The Ultimate Bucket List

Not just the greatest meeting of land and sea in American golf, but the most extensive one, too, with nine holes perched immediately above the crashing Pacific surf—the fourth through 10th plus the 17th and 18th. Pebble’s sixth through eighth are golf’s real Amen Corner, with a few Hail Marys thrown in over an ocean cove on the eighth from atop a 75-foot-high bluff. Pebble hosted a successful U.S. Amateur in 2018 and a sixth U.S. Open in 2019. Recent improvements include the redesign of the once-treacherous 14th green, and reshaping of the par-3 17th green, both planned by Arnold Palmer’s Design Company a few years back—and the current changes to the iconic eighth hole. Pebble Beach hosted the Women's U.S. Open for the first time in 2023.

One of the most anticipated course openings of 2021 wasn't a regulation course. Pebble Beach's nine-hole short course, The Hay, was given a complete overhaul by Tiger Woods' design team. It now includes an exact replica of the iconic seventh green at Pebble Beach Golf Links—features holes ranging from 47 to 106 yards and includes a 20,000-square-foot putting course and a restaurant. "There are a few key ideas that I like to include when we build a short course," Tiger Woods told Golf Digest before his accident. "One of those is being able to use your putter from the tee box. I grew up playing Heartwell, a par-3 course here in Long Beach—and you could tee off with a putter on 17 of the 18 holes. ... It makes it a lot less intimidating."

Given the task of designing a course just up the 17 Mile Drive from Pebble Beach and Cypress Point, Robert Trent Jones responded with a combination of Pine Valley and Augusta National. The five opening holes, in Pine Valley-like sand dunes, are an all-too-brief encounter with the Pacific seacoast. The remaining holes are a stern hike through hills covered with majestic Monterey pines (which, sad to say, may someday disappear to pitch canker, but are being replaced in some areas with cypress trees). Add several water hazards that hearken back to the 16th at Augusta (a hole which Trent Jones designed, by the way) and you have what some panelists consider to be Trent’s finest work. Others say it’s the best course never to have hosted a major event. After all, even Pine Valley and Cypress Point have hosted Walker Cups.