Spyglass Hill Golf Course

The Spyglass Hill Golf Course is part of the Pebble Beach Company, which owns a number of golf courses. It is located on the Del Monte shoreline in the Monterey peninsula of California and is also known as The Glass .

History of the course

The Spyglass Hill Golf Course was designed by Robert Trent Jones. After six years of planning and designing, the course as finally opened for play in 1966. The course features two different types of terrain. The first five holes are laid on the sandy dunes while the rest of the holes are made out of a pine forest. The greens are elevated with bunkers and water hazards being placed at strategic locations so that if you err a little in your shot you will hit one of them.

The course was somewhat modified in 1996 to care of some of the drainage problems it was facing. Several bunkers were added while new tee points were constructed for holes 12 and 15. The greens of the 15 th and 16 th holes were expanded while a lake by the 11 th hole was removed. Most of the greens are medium-sized but very quick. New cart paths have also been built.

• There is an interesting fact about the Spyglass Hill Golf Course . All the holes are named after characters from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Local people believe that Stevenson used to roam around here to gather ideas about his novels. As a result, in order to honor him the Pebble Beach authorities named the holes after characters of his novel.
• The first hole is one of its kind. Here the greens go downwards almost 90 degrees towards the left. From the tee point you can see the tops of the trees in the Del Monte Forest, the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Monterey Peninsula . There is also a large bunker in front of the green.
• The fourth hole, known as the Blind Pew , is also famous. Here the green is surrounded by ice plants.
• The course has hosted many international tournaments over the years and is part of the rotation for the venue of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

The Spyglass Hill Golf Course holds the 53 rd spot in Golf Digest magazine's list of 100 top golf courses in the US in 2005. As we continue on this tour we will learn about the other top-100 golf courses in the world.