Daniel B.
Yelp
Pebble Beach Golf Links, like the Old Course in St. Andrews (https://www.yelp.com/biz/st-andrews-links-st-andrews), is at the top of most golfers' bucket lists. My dad and I had a really fun, magical round here. It's one I'll never forget and cherish for a lifetime. We made a family vacation out of it -- Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Big Sur, Hearst Castle, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, etc. Playing golf at Pebble Beach though, that was the highlight of the trip for me.
I'll be honest. As soon as we hit the 1st fairway, I was a little underwhelmed by the course conditions. Don't get me wrong. The course was awesome. Its natural beauty, sitting atop the cliffs of the Pacific Coast, can't be denied. At times, the setting felt surreal, especially if you're a golf nut like me. The course is soaked in history. But for a five-star course (and this is definitely a five-star course) that is highly renowned and considered to be one of the absolute best in the world, I expected better. I was surprised to realize the course we played at home, Old North State Club in North Carolina, had greener and lusher fairways and rough compared to Pebble Beach. Then again, Pebble Beach is a public course which endures tens of thousands of rounds a year (extremely high volume), so it's understandable. I wrongly expected near-Augusta-like conditions. This is just a really, really nice public course (and really expensive too).
In order to play at Pebble, we had to stay one night on the property. We stayed at The Lodge at Pebble Beach: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-lodge-at-pebble-beach-pebble-beach. We also booked a round at Spyglass Hill (https://www.yelp.com/biz/spyglass-hill-golf-course-pebble-beach). I can't remember if booking that second round was a requirement, but it probably was. Spyglass was way more difficult than Pebble. Our room at The Lodge was super nice (there was a private outdoor hot tub built into the stone-tiled ground) and the resort overall was magnificent. We got a great family photo outside.
We played in early August with afternoon tee times. The weather cooperated. It was sunny for both our rounds at Pebble and Spyglass. It was slightly windy, but otherwise ideal. My dad and I both wore pants with short-sleeve shirts. In hindsight, I probably should've worn shorts. The twosome we were paired up with wore shorts. Our round didn't start getting chilly until the back nine. That's when I put on my black Pebble Beach windbreaker which I had just purchased in the golf shop before our round. We played from the white tees and I shot a 98. From the whites, Pebble measures 6,116 yards with a 71.3 rating and 132 slope -- above average difficulty. From the tips (blues): 6,828 yards, 74.7/143.
My dad and I brought our own sets of clubs from the East Coast and we rode in a cart. The twosome we were paired up with decided to walk with caddies. The caddies ended up helping us out sometimes, even though we didn't ask them to (I wanted them to focus on helping the guys who hired them). If they happened to know where our balls landed and were in the vicinity, they'd try and help us find them. They also gave us tips off the tee and on the greens. We really appreciated it and ended up tipping them after the round. The same thing happened during our round at Spyglass. Also in hindsight, we probably should have hired caddies. They would have helped us and made our rounds more enjoyable (not that they weren't enjoyable to begin with!).
The 18th hole was cool because my mom and sister came down to meet us and take pictures. The families of our playing partners met up with them at the 18th green too. It was a really neat atmosphere having everyone there to watch us finish our round on such a historic course.
Both my dad and I picked up Pebble Beach hats and pullovers in the golf shop. We got complimentary bag tags which are, to date, the nicest bag tags I've ever gotten from a course. They are high quality decorative medallions embossed with the Pebble Beach 1919 Lone Cypress logo. It's become a permanent fixture on my bag.
At the time of writing this review, you're looking at spending at least about $900-1,000 for one night's stay at the resort either at The Lodge, Casa Palmero (next door), or The Inn at Spanish Bay (10-15 minutes away). Then you're looking at $550 per golfer to play Pebble. Caddies are $95 per bag (one caddie can carry two bags) and forecaddies are $47.50 per golfer with a three-golfer minimum. It ain't cheap, but it's also Pebble Beach, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
If all goes well, I'd like to come back and bring my son or daughter to play here, just like my dad did with me. And then they can write a Yelp review about it too.