If the Masters Tournament is important for the fact it signifies that the golf season is upon us here in Canada, I’d say the PGA Tour’s yearly retreat to the Monterey Peninsula and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is just as significant a step in the transition between winter and spring. This has always been the tournament that gets my “golf juices” flowing and I can’t help but watch the telecast and dream about the days that lie ahead on the course.
Back in May of 2013, I was lucky enough to play two of the three courses on the AT&T rotation: Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course and Pebble Beach Golf Links, perhaps the most famous golf course in the world. I didn’t have enough time to visit the third course on the rotation, Spyglass Hill, but hope to do so at some point down the line.
I’m finalizing my course profile of Pebble Beach and plan on having it online by tomorrow but I long ago completed a detailed profile on the Shore Course at MPCC.
COURSE PROFILE: Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course)
Originally a Robert Baldock and Jack Neville design from 1961, Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course was completely rerouted and redesigned by architect Mike Strantz, opening to great acclaim in 2004. This would be Strantz’s crowning achievement in design and he sadly passed away only one year after its opening due to a rare form of tongue cancer. The course sits in lofty territory among the top 100 courses in America and deservedly so. It is the most recent addition to the course rotation at the Pro Am, replacing Poppy Hills in 2010.
This profile is one of my personal favourites and I hope you enjoy reading it.
