My California trip centered around a visit to Pebble Beach Golf Links, the 800th golf course that I’ve played! I wanted to celebrate this milestone in style so a friend made arrangements for us to play Pebble Beach on Monday. Probably like most golfers, Pebble Beach has been a course I’ve always wanted to play.

I stayed in Monterey on Sunday night to make sure that there was no chance of being late for our tee time. The tee time wasn’t until 11am and I got there early to check everything out. I’ve done 17-mile drive before, but if you are in the area and looking for something to do then I’d recommend that!

I parked the car near the proshop and walked around while I waited for my friend. Next to the putting green is a nice stone display about the course, with architect information and championships played at Pebble Beach. Next to that is a big putting green and some shops, including Jim Nantz’s Vineyard Vines store. We actually saw Nantz talking outside the proshop after our round!

My friend and I decided not to take a caddie so we carried our own bags. We had the option of a power cart (no pull carts), but it is cart path only all the time. So, instead of a cart, we agreed that we wanted to enjoy the walk at one of the world’s best golf courses! And, that walk turned out to be one of the highlights of my Pebble Beach experience.

The round took over five hours to play, however the incredible scenery of California’s coastline kept me distracted almost the entire round. The views of Carmel Bay and the Pacific Ocean just don’t get old. It was one feel-good step after another walking around this historic course.

Another highlight of my round was playing where the pros play. Our round at Pebble Beach came just two weeks before the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. That meant the course was finishing setting up the grandstands for the tournament and that course conditions were awesome. I won’t go into much detail about the conditions as everything was in near-perfect shape, except for some soft spots.

Also, it was a lot of fun to hit the shots that I’ve seen played on TV year after year! The stretch of the 4th through the 10th and then the 17th and 18th offered some of the most inspiring shots that I’ll probably ever hit.

For example, I hit it inside ten feet on the signature par-3 7th, my approach carried the hazard on the 8th and I manged to hit one of my best drives of the day on the 18th to find the fairway. Those are shots I’ll carry with me for the rest of my golfing life. It is hard to pick a favorite hole at Pebble Beach but I’d have to go with that short 7th!

We played the gold tees which are 73.2/137/6454 and I’ll say that Pebble Beach plays a lot tougher than it looks on TV. Plenty of things lead to the course being difficult, including tiny greens (think temporary size), a surprising amount of contour in those tiny greens, tons of slope in the fairways and some semi-blind shots. Like most courses, I think a few rounds here would makes things a lot easier.

There are quite a few words that could be used to describe the round at Pebble Beach. If I had to pick one I’d go with “magical”. No doubt it is a bucket list course, but more importantly it is a bucket list course that lives up to the hype.

If I’m forced to rank Pebble Beach among my personal favorites, I’d put it in my top 10 courses, dropping some spots thanks to its whopping price tag. And, we even got the NCGA “deal” of $450, which included a $75 proshop credit. However, the spectacular experience is worth the price at least once and I’d highly suggest playing a round at Pebble Beach!

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):