On Pebble's 18th

Like most golf fans I still call it The Crosby instead of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. I wish I'd been fortunate enough to compete in it when it was known as "the Clambake," or the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. My first Crosby was in 1988, a few years after Der Bingle, the Old Groaner, died--took up residence with the Heavenly Host Pro, as they say. The briefcases were running things by then. It's still the glamour event on the Winter Tour, but it doesn't seem as glamorous to me as the Crosby I used to watch on TV. 

DAN JENKINS as Bobby Joe Grooves

Thanks to Shack for his daily topical quotes, but that Jenkins gem is obviously dated...  The event continues to leak oil, partially as a result of the Commish's scheduling excesses.  

I started to draft a rant on Pebble, then realized that I had likely gone through the issues previously.  See this post as well as this one, and I'm no doubt leaving out a couple.  And this Schackelford spot on Morning Drive with Damon Hack is well worth 5:50 of your time, if only for the 1929 photographs.  The course had that wild look to it that I love, and while Geoff correctly notes the difficult economics of a restoration, a fellow can dream...

I consider Pebble to be the most overrated golf course on the planet, though that's partially just to be provocative.  But only partially, as a $500 greens fee is going to engender high standards... there's just far too many forgettable holes for a top ten golf course.

And even some of their best holes have issues, including the magical stretch along the Pacific of Nos. 5-10. For instance, many people consider the 8th to be the best Par-4 in the world.  Nicklaus has long called the second shot there his favorite golf shot in the world, and I might just agree.  But it can't be the best four-par in the world with that drive...it's blind, and not in an interesting way, and you can't hit it more than about 250 yards.  

And Nos. 9 and 10 are spectacular golf holes along the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean.  They use the natural terrain in dramatic fashion and only a curmudgeon could offer a dissenting thought.  But how do we assess that they are essentially the same golf hole back-to-back?  

But for today, let's talk about No. 18, for the simple reason that Geoff Ogilvy wants to talk about it.  Here's his lede:

The most interesting aspect of the 18th at Pebble Beach is that it is actually a succession of challenging holes. It’s a great and endlessly beautiful par-5 as is, of course. But after a solid drive up the middle it becomes the equivalent of a terrific short par-4. It’s a fascinating birdie-three hole from, say, 330 yards out. And it’s a thought-provoking birdie-two hole from 130. Which is exactly what every strategically sound par-5 should be.

Well, he seems to like it very much....let's see what he thinks of that famous tee box:

It all starts on the tee. The drive into the sweeping right-to-left fairway is always scary

and never dull, as is the second shot. Which is part of the fun -- coming up with good shots when uncertainty enters the mind. 

Although the fairway is actually quite wide, the only way to reach the green in two shots is to first drive as close to the water as you dare. The hole plays a lot shorter that way. Plus, although a second shot hit from the left side might have to start over the water, by the end of its flight it is actually flying away from the ocean. So it’s a much safer approach from there, even if you are laying-up. 

There’s another route from the tee. But the more you hit away from the water, the more complicated everything becomes. There are some trees on the right side. They are in the way if you go way right, less of a problem if the ball is right next to them. No one gets to the green in one shot from there, but around the trees it is all fairway. So there is nearly always a shot.

In geeky architecture-speak, it's a natural cape hole requiring the player to decide how much to bite off and then to execute.  The reward for pulling off the shot is a shorter line and especially a better angle to the green.

Give it a read to see how Geoff analyzes it, but I'll just skip to his conclusion:

In terms of strategic interest, Pebble’s 18th passes every test, as it does for its stunning beauty. Those are my two most important measurements when it comes to rating the quality of any hole. As the late, great Walter Hagen might have said here, “there are always flowers to smell.”

I agree with everything he says, but want to add what I think an important clarification.  This is an unusual example of one of the few golf holes that have actually been helped by the dramatic increase in distance that the pros are hitting the ball. 

For the first seventy-five or so years of play, it was the most beautiful golf hole on which nothing interesting ever happened.  Until 460cc drivers and the ProV1 revolution, the hole was unreachable.  There was no reason to adjudicate the risk-reward calculation on the tee shot, because you were laying up with a mid-iron in any event.  So the water and trees were quite irrelevant, and it happens to be a green where putts don't drop.

If you remember how Graeme McDowell played the hole on Sunday in 2010, needing a five to win, that's how everyone played it in the past.  And the only putt I remember ever dropping on that green was Tom Watson's in 1982, and he didn't need it.

Most of us rightfully bemoan the distance explosion that has made historic golf courses obsolete, inflated construction and maintenance budgets and otherwise negatively affected our game.  But in this one isolated example, it took a dreadful golf hole that was long overrated because of its physical beauty and made it strategically interesting for the best players in the world.