Eclectic 18: California - Henry Shimp
Hole 1: Par 5, 535 Yards
California Golf Club
The entire staging area at Cal Club is so sublime. The entrance to the locker room/bar is within 60 yards. The putter green is less than 20. The pro shop is about 40. The ninth green sits right back behind. The tee sits among a few Monterey Cypress Trees which are a theme of the course. And finally, you play right out to the hills of South San Francisco which contextualizes the day from jump.
There are so many strong par 5 openers in California. Others including SFGC, Olympic Club (both), LACC, Riviera, Bel Air, Valley Club, Meadow Club, and Stanford. But Cal Club was always my favorite. Discerning enough that at least a couple good shots need to be struck to get away with a 4, but easy enough that it takes more than 1 bad shot to make an opening 6. The fairway is generous and steers you left of where you want to be, but overdoing a left to right tee ball leads to being blocked out by trees. The second is blind to the green that sides down in a hollow beneath a set of bunkers. When the course is firm and playing the way you would hope, from 225 you are only looking for about 185-190 to see the ball chase down onto the green. The hole is well bunkered, but not over bunkered. A handshake starter, but a firm enough handshake that you aren’t left disappointed. I love a par 5 starter, and Cal Club’s is one of my favorite ones around.
Hole 2: Par 4, 490 Yards
Pasatiempo
The disclaimer here is that I like this hole better from a tiny sliver of a tee box that is up above the road and has the hole play from about 490 vs 425 from the standard back box. What I like about this box is it essentially requires driver, whereas the bottom box takes it out of your hands, and the approach is much better with a mid iron than a wedge. The real reason this hole got the nod over others is its green. I like LACC’s second a lot. SFGC is strong. Any hole at Cypress can be put in for today’s exercise. But the differentiator for Pasa on the second hole is the right to left, swale, multi-pocketed green that is also guarded so beautifully.
Taking a step back to the approach and why I like the longer box. The hole is designed for you to play to the front right of the green and chase the ball into the middle of the green. The green has enough contour that even pins stuck all the way in the left corner or back pocket of the green can be accessed through landing the ball in the front right, thanks Alister, which is why having a mid iron in and taking spin off the ball is preferable. On the green’s surrounds, missing left is death. OB and a 6 or 7 to get the day going await the pull hook. But, right of the green is a bunker that if you get overly cautious and miss in will lead to certain bogey as from there the green runs away from you and stopping your ball will be a highly unlikely task. The second at Pasatiempo is a tone setter. After a challenging first that yields as many bogeys as pars and knowing you have the 3rd on deck which yields more bogeys than pars, 2 solid swings at the second become an important part of getting the day going at Pasa.
Hole 3: Par 4, 453 Yards
Valley Club of Montecito
Another nod for the good doc at the 3rd. I absolutely loved Valley Club of Montecito. What a golf course. Possibly my favorite hole out there is the 3rd. Fairly long within the context of Valley Club as like most of Mackenzie’s courses, it’s not length that will get you. It’s also one of the best tee balls on the course. A hazard right and bunker guarding the left side of a fairway make it one of the course’s more demanding and also discerning tee shots as a good ball makes the hole straight forward, while a bad one spells bogey or worse. The real highlight of the hole is the green site (shown below). The way it sits into the hill behind it that houses the tee boxes for both the short par 3 3rd as well as the par 3 8th is nothing short of charming and pure class. A challenging tee ball, a nice mid iron approach, and a large, well bunkered green set beautifully into the landscape is a pretty good recipe for a nice hole, and the 3rd at Valley Club is more than just nice. It’s California’s best, for my money.
Hole 4: Par 4, 430 Yards
Olympic Club (Lake)
I have to confess, part of my reasoning here is the Tiger shot from the 2012 US Open (if you know you know), but in all seriousness, this hole represents O Club as well as any I can think of. The two hallmarks of Olympic Club are the way it uses one central slope that the clubhouse sits on top of and runs all the way down to lake merced where the middle of the back nine sits and the way that holes run across rather than up and down the slope. What this creates for is many “reverse camber” holes where the dogleg of the hole is in the opposite direction of the slope. The 4th is an example of this with the hole being a fairly severe dogleg left and the slope of the entire hole running to the right. As an extra layer, and something you see more than a time or two at Olympic, there are a couple trees about 100 yards off the tee to the left side of the hole that require you to curve the ball right to left with the dogleg as opposed to left to right with the slope. While this helps your ball stay in the fairway but curving against rather than with the slope, it messes with your intuition, and is an added layer of challenge when the wind is also left to right coming directly off the ocean? Is this all confusing? Because it should be. That’s Olympic. It would be hard enough in a dome, but you add in the fact that it’s usually chilly, windy, and all of this consternation caused by the routing, and it’s no wonder that no one broke par in the 2012 US Open. It’s a course that frustrates you in all the right ways which is why I respect the hell out of it, and the 4th hole is one of the shining examples of this.
Hole 5: Par 5, 491 Yards
Cypress Point Club
This hole gets “6th man of the year” award for Cypress Point. Everyone knows the starters, but often overlooked are the number of gems who come off the bench. My favorite of the lot is probably the 5th hole, who consistently puts up 17 points, 8 boards, and a few dimes, despite having to wait for the first stoppage of play to get in the game. This hole is the most secluded back in the forest of Pebble Beach, CA and my goodness is this golfer’s nirvana. 15 and 16 would be the spot to get on one knee, and the 5th is the spot you would choose as your final resting place. A mid length, dog leg left par 5 that maybe has more amoebic, quintessential Mackenzie bunkering than any other Mackenzie hole I know. The green is a two-tiered banger that plays at least a half shot harder to the back. A front pin gives you a chance to funnel the ball in and will yield a good birdie look more times than not. A back pin signals you to have to hit a seriously good approach, pitch, or putt for your 3rd to have a good look at getting out in 4 blows. Also of note, don’t be afraid to “take a bathroom break” when you get about 100 yards from the green as the halfway house to the left side of the hole at the 11th tee contains a cookie tray that needs more than a single visitation.
Hole 6: Par 4, 335 Yards
Los Angeles Country Club
Forgive me if another hole comes to mind for anyone, but this was a no brainer in my opinion. I think this holes absolutely rocks. Layup with an iron or hybrid and you leave yourself 60-100 yards to a green that presents ~maybe~ 8 yards of effective depth when you consider firmness and or spin control. Go for it off the tee and you are challenging a green that is nearly impossible to actually put your ball on and a green site that is surrounded by bunkers, and fescue that become a true rolling of the dice situation. Depending on the lie, hole location, and exact spot you end up in, you’ll make some birdies from around that green, but the bad outcomes will result in 5 or worse. From the fairway, a good player manages more times than not with just a wedge in hand, but for the slightly less skilled player, the necessity to hit a well struck wedge that is within a few yards of their intended yardage is a bet I probably go pessimistic on more times than not. When I think of what a short par 4 should be, I don’t have much to add to what is presented by the 6th at LACC.
Hole 7: Par 3, 141 Yards
Wilshire Country Club
I struggled a bit to pick a 7th hole, and while there were plenty of other good options, a few of which being par 3’s, I landed on Wilshire for 3 reasons. One, I love Wilshire. Norman Macbeth has always deserved more love than he receives. Two, I love really good short par 3’s, and this is a really good short par 3. And three, a wonderful green site can always make a hole great. And the 7th at Wilshire is a really wonderful green site. From both a practical and aesthetic standpoint, 7 at Wilshire hits. The creek running in front of the green, the way the green hugs itself around the center bunker. The proximity of the back bunkers to the green’s edge. And finally the variety that is presented by just a little wedge shot are all reasons why I like this hole so much. This is truly a “superintendent’s choice” sort of hole. With a hole location that presents depth on the front left or middle right sections of the green, you have a good chance for a 2. But, if the greens are spicy and the hole location is stuck in a skinny portion of the green near the bunkers, 7 can be devilish. Some may not agree with this being the best 7th in CA, but I’d be shocked if anyone looks at the picture below and doesn’t say “yeah that’s pretty good stuff.”
Hole 8: Par 4, 436 Yards
Riviera Country Club
This hole gets the nod for perhaps the ~coolest~ in California. While Cypress is King, the people know I adore LACC, and Pebble is Pebble, Riviera can stand up to any course in its state, or world for that matter, on a pound for pound basis. It’s one of those courses you think back about and try to decide whether there are any bad holes. When doing so, you simultaneously realize that not only does the course not have any bad holes, it may not have even an average one. It’s crazy good. And not to say the property isn’t good, but to me the only reason the 3 aforementioned courses are better is because 2 sit on one of the world’s most beautiful peninsula’s and the other has this “made in a lab for golf” piece of land in the heart of LA. Riviera sits in this cavern in Pacific Palisades that is littered with beautiful eucalyptus trees, barranca, and has more than enough land movement for great golf (clearly). It just isn’t quite what CPC, Pebble, and LACC have.
Getting on topic here. The 8th. A split fairway where both options are viable. The decision comes down to how much you want to think about your angle of approach and your shot shape off the tee. The middle of the hole is a wash/barranca/bunker/just avoid it sort of area. To the left fairway, you get a natural dogleg right, and to the right, a dogleg left. Brilliance. The right side of the green falls off significantly and the back left portion has a nob in front of it that coming directly over from the left fairway is tough. So, the strategist would say to a right pin you go left to open up your view of the green on the approach and to a left pin you go right so you don’t have to contend with the mound on the left. The tactician would probably stick with whichever fairway he is more comfortable with and do that every time. Both good ways to play the hole. My god is this a cool one.
Hole 9: Par 5, 541 Yards
Monterey Peninsula CC (Dunes)
I obviously love being able to understand and explain why I love a hole, but sometimes there is a place in the world for a hole that you say “hey, I just think this is a cool hole.” And that is what the ninth at MPCC Dunes is to me. There are 3 things besides it’s aesthetic appeal that I like about this hole. One, it is a strategically sound hole. More on that later. Two, Creek Game Strong. I love a good creek and this hole has a beauty up the left side that feeds all the way into the ocean. Finally, it feels like “the beat is about to drop” when you play this hole. 10 is the ultimate arrival to the ocean front, but you can smell, hear, and begin to see what awaits as you exit the forest of holes 1-8 and stroll down the ninth.
Strategically the hole is simple. The creek is left, and the more you hug the left, the better the odds are that you have a good look and angle into the green for your second. When you get to the green, there is a wonderful little front left pocket tucked right up against the creek with the dunes left of the creek and to the back right is another little nook of green tucked between two sand dunes. Like I said from jump, the hole is good but not world class strategically. But, when you put it all together, it’s a hole that I took to the very first time I saw it and I still thoroughly enjoy to this day. If you ever have the pleasure of playing MPCC, I trust you will feel the same.
Hole 10: Par 4, 410 Yards
San Francisco Golf Club
Should this perhaps be Riviera? Maybe. Possibly. Probably. But, we got our short 4 fix out of LACC 6th’s. We were just at Riv for the 8th. I adore SFGC and must get at least one hole from it in here. And, this is my eclectic 18. So I make the rules. Ok, 10 at SFGC. We’ll start with the setting. From the back tee you tee off right next to the first tee and essentially inside SFGC’s dining room. Which is sick. The reason I love this hole is because it looks simple and as if it cannot be screwed up, but over time you realize that’s the whole deal. The fairway is massive, but the Cypress trees that will block your shot to the green if you find the fairway’s left half are even more massive. If you get up to this tee and think you can “hit it anywhere,” you are setting yourself up for failure. You need to aim up the right half of the fairway. From here, the green is just perfect for the length of the hole. I good tee ball leaves a wedge or short iron and the green’s size and challenge matches that beautifully. Small, yet not tiny. Cunning, yet not brutal. If the 10th is executed well, birdie is very gettable. If you play it lackadaisically, “Put me down for a 5!”
Hole 11: Par 3, 277 Yards
Los Angeles Country Club
If this were an amusement park comprised of golf holes, this would be the monster roller coaster that everyone talks about. It’s long, the vista from the tee box is surreal, and the scale of the land movement around the green as well as it’s bunkering are large enough to compliment. This hole is just golf on a bigger scale. The length of the tee ball, the size of the green, the length of putt you will likely face, it’s no different than any other par 3, it’s just kind of a par 3.5 or 3.6 or 3.7.
Down the hill, with a *massive slope the feeds the ball from short left onto the green. Often times, the math that may go into this shot (excluding any wind) is something like this: “Ok. 283 stick, down 20, so 263. 33 on, so 230 front edge. I probably want to land it 10 short, and its’s super firm so let’s roll with 215.” For me, that would be 285 hole, gimme the 5 iron. Sheesh. What makes the hole so fantastic is that while you do want to generally play it in the manner I just described and air short of the flag because pin high left, right, and long are all death, what is equally boned is the short right bunker. You won’t make many doubles from here, but with a 40-60 yard bunker shot, the odds of getting down in 3 even if the ball does feed down to the hole are slim. This is one of those holes where 3 feels amazing, 4 feels like expected value, and 2 is reason to dance.
Hole 12: Par 4, 371 Yards
Pasatiempo
Some may be surprised that this is my Pasatiempo pick, but realistically, any one of the holes on the back just about could qualify for my eclectic 18. If there are 10 better sets of 9 holes in the world, I don’t know of them. I have been fortunate to compete at Pasatiempo in excess of 10 rounds, and the 12th always come back to me as one of the best out there. The fairway bends slightly left and tightens significantly the further down you go. If you want to hit a good tee ball and be in the short grass but not too far back, you need to push it down the left with a 2 iron. But, only about 15 yards off the left edge of the fairway is a deep ravine sort of hazard that spells a bogey or double. If you choose safety and hang it in the right rough, birdie is now unlikely on a gettable hole, especially if the pin is at all tucked. The green is a beauty with 4 very distinct areas to pin it and the barranca that wraps around its front and right sides tie it all together. This is one of those holes that the first time through may not stand out, but with each successive play you realize it is one of the more discerning tests on the course.
Hole 13: Par 4, 437 Yards
Stanford Golf Course
Call it a homer pick if you would like, but the 13th at Stanford is a beautiful hole and easily my favorite on the course. Are there other great choices in CA, yes. But George Thomas’ work at Stanford is underappreciated. Set aside the framing of the hole with the Palo Alto hills and dish in the background, what I love about this hole is the bunkering. Stacked along the right and left side of the fairway, the tee ball feels a bit linksy in that you have to decide which bunker is being taken out of play. Hit driver and try to fly the right but keep the left in play, or hit 3 wood short of the left bunker but have the right one be right in your landing zone. The green is also popped up just a shade to where if you miss in any direction you will have a slightly more challenging pitch or bunker shot than you likely expected. This all goes back to the tee ball. If you’re in the short grass, the green shouldn’t be missed from a dead flat lie and no more than an 8 iron in. But, miss in one of the bunkers or in the rough and things become interesting. This hole may not have the playboy mansion on it like LACC’s 13th or the amazing Mackenzie bunkering of CPC or Pasatiempo, but what it does have is simple elegance and strategy. Those are elements I have a ton of appreciation for in architecture and will always have a place in any eclectic 18 I do.
Hole 14: Par 4, 393 Yards
Cypress Point Club
We all know 15-17 at the famed Cypress Point Club, and yeah, they are that good. But what do you know about the 14th? I’ll tell you what I know. IT IS AWESOME. It’s a bit of a reverse of the 10th at SFGC, with a much cooler green and the ocean on your right. The fairway really can’t be missed, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. If you aren’t in the left 30 or so yards of the probably 80+ yard wide fairway, you will be blind to a green that is much too small and much too penal to be blind to. Regardless of what sort of approach you are walking up to, the walk from the fairway up to the green is one of my favorite in all of golf. A corridor among a beautiful bunch of Cypress trees that have limbs hanging along the ground and in every direction, and not to mention the fact that you know you are less than 10 minutes from probably the most spectacular 3 hole stretch in golf. Life is good walking up to the 14th green. It is extremely challenging to place your approach on the proper one of the two tiered green, and even if you do, there is more than enough slope on each. Where the hole really gets fun is if you miss left. Another old cypress tree with limbs hanging all along the ground that if you get in you may never get out of. I say that because I have done just that. And it is my favorite X I have ever carded.
Hole 15: Par 3, 135 Yards
Cypress Point Club
Alright, I had to choose one of 15 and 16 at Cypress, and 15 gets my nod. 16 I’m not going to try to describe, that would be foolish. And it probably is the best 16th hole (or hole in general) in the world, but I wanted to go a different direction as 11 at LACC got my long 3 nod. So I instead have decided to get with back to back shorties, starting with Cypress’ 15th. We all know it, and yes, it really is that amazing. I can honestly say I have only ever been nervous on 2 swings in my life not in competition and it was the first time I played 15 and 16 at Cypress. The green at the 15th is truly one of the world’s finest, especially for a wedge shot. There are about a dozen little pockets to place the pin in that make the shot endlessly fun and challenging despite being at most 145 yards. The one shout I will throw is to the top left tee box that sits up a slope about 50 yards forward and to the left of the standard tee. From there, you launch one across the walking path and have a view of the entire green from the high vantage point. Also, when it is there the shot is only about 110 yards so you likely will see one of the most ~fun~ hole locations. As great as the normal shot is, this one might be better.
Hole 16: Par 3, 133 Yards
California Golf Club
As mentioned above, I am fully aware of hole 16 at Cypress Point. I just wanted another short par 3 in the mix here because *good* short par 3’s are sick, and the 16th at Cal Club certainly is good at the very least. I’d argue for the adjective great. It, like the 15th at Cypress, has 2 different teeing areas. One from about 105 yards and one from 133. Both are downhill shots, but the angles are very different. My thing with short 3’s is they better spread scores. If it’s just 2’s, 3’s, and rare 4, I ain’t interested. I can personally say that on probably 20-25 rounds at Cal Club my range of scores at the 16th is 2-8. Yep. 8. The bunkers can be mean. The false front is real. And when the greens are humming, the small and slopy green can be diabolical. Although Cal Club is essentially a Kyle Phillips golf course at this point after his fantastic renovation of the course, its Mackenzie roots are seen maybe nowhere better than the back bunkering at the 16th. It looks just like 13 at Cypress and the fact that the 17th tee box sits just on top makes the aesthetic that much better. California’s par 3 game is mad.
Hole 17: Par 4, 520 Yards
Los Angeles Country Club
This for me was one of the easier picks in this exercise. The 17th at LACC is not only a great long par 4, it is a really great hole to have as the 17th as well. To me, a 17th hole should present a penultimate challenge that is often just as if not more challenging than what you will see at the last. And that is exactly what this one is. It’s long, the tee ball isn’t exactly wide, and there’s trouble. A massive barranca runs along the right side of the hole and hitting your ball in there is no good. That said, the left side of the hole sis guarded by a large fairway bunker and the diagonally positioned green which runs from front right to back left has a large bunker running parallel to its front side all the along it. So, if you choose safety off the tee and hit it left, you have the fairway bunker to contend with, and you have the worst view to the green and least depth given the green’s angle. Play more aggressively off the tee and trouble is right there, but you seek a much better look into the green. Just great stuff. And the visual beauty is there to compliment the hole’s strategic prowess.
Hole 18: Par 5, 531 Yards
Pebble Beach
This one is selected from it being both really good and just flat out iconic. I don’t think too many people are going to argue with 18 at Pebble. There are certainly other good choices. Riviera makes a play at it. But it was always Pebble for this one. In many of the ways I just described the 17th at LACC, 18 at Pebble presents the same challenges, just in reverse. Hazard all up the left, this time a tree in the middle right side of the fairway as well as a tree to the short right side of the green, neither of which will ruin your hole, but they will take away a good chance to make a 4. If you want glory on Pebble’s 18th, you have to take on the water. But, if you don’t pull that one off, you get to try again. The green is tiny, like most all of them at Pebble, and playing anywhere from the proper part of the fairway on either the 2nd or 3rd shot is a certain way for nothing good to happen. The hole has the beauty in spades, perhaps as much as any hole I can think of, but it is not simply a nice hole to look at. The strategy and necessitated execution is there to match.
Those are my eclectic 18 holes in the state of California. Below you can find a list of honorable mentions by hole as well. Those that almost made the cut. Feel free to reach out through any of our platforms at thetiepodcast.com to let us know what you thought of this piece and what other states you would like to see an eclectic 18 for.
Cheers!
HS