Where Duffers Walk in Tiger's Footsteps
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF.--Back in 1972, America's premier golf tournament was staged here--for the first time--on a course open to the public. That was no small breakthrough for golfers with the wanderlust to travel to where the greats of the game have trodden. Since the inaugural U.S. Open in 1895, the general tradition has been to conduct the championship at private country clubs, like Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., the site this week for the 2006 Open.
But in recent years, the U.S. Golf Association has been going populist, holding the tourney twice at the No. 2 course at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina and once at the Black course at Bethpage State Park on Long Island, N.Y. More is coming. In 2008, the Open will move to the city-owned Torrey Pines South course near San Diego. The following year it returns to Bethpage Black and in 2010 to Pebble Beach. In all, seven Opens will have been run at publicly accessible courses over a dozen years. You can play each of them, with some planning and feeding of your piggy bank.
The four public-access tracks that have hosted--or will host--the Open vary in scenery and course style, but they are all rich in history. And they have another thing in common: "All four of these courses are golf examinations. You have to work every shot on every hole," says Rees Jones, the golf-course architect who has been called the "Open doctor" for his renovations of U.S. Open sites, including Torrey Pines South, Bethpage Black, and Pinehurst No. 2.
Ocean views. They certainly challenge the average player. At Pebble Beach Golf Links, the weather and the scenery provide plenty of distractions. Opened in 1919 along Carmel Bay on the Monterey Peninsula, Pebble is situated so that the Pacific is visible on 17 of 18 holes and comes into play on nine.
More than other championship venues, Pebble has injected a dose of glamour into its golf, even before Bing Crosby brought his National Pro-Am here after World War II. Bill Murray, Kevin Costner, and other Hollywood golfers make their way to the annual "clambake," as the wintertime tournament and party are still known. Scenes from National Velvet and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir were filmed here.
But it is the serendipitous combination of golf and natural beauty that ensures Pebble's vaunted place in the sport. The soul of the course emerges in holes six, seven, and eight. With ocean on the right, the sixth forces golfers to launch their second shot up a large hill into position for one more swing into the green. Slices take a swim. The seventh, the signature hole, is a downhill par 3 with water on the right and behind the green. The winds can be treacherous. No. 8 requires an uphill drive, then a shot over an ocean chasm into a narrow, well-bunkered green. Jack Nicklaus, who scored an Open win here in 1972, calls it the greatest approach shot in golf.
Farther down the California coast, the Open will arrive two years from now at Torrey Pines South, a municipal course that meanders around chaparral-lined canyons above the Pacific. Torrey was refurbished--and toughened--by Jones in 2001. Despite the upgrade, the place retains a laid-back San Diego feel. Paragliders float near--and over--the course, catching updrafts from the Pacific.
"Jewel." Jones lengthened the course, created undulations in the greens, and rebuilt tees and greenside bunkers. The city will build a new clubhouse and is tuning up maintenance of the course--which hosts the Buick Invitational each winter--into Open playing condition. "This piece of real estate is like a jewel we have to polish," says Tom Dougherty, a 53-year-old San Diego management consultant, who has been playing Torrey for 35 years.
Tough indeed are two holes that vie for signature status. No. 3 is a downhill par 3, ocean glimmering beyond and a steep canyon to the left. Overshooting the green may mean saying goodbye to your ball. No. 4 follows--a long uphill climb, big sand traps, and magnificent ocean views with a beach tucked far below. The famously crooked Torrey pine trees stud the rough.
Back east, the passion for playing Open courses has been stoked by the 2005 championship at venerable No. 2 at Pinehurst, a golf mecca first carved out of the pine barrens of central North Carolina in the 1890s. Eight courses grace this resort, but No. 2 (now 99 years old) was the personal masterpiece of Donald Ross, a Scottish pro and groundskeeper who became a kind of Johnny Appleseed of American golf courses early last century.
The place oozes history, golf and otherwise. The village of Pinehurst was drawn up by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York's Central Park and other key urban spaces. Annie Oakley ran the gun club, and Amelia Earhart flew her airplane in. The Rockefellers and DuPonts came down for vacation. Just beyond the clubhouse, the local Scots created the first driving range--on a rise known as "Maniac Hill."
Neither the pine trees nor water hazards create the main difficulty of the course; rather, it's the need to shoot precisely to hold tricky, domed greens. Inferior shots often roll down into grassy "collection areas" or bunkers. The par-4 fifth and par-3 sixth--considered signature holes--are classic Ross, the crowned greens repelling many approach shots. Other holes do likewise.
The complexities of No. 2 prompted even Tiger Woods to allow that the many shot options around the greens produce a "confusion factor." Back in 1999, the Open at No. 2 produced high drama. The late Payne Stewart won on 18 by lofting a wedge to 15 feet from the flagstick and draining the putt. His exuberant victory fist at 18 is immortalized in a statue behind the green. That history draws people to Pinehurst. I spotted one guest who had scooped up a cup of sand from a trap beside the 18th green as a souvenir.
Up north, the last course of this select quartet beckons: New York's Bethpage Black. Opened in 1936 during the Great Depression and built with Works Progress Administration labor, the Black was architect A. W. Tillinghast's gift to public golf. With the need to drive the ball long over bunkers and tall fescue rough, the Black's muscular layout earned intense loyalty from golf aficionados. At the signature par-4 fifth, the drive has to go deep, and the second shot must climb a hill to a narrow green. Woods won the 2002 Open at the Black with the only score under par, and that was fitting: Woods himself is the product of munis in Southern California.
How to Get Your Tee Time
Pebble Beach Golf Links
Resort guests can book tee times up to 18 months in advance. Expect to pay as much as $450 for a round. Non-resort guests should call (800) 654-9300 for tee times.
Torrey Pines South Golf Course
Greens fees range anywhere from $40 to $135. Info: (619) 570-1234.
Pinehurst No. 2 Golf Course
Rates range from $150 to $375. Info for resort guests: (800) 487-4653. For nonguests: (800) 795-4653.
Bethpage Black Golf Course
Greens fees range from $41 to $102. Info: (516) 249-0707.
This story appears in the June 19, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.