Course Profile: Pacific Grove Golf Links

about

Three years after his flamboyant renovation of Pebble Beach Golf Links, Oregon-based architect Chandler Egan built a far more modest course just up the coast. This municipal nine, commissioned by the small city of Pacific Grove, started on the town’s edge, climbed to the top of a hill near the Point Pinos Lighthouse, and returned. In 1960, Jack Neville, a member of Pebble Beach’s original design team, expanded Pacific Grove, carving nine holes out of the spectacular seaside dunes on the opposite side of the lighthouse. These two contrasting halves—parkland and linksland—make up today’s Pacific Grove Golf Links, one of America’s most distinctive and beautiful municipal courses.

Take Note…

Reroutings. The unusual opening sequence at Pacific Grove—par 3, par 3, par 4, par 4, par 5, par 5—is the result of a rerouting. Originally, the clubhouse stood at the eastern end of the property, and the course began with today’s sixth hole and ended with the fifth, both par 5s. However, when Jack Neville’s expansion opened in 1960, a new clubhouse and parking lot were built between the nines, and the current routing, starting with Chandler Egan’s par-3 fifth hole, was established.

All aboard. A railway used to pass directly through the Egan nine at Pacific Grove, and until 1957 the town’s station and freight yard were located just north of the current fifth hole. The old track embankment is most visible today between the fourth and seventh holes. (In researching this subject, I discovered that there used to be a baseball diamond almost exactly where Egan situated his ninth—today’s fifth—green.)

Beacon. The Point Pinos Lighthouse, which stands sentinel over Pacific Grove’s back nine, has guided vessels into and out of Monterey Bay since 1855. For any lighthouse nerds out there, the city’s website has ample information on the structure’s history.

Day, planned. If you’re able to devote a full day to Pacific Grove, here’s how I recommend you spend it: play the back nine at sunrise (you can usually do this if you show up right when the pro shop opens, but make sure to call the day before and confirm that the back nine won’t be closed for maintenance in the morning); eat breakfast or brunch at the Red House Cafe on Lighthouse Avenue in downtown Pacific Grove; pick up a pour-over coffee across the street at Bookworks (and maybe get a book, too); visit Lover’s Point Park and Beach to walk off your eggs and potatoes; and return to the golf course in the early afternoon to play all 18 holes, finishing around sunset.