Pacific Grove

Saturday July 16 I got up early to go play golf at... Pacific Grove Golf Links. PG? What about PB? - Pebble Beach? When I called PB about a tee time I was told that there were NONE on Saturday and they were not suggesting I try to just go there. And I have been there and it did not look like a place that someone without a reservation would enjoy hanging around.

I took the road less traveled and it has made all the difference.

I showed up at PG about 7:15 a.m figuring that I could probably go off pretty soon. "How about 7:26?" said the starter. Perfect. I waited for my partners and played with Eric from Australia and Jazz Singh from Sacramento. Great name! Eric and I walked and I enjoyed hearing about how he was there. He came from Sydney for a 2 day conference and rented a house in San Francisco for a month. The plan was to work during the week and sightsee during the weekends. I gathered he was in the internet- based business, as you could work anywhere.

The course was a nice little gem. The front 9 (older) was routed through the town, and the neighborhoods. Lots of big old trees and somewhat hilly. It had a nice old style feel to it like Brackenridge Park, one of my favorites and also an old style, tree lined course.

The second nine was quite different. Across the main street, it was RIGHT on the bay, in the dunes. The old lighthouse was right there by the holes. Picturesque. The views were pretty amazing. The 11th holes was like Torrey Pines # 6, straight to the water. # 12 was an outstanding par 5 through the sand dunes. The dunes were characterisic, along with the sweeping ocean views. The scenic road was right along side us and we saw many runners and cyclists on it.

I talked with the teaching pro Ben Alexander afterwards and he told me the second dunes 9 was originally land owned by the Coast Guard and sold to the City of Pacific Grove for $1.00. He joked he would have paid $5.00 for it. Very nice fellow, we had a good discussion about teaching. He said he also worked at Poppy Hills and he could get me on for $55 instead of the usual $200. So I'd like to take him up on that.

This was the 4th time I've been to the Monterey Peninsula and still no Pebble Beach. I'm beginning to think it might be like a hole in one, something that may elude me. If it happens, great, but if not, I'll have other experiences. Like that 79 I shot recently - priceless!

Afterwards we did drive the 17 Mile Drive which we all liked. We ended up for dinner in Carmel at a nice place, Cantineta Luca. After a good dinner it was getting foggy and cold so we headed back and watched a movie, Something Borrowed. * * 1/2