Del Monte Golf Course

This golf course is part of the Pebble Beach Resort, however, it is not located within the actual property, so there is a bit of a drive to it. It is described by the locals who I played with as the judger cousin of the cousin of the brother from Pebble Beach GL, and it is true to an extent, it is mainly used by the people living in this area as a cost effective alternative to other courses and caddies that work at other courses located in the resort itself. If this would be a stand-alone GC without any association with PBR it would likely not be on the radar of any international golfer, when you have the option to play PBGL or Spyglass Hill and similar courses in the area you would likely not notice this one. Ž

That being said, I still liked it, it does have an interesting layout, relatively flat with some bumps and humps on the way, very open fairways, you can have as much fun with your driver as you wish and you are likely to still find your ball and to my great surprise, the best greens of all 4 resort courses, they were the most firm and had literally no imperfections that would influence the ball path (and the course is busy, it is not like no one plays it). I would recommend playing it from the back tees, it is not a long course and the landing areas are definitely positioned for back tee play even for an amateur golfer. A added benefit is that it is located a bit higher up from the coast line, so when the other courses are covered by fog, this one might have beautiful sunny weather, I experienced that when I played The Links at the Spanish bay in thick fog in the morning and this on 30 minutes later with the sun just burning us. One major visual drawback is the fact that only fairways and greens are watered, so the course looks like it is in a worse shape than it actually plays, as long as you stick to or close to the fairway, you get to play from very nicely maintained grass, go a bit outside and you are on dirt.

As for the facilities, they are perfectly fine, good pro-shop and OK restaurant with a nice terrace, but one major drawback, there are no shower facilities at the clubhouse. I have notice that in other clubs in the US as well and I do not understand that, the most normal thing to do after a round of golf under the hot sun is to shower, in my opinion, those are the basics… For me it was especially inconvenient since I had to drive for 2 hours and catch a plain after the round. The solution for me was to return to PBR, use the facilities in the SPA and then continue with my journey, this took about 1 extra hour of my time, and if you are pressed for it, it is not really up to the standard you’d expect.

Looking back at my visit at the PBR, I would rather have played the 4th round at Poppy hills than Del Monte, but still, if you have enough time and want a quick and a relatively inexpensive round, it’s a good course to play.

Del Monte is de oudste baan ten westen van de Mississippi. Werd in de 19e eeuw gesticht en toen Pebble Beach er in 1919 bij kwam heette de nieuwe baan Del Monte 2.

Een eenvoudige, korte parkbaan waar je fair kunt spelen. Greens zijn zeer goed. Geen speciale problemen.

Wij speelden hier om de cirkel van de 4 Pebble Beachbanen rond te maken.

Op 20 minuten van Pebble Beach deze baan in de voorheuvels van Monterey Peninsula.

Enorm clubhuis met goed terras. Baan valt qua onderhoud op. De holes zelf vervagen al vrij snel na de gespeelde ronde. Dat is geen goed teken.

Met de kustbanen in de buurt moet je hier eigenlijk niet willen zijn.