Playing Pebble Beach
Continued
We arrive and John and I head for the pro shop to do the obligatory shopping for memorabilia. Don heads off to the starter to see if he can join our group.  Well, like he said, it was a pretty drive!   

After spending far more for stuff than I should have, John and I walked over to the check in area.  Don was standing there looking every bit as smug as the proverbial cat who had eaten a canary. "Hey, I got in your group. Someone else dropped out."  The next sound heard was my jaw hitting the floor.  Who would have thunk it?  All three of us got to walk on!  The three musketeers live!  All for one.  One for all.  (Or is this the "Three Stooges?")


John joins Don and I on the seventh tee.  The wind was blowing from the tee to the green today.  I used a sand wedge and put it in the trap in the back of the green.  Lucky thing , too, since the next legal drop is probably Honolulu.
What can you say after that?  The course was glorious.  It is, after all, the number 1 course in the U.S. according to Golf Digest. The day was nice. Especially since there was not a lot wind.  If you have ever watched golf on TV and have saw the pros struggling with the wind off Pebble Beach you will understand how grateful we were for a "calm "day. 

Here I am teeing off on 18.  Yes, that's the fairway on the other side of the beach! 
And, yes, I hit it!

  Surrounded by such beauty and history, it's hard to believe that one could concentrate enough to actually swing the club. But swing the club we did.  Incredibly, I shot a 99.  I would have been happy with 150!  I got par on numbers 3, 11 and 17.  Don shot an 85.  I won't tell you what John shot.  I would prefer to remain his friend!		 Actually playing golf here seems secondary to the whole experience. It's a course lined with ghosts of golfers great, past and present.  You cannot walk this course without thinking about legendary rounds of yore.  Who can forget Tiger Woods winning the 2000 U.S. Open by an incredible 15 stokes here?  Or the 1972 2 over par win by Jack Nicklaus? Or where Tom Watson chipped in from the bunker on 17 to beat Jack Nichlaus in the 1982 U.S. Open?  

Everywhere you go the ghost of Bing Crosby follows you. His annual "clambake", which begun around 1934 grew into a annual event that is now known as the AT&T Pro-Am.


The "classic" Bing pose.

All too soon we found ourselves on the 18th tee.  The most spectacular finishing hole in all of golf.  The magnificent par 5 log leg around Monterey Bay. None of us could play this hole!  We spent a few minutes looking over the course from the clubhouse and soaking in how wonderful it all was. 

I will probably never play it again, but I will never forget that day.  Thanks, John, for pushing me into it!  Don, Can you get me on Augusta next?

The Pebble Beach Gallery

Click the title to see pictures of the day!