looking across to the bay from the second fairway.

The view down the third hole from the tee.

Looking at the bay from the fourth.

Looking over to the sixth fairway from the fourth.

The fourth green.

Looking at the fifth hole from the back of the fourth green.

Looking back at the fourth green from the fifth tee.

The view down the fifth from the tee.

At this point we move in to one of the most iconic stretches of holes in world golf.  Here we look from the left of the Par five sixth fairway .

This is also a view from the left of the sixth, looking down at the fairway.

Katryna Economou preparing to hit to the short downhill Par 3 seventh.  (Katryna made Par)

A view from the second shot on the eighth.  This is a large carry, and as Patrick Carlisle's caddy said to him, "we are not here to lay up".

Another view of the steep cliff at the eighth.

A view of the cliff looking back from the eighth green.

Looking back up the ninth, you can see the cliff on the eight.

The approach to the magnificent Par 5 fourteenth hole.  This is a very difficult green, with a huge elevation change.

Two more iconic hole to finish with.  The par 3 seventeenth, with a very narrow green that sits across the hole.  It is very difficult to hit and hold the green as it plays at least 180 metres.  Reg Hanson knocked it on to about two feet and rolled in the birdie on the way to his victory today.

Looking back across the course from the 17th green.

Looking from the 17th green across the 18th tee.

Staring down the eighteenth hole from the tee.

Another view of the 18th.

Katryna ready to hit her second shot on the 18th.

Looking up to the 18th green from the fairway.
We were very lucky with the weather also, nice and sunny, and minimal wind.

After the round, we all had lunch on the restaurant overlooking the 18th green.  There are two people on the left here that you will not recognise.  Due to Peeble Beach being so busy, we were unable to play our groups as threes.  This left the last group paired up with another pair.  Myself and Katryna played with Sean and Ilsa, two South Africans celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary.  We had a lovely day, and they joined us for lunch after the game.

Spyglass Hill - Friday 4 April

We have made our way up to the Monterey Peninsula, and the Pebble Beach Resort complex. The resort manages three magnificent courses, with another 4 great ones within a few minutes drive.

Upon arrival the first stop was the driving range, as there were many requests for fine tuning.

On Friday morning everyone enjoyed the resort facilities, before making their way to Spyglass Hill for our afternoon round.

Spyglass is the other half of the Pebble Beach Pro Am tournament.  It is a brilliant course in it's own right, and unfortunately gets overshadowed by it's more famous neighbours Pebble Beach and Cypress Point.

The early holes meander down amongst the sand dunes along the coast.

The contrast in the layout develops as you move through the front nine.  The course moves away from the dunes, and up into the forest area, becoming more of a parkland layout.

It is a great layout, designed by Robert Trent Jones snr, and has some maginificent bunkering.

Everyone enjoyed the round, but it was Tony McLean who claimed victory today.

Robyn Hanson is shown here ready to drive on the second nine.

The wildlife here is also much gentler in nature than what was encountered on the last tour.  The deer are very present on the forest section of the course.

A very different look to the photos of the early holes.

We are at Pebble Beach tomorrow.  A very highly anticipated part of the tour.

The Los Angeles Country Club - Wednesday 2 April

Wow, what a special place the LACC is.  36 holes, 1500 members, none with associations to Hollywood.
LACC is a very private sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of surrounding Los Angeles.
They are very private and understated, and are fiercely protective of their brand.  In fact not many people are allowed to take photographs.  Mobile phones are not permitted on the property, and cameras are frowned upon, so no pictures unfortunately on this post.

We had some LACC members and two members of the professional staff join us.
I was fortunate enough to play with club professional Jim Schaeffer, who pointed out many of the notable features of the course and it's surrounds.

Lionel Ritchie's house on hole 4, and both Bernie Ecclestone's daughters house and the Playboy mansion on hole 14.  The  Playboy mansion itself is not visible, guarded by a massive hedge, but you can hear the 50 or so spider monkeys that Hef keeps in his backyard.

Also behind the 14th tee, the club has a vegetable garden that supplies the club kitchen. So what you may say.  We'll the garden is no less than 2 acres in size. That would be the world's most valuable vegetable garden!!

There are many holes that gain your attention.  One of the features of a George Thomas course, much like Riviera the day before, is to have a gentle Par 5 to open proceedings. That gentle Par 5 is followed by one of the most difficult holes on the course.  In LACC's case, a 490 yard par 4 from the black tees.

Some of the iconic holes include:
The 8th, A par five down in the valley, that sweeps from left to right, crossing a barranca after driving distance.
The 15th, a par 3 that played 95 yards, but has a green sitting across the hole, and is only 10 paces between front and rear bunkers on the right section (where the flag was today) meaning even a hard spinning lob wedge couldn't hold the green.
The 17th, another long Par 4 down in the valley, that is just stunning al the way down to the green.  It is here that the interest increases.  The club recently re discovered the original 17th green (to the right of the current green) and restored it back to the original condition. It is played as the "short 17th" and is about 90 yards. Don't miss the green, as it falls away severely on all sides.

It was a tremendous experience, and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

We are now off to the Monterey Peninsula, to the Pebble Beach resort.

Riviera Country Club - Tuesday 1 April

Today we played The Riviera Country Club.  Riviera has been the site of many great tournaments, and quite a bit of Aussie success.  It was here that Steve Elkington won his PGA championship in 1995.

The first tee shot at Riviera is high above the fairway, just below the massive clubhouse.

The fairways and rough is kikuyu, whilst the greens and tees are poa annua.  Never before have I seen kikuyu cut so neat and tight in the fairways, nor have I seen greens on a kikuyu course without any evidence of fairway encroachment.

There are plenty of iconic views around Riviera.  The clubhouse features quite regularly as it dominates the landscape from its location above the valley.

The par 3 6th hole has the famous donut bunker in the middle of the green.

That is my ball just on the bunker edge.  Not often to you hit the middle of the green, and be left with a pitch shot over a bunker to the flag!

The bunkering is magnificent, and the conditioning is flawless.  The course was in terrific shape only a month after hosting the Northern Trust Open.  Playing it today, you find it unimaginable that Bubba Watson shot 64, 64 around here on the weekend of that event.

We battled a very strong wind that added another level of difficulty to an already challenging layout.

One of the great features around the course are the trees.  Many holes are flanked by ancient sycamore trees, with some needing supports to prop them up.

The 10th hole is a short par 4 that provides a great level of challenge during the tournament, the green is very, very narrow (only about 7 or eight paces) and sits at an angle across the hole.  This makes the green very difficult to hold, and incredibly diificult should you find the rough or greenside bunker.  Karen Pritchard is seen rolling her birdie attempt toward the hole.

One of the other great images is the view up the 18th fairway to the green and the clubhouse.  This is Alan Pritchard firing his approach to the green.

The course won today, and scoring was difficult.  Patrick Carlisle coped with the conditions the best today, his 33 points a very strong result on a challenging day.

Wilshire Country Club - Monday 31 March

The second game on the schedule was at Wilshire Country Club.  Wilshire is located nearer downtown LA, and has approximately 400 members.  We were fortunate to be hosted by members of Wilshire, and play a friendly match against them.

A really nice touch was personalised guest lockers for our members.


Wilshire engaged Kyle Phillips about five years ago to make changes to the layout.  About 250 trees were removed, and new bunkers were added.  The results are very good.

One of the main features of the course is the barranca (creek)  that meanders through the property, surrounding many greens and fairways.  It comes into play on 11 holes.

The course has some interesting history.  The hole below is the eighth, and the property that can be seen at the right of the picture belonged to Howard Hughes.  There are many stories relating to his various activities, but on of the more famous was when he landed a plane on the eighth fairway.  This act was recreated for the movie "the aviator", and in doing so the course was shut down for shooting whilst the producers landed a plane on the fairway again.

The hollywood sign can be seen from many holes, as can the iconic El Royale hotel that stands proud behind the clubhouse.

With smog levels quite low for us, we were also able to see the LA city skyline quite clearly from the 14th.  The building in front is the massive clubhouse.

The hospitality of the club was phenomenal, and we were treated very well.  The members were friendly, and geniunely enjoyed the experience.

The home team showed that on a course with a few tricks and turns, and not to mention the ever present barrnaca, that local knowledge is key.  The KHGC team provided a valiant effort, but were defeated on the day.  We thank the members of the Wilshire for a wonderful day.
Suzanne Jackson continued her good form with 34 points.  Due to her winning the previous day, she was ineligible to win again.  The win then went to Michael Merrett with 32 points.

The Valley Club of Montecito - Sunday 30 March

The tour kicked off today in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, at the Valley Club of Montecito.

We were hosted and joined by some members of the club.  The club is one of the most exclusive in the USA, but the members really made us welcome.

We were here on the day of the final of the men's singles knockout event, which meant that the members all wanted to play early and get back to watch the match. We were told it was one of the busiest days of the year.  There were about 40 players!

 Valley club was designed by Alister MacKenzie at the height of his powers, around the time he designed Cypress Point.

The course sits between the Pacific Ocean, and the hills behind Montecito.  These hills create a brilliant backdrop on many holes.  Patrick Carlisle is preparing to fire his approach shot on the 9th hole.
 

 The view above is from the tee on the Par 3 11th hole.  One of the competitors in the match holed out on this hole today.  It is a stunning hole.

 You can certainly feel the MacKenzie influence here.  The bunkering, in particular the shaping, is very reminiscent of what we have at home.

 This is the majestic view from the tee of the Par 3 14th hole.  You can see the almost medieval looking clubhouse looking down over the course.  You can also see the multitudes of carts heading back after the end of the match.  All the spectators followed the action in carts.

This is the view looking up the 18th fairway to the majestic clubhouse.

The men's locker room has a bar at the end of it, and dining tables and chairs.  It is a very popular place to grab some lunch, as hard as that is to imagine.  I guess with very minimal numbers playing each day, there is not much chance of viewing something you don't want to whilst having something to eat.

 As the sun set on the day, the views from the terrace just kept getting better.  This is looking over the 15th green and down the 16th fairway.

Our girls were really well looked after by the women from the Valley Club, and some new friendships were formed.  It took quite a bit of work to drag everyone away from that terrace, and into the coach for the drive back to Santa Monica.
Suzanne Jackson was the top scorer of the day with a brilliant 41 points.  Well done Suzanne.