Spyglass Hill Golf Course
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Pebble Beach, California, United States |
| Established | 1966, 58 years ago |
| Type | Public |
| Owned by | Pebble Beach Company |
| Operated by | Pebble Beach Company |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Events hosted | AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, (1967–present) |
| Website | Pebble Beach Resorts |
| Spyglass Hill Golf Course | |
| Designed by | Robert Trent Jones, Sr. |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 6,960 yards (6,364 m) |
| Course rating | 75.5 |
| Slope rating | 144 [1] |
The Spyglass Hill Golf Course is a links golf course on the west coast of the United States, located on the Monterey Peninsula in California.[2] The course is part of the Pebble Beach Company, which also owns the Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, and the Del Monte Golf Course.
Golf Digest has ranked Spyglass Hill as high as fifth on its list of "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses".[3] It has also featured in the popular Tiger Woods PGA Tour series of video games, along with "sister" course Pebble Beach.
History
Spyglass Hill was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., and opened 58 years ago on March 11, 1966, after six years of planning, design, and construction. 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, since 1967.[4][5] It plays at 6,960 yards (6,364 m) to a par of 72 from the championship (blue) tees, with a course rating of 75.5 and a slope rating of 144.[1] The first five holes all have views of the Pacific Ocean, and the other thirteen wind through the Del Monte Forest. The course record of 62 is jointly held by Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald. The back tees at Spyglass Hill were called "Tiger tees" when it opened,[5] long before the birth of Tiger Woods.
Originally called Pebble Beach Pines Golf Club, the course was renamed to Spyglass Hill by Samuel F. B. Morse (1885–1969), the founder of Pebble Beach Company,[6] after the place in the 1883 novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) who had spent time in the Monterey area in 1879.[7] All the holes at Spyglass Hill were named by Bob Hanna after characters and places from the novel.[8][9]
Layout
The first hole is called Treasure Island, and is a downhill 595-yard (544 m) par 5, which doglegs almost 90 degrees to the left. One of the more renowned holes is the fourth, a 370-yard (338 m) par 4 named Blind Pew, which Robert Trent Jones called his favorite par 4. The green is the most photographed on the course, and is surrounded by ice plant. Other hole names include The Black Spot (3rd), Captain Flint (10th), and Long John Silver (14th).
| Hole | Name | Yards | Par | Hole | Name | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Treasure Island | 595 | 5 | 10 | Captain Flint | 407 | 4 | |
| 2 | Billy Bones | 349 | 4 | 11 | Admiral Benbow | 528 | 5 | |
| 3 | The Black Spot | 172 | 3 | 12 | Skeleton Island | 178 | 3 | |
| 4 | Blind Pew | 370 | 4 | 13 | Tom Morgan | 460 | 4 | |
| 5 | Bird Rock | 197 | 3 | 14 | Long John Silver | 560 | 5 | |
| 6 | Israel Hands | 446 | 4 | 15 | Jim Hawkins | 130 | 3 | |
| 7 | Indian Village | 529 | 5 | 16 | Black Dog | 476 | 4 | |
| 8 | Signal Hill | 399 | 4 | 17 | Ben Gunn | 325 | 4 | |
| 9 | Captain Smollett | 431 | 4 | 18 | Spyglass | 408 | 4 | |
| Out | 3,488 | 36 | In | 3,472 | 36 | |||
| Total | 6,960 | 72 | ||||||
Scorecard
| Tee | Rating/Slope | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 75.5 / 144 | 595 | 349 | 172 | 370 | 197 | 446 | 529 | 399 | 431 | 3488 | 407 | 528 | 178 | 460 | 560 | 130 | 476 | 325 | 408 | 3472 | 6960 |
| Gold | 73.8 / 140 | 564 | 321 | 150 | 358 | 169 | 413 | 513 | 375 | 414 | 3277 | 377 | 491 | 160 | 435 | 525 | 120 | 454 | 312 | 387 | 3261 | 6538 |
| White | 72.2 / 132 | 529 | 293 | 125 | 345 | 134 | 379 | 480 | 354 | 394 | 3033 | 366 | 463 | 145 | 398 | 514 | 98 | 440 | 301 | 365 | 3090 | 6123 |
| SI | Back | 3 | 13 | 17 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 2 | 14 | 8 | |||
| Par | Back | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Par | Front | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 37 | 73 |
| SI | Front | 1 | 13 | 17 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 18 | 8 | 2 | 16 | 6 | 14 | 12 | |||
| Red | 72.9 / 133 | 487 | 242 | 90 | 299 | 89 | 327 | 464 | 305 | 349 | 2652 | 316 | 419 | 96 | 324 | 481 | 84 | 411 | 266 | 332 | 2729 | 5381 |
References
- ^ a b "Course Rating and Slope Database: Spyglass Hill GC". USGA. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
- ^ "Spyglass Hill Golf Course". MontereyPeninsulaGolf.com.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "The Pirates Of Pebble Beach: Spyglass Hill Golf Course". Golf Adventures. August 8, 2007. Archived from the original on January 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Stevenson, Jack (January 19, 1967). "Jack wins bet from Crosby by taking 'Spyglass Hill'". Florence Times. Alabama. Associated Press. p. 10.
- ^ a b "Bing enthused over links, but some golf pros aren't". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 22, 1967. p. 6.
- ^ Stewart, Jerry (June 13, 2010). "Birth of an Icon: The story of Pebble Beach Golf Links". Monterey herald. California. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
- ^ Barkow, Al (May 2006). "Spyglass Hill Golf Course". LINKS. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
- ^ Stevenson, Jack (January 15, 1967). "Golf course holes named for fighters". Park City Daily News. Bowling Green, Kentucky. Associated Press. p. 18.
- ^ Stewart, Jerry (April 2, 2009). "Bob Hanna dies". The Monterey County Herald. Retrieved February 11, 2016.