California, USA · USA · Jack Neville / Douglas Grant
Pebble Beach Golf Links
James Kinloch
Golf Travel Specialist · played this course
Pebble Beach is not my favourite course. It's not the most technically interesting, the conditions are variable in ways that require patience, and the green fee at $595 (approximately £450) plus resort stay makes it the most expensive round in our portfolio. None of this changes the fact that you must play it.
The seventh hole — 100 yards, par-3, directly above Stillwater Cove — might be the most famous short hole in the world. The eighth tee shot plays over a cliff to a fairway that opens toward Carmel Bay. The 17th and 18th finish along the Pacific with a finish that has defined US Open drama for fifty years.
I arrange Pebble Beach for clients who want to complete a particular kind of golf life list. Combine it with Cypress Point (caddie introduction required, green fee private) and Spyglass Hill and you have a Monterey Peninsula week that costs roughly £4,000 per person in green fees alone. It's the most expensive week in our portfolio. Nobody who has done it has said it wasn't worth it.
Signature hole
Par-3 7th, 100 yards, above Stillwater Cove
"The shortest hole at Pebble Beach. The Pacific Ocean surrounds three sides of the green. Tom Watson's chip-in for birdie at the 1982 US Open from the rough behind this green changed the narrative of that championship. The hole is small enough that a missed green in any direction is a problem."
Designer
Jack Neville / Douglas Grant
Par
72
Yardage
6,828
Green fee
from £450
Best for
Best time to go
April to October. Avoid winter — the Monterey fog can make the course unplayable.
Play Pebble
James can arrange tee times, transfers, and accommodation around this course. One call is all it takes.
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