Pebble Beach

It was 5am on Sunday 24th July when I awoke in beautiful Carmel. With the alarm set for 7:30, I barely got back to sleep, excited about the prospect of teeing it up at the fabled Pebble Beach. Having got back to sleep briefly, the alarm went and I immediately looked out the window to see perfect weather conditions.

Here is how one of the best days of my golfing life transpired.

8:30am - check-in at the Golf Shop
8:45am - shuttle to the driving range
9:15am - coffee in the Lodge overlooking the 18th green
9:45am - putting green
10:10am - hit a solid drive on the 1st, coming to rest in the first cut rough on the right...make par. Wow! The aura of the place is amazing. You really do know you're somewhere special.

There's not much I can say about Pebble Beach that you don't already know. It looks beautiful on TV and looks even more beautiful when you are there. I had heard mixed reports about the course. "Don't get your expectations to high, you might be disappointed", some said. "The greens are bumpy, the fairways scrappy", was another comment. Well, this may well have been the case when these people visited Pebble Beach, not for us though. Perhaps it was the lowered expectations, but my expectations were well and truly exceeded. The fairways were great and the greens ran true, smooth and quick. The stretch from hole 4 to 10 was amazing and some of the best golf one could ever hope to play. Pebble was truly a pleasure to experience.

Unlike the previous games played, we took a caddie for our round at Pebble. Colten was his name. A 31-year old who grew up in Carmel and has been caddying for 8 years to date. A big thanks to Colten who helped a great deal, particularly when reading the greens - everything slopes to the ocean!

We were lucky enough to have wonderful playing partners for the day also. Rob and his 12-year old son were a true please to play with. The young fella had his best ever score as well - a 98. Not bad for a 12 year old. I told him afterwards that breaking 100 for the first time at Pebble Beach will be a lasting memory. A great kid!

On to the big match, I had a series lead of 3-2. With one round remaining, this meant that it was a must win for the old boy. And it wasn't looking good early, with Jarvis Junior going two up after two holes. Senior steadied though winning the 3rd, 6th and 8th. At the turn, Jarvis Junior one up. A double on 10 though quickly brought it back to square. An up and down affair it was to be. We halved the 11th and I won the 12th and remained 1 up until 15.

An up and down par on 16 made it 2 up and dormy. On the long par three 17th, I managed to hit 5 iron to about 15 feet, while Dad found the front trap. Match over on 17. For what it was worth, we both hit our best drives of the day on the famous finishing hole. Solid lay-ups and approaches saw par's on 18.

With seven par's in the last eight holes and 39 on the back nine, I was happy with the way I played. A truly memorable day!

Result: Son defeated Father 3&1