Golf!
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| Black-tailed Fawns |
Saturday Sam and I joined Jim and his father Jim, Sr. for a round at one of out favorite golf courses: Pacific Grove Golf Links. It's a municipal track on Point Pinos. I've seen it described as one of the best municipal golf course in the country, and you won't get an argument from me. Harding Park and the Presidio in San Francisco offer more difficult golf challenges, but Point Pinos is one of the Pacific Coasts most spectacular locations. What Pacific Grove Golf Links lacks in challenge--from the tips it's a par 70 at 5,732 yards with a rating/slope of 67.9/113--it makes up for in scenic beauty matched only by the Monterey Peninsula's finest course like Pebble Beach and Cypress Point.
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| Black-tailed Deer -- Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA |
You cannot play a round of golf at Pacific Grove without encountering deer. These are urban deer who are accustomed to being around people. That makes for some nice opportunities for photographs without even working for them.
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| Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA |
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| Black-tailed Deer |
There's nothing special about the front nine. The holes are packed tightly into a few block of housing real estate. I do not like housing development courses, but Pacific Grove isn't that kind of course. It predates that awful approach to building golf courses. While the front nine routes through real estate land, few houses actually line the course. The course borders are often streets rather than back yards. The back yards that do line the course never seem to come into play. Well, except for one particular back yard that juts into the course at a hard right angle. It shouldn't be in play if you're hitting the ball right, but the hole isn't visible for a lot of approach shots on this particular par five so that nasty corner comes into play more than it probably should.
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| Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA |
This course is all about the back nine. These holes are all out on the point, unprotected from the elements. The ocean can be seen and the wind elements felt and heard on every fairway. The holes wind through the dunes which will come into play on wayward shots. That's the kind of sand you don'tr want to be in. It is heavy and unforgiving.
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| Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA |
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| Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA |
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| Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA |
The back nine surrounds the Point Pinos Lighthouse on all sides. It's a cute little lighthouse that makes a nice centerpiece for the dune holes. How many golf courses have their own functioning lighthouse? Ha. I thought of one other:
Harbor Town in South Carolina. Never been there, but that's a course I'd sure like to play.
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| Pacific Grove Golf Links, CA |
Sam and I had planned to go whale watching after the round of golf, but the excursion was cancelled due to high winds and surf. That was a bummer. I took Sam to Moss Landing instead to see the raft of sea otters. Not as dramatic as whales, but still pretty cool.
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| Sea Otter -- Moss Landing, CA |
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| Sea Otter -- Moss Landing, CA |
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| Sea Otter -- Moss Landing, CA |
We saw more brown pelicans than I've ever seen in one place before. It's hard not to like pelicans. They look so awkward but sometimes I wonder if they don't take themselves a little less serious than most birds. We also saw a golden eagle on the other side of 101. That made for a pretty good day of both golf and animal sightings.
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| Brown Pelican -- Moss Landing, CA |
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| Brown Pelican -- Moss Landing, CA |
The back nine surrounds the Point Pinos Lighthouse on all sides. It's a cute little lighthouse that makes a nice centerpiece for the dune holes. How many golf courses have their own functioning lighthouse? Ha. I thought of one other: Harbor Town in South Carolina. Never been there, but that's a course I'd sure like to play.
We saw more brown pelicans than I've ever seen in one place before. It's hard not to like pelicans. They look so awkward but sometimes I wonder if they don't take themselves a little less serious than most birds. We also saw a golden eagle on the other side of 101. That made for a pretty good day of both golf and animal sightings.
Although I don't play golf this looks like a gorgeous course and bonus seeing the sea otters and pelicans.
ReplyDeleteI'm a poor golfer but it's a lot of fun spending time with friends and family on a course like that.
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