Spyglass Hill Golf Course is a links

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

on the

west coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located on the

Monterey Peninsula The Monterey Peninsula anchors the northern portion on the Central Coast of California and comprises the cities of Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove, and the resort and community of Pebble Beach. History Monterey Monterey was founded in 17 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The course is part of the

Pebble Beach Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, California. The small coastal residential community of mostly single-family homes is also notable as a resort destination, and the home of the golf course ...

Company, which also owns the

Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach Golf Links is a public golf course on the west coast of the United States, located in Pebble Beach, California. Regarded by ''Travel and Leisure'' blog as one of the most beautiful courses in the world, it hugs the rugged coastlin ...

, The Links at Spanish Bay, and the Del Monte Golf Course. ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...

'' has ranked Spyglass Hill as high as fifth on its list of "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses". It has also featured in the popular

Tiger Woods PGA Tour ''PGA Tour'' is a series of golf video games developed and published by Electronic Arts - and later their EA Sports sub-label - since 1990. The series primarily features courses featured on the U.S. PGA Tour, and other notable courses (such as t ...

series of

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s, along with sister course Pebble Beach.

History

Spyglass Hill was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., and opened on March 11, 1966, after six years of planning, design, and construction. Since

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, it has been in the

rotation Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional ...

of the multi-course

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held annually at Pebble Beach, California, near Carmel. The tournament is usually held during the month of February on three different courses, currently Pebble Beac ...

, a February tournament on the West Coast Swing of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

. Originally called Pebble Beach Pines Golf Club, it was renamed to Spyglass Hill by

Samuel F. B. Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

(1885–1969), the founder of Pebble Beach Company, after the place in the 1883 novel ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'' by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

(1850–1894), who had spent time in the Monterey area in 1879. All the holes at Spyglass Hill were named by Bob Hanna after characters and places from the novel. Its par-72 layout measures from the championship (blue) tees, with a

course rating A golf handicap is a numerical measure of a golfer's potential that is used to enable players of varying abilities to compete against one another. Better players are those with the lowest handicaps. Historically, rules relating to handicaps have v ...

of 75.4 and a

slope rating The slope rating of a golf course is a measure of its relative difficulty for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer. It is used by handicapping systems to equalize the field by accounting for the likelihood that, when playing on more difficu ...

of 145. The first five holes all have views of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and the other thirteen wind through the

Del Monte Forest Del Monte Forest (''Del Monte'', Spanish for "of the mountain") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a total population of 4,204, down from 4,514 at the 2010 census. The census area ...

. The course record of 62 (–10) was set by

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970), nicknamed Lefty, is an American professional golfer who plays for LIV Golf. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters To ...

in 2005 and equaled by

Luke Donald Luke Campbell Donald MBE (born 7 December 1977) is an English professional golfer and former world number one. He plays mainly on the U.S.-based PGA Tour but is also a member of the European Tour. Donald had an outstanding year in 2011, winnin ...

the next year; both were carded on Thursday of the AT&T under calm conditions. The back tees at Spyglass Hill were called "Tiger tees" when it opened, long before the birth of

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

Layout

The first hole is called Treasure Island, and is a downhill par 5, which doglegs almost 90 degrees to the left. One of the more renowned holes is the fourth, a par 4 named Blind Pew, which Robert Trent Jones called his favorite par 4. The green is the most photographed on the course, and is surrounded by ice plant. Other hole names include The Black Spot (3rd),

Captain Flint Captain J. Flint is a fictional golden age pirate captain who features in a number of novels, television series, and films. The original character was created by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). Flint first appears in ...

(10th), and

Long John Silver Long John Silver is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the novel ''Treasure Island'' (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most colourful and complex character in the book, he continues to appear in popular culture. His missing l ...

(14th).

Scorecard

:https://www.pebblebeach.com/content/uploads/Spyglass-Hill-Scorecard.pdf

References

External links

*
Spyglass Hill Golf Course: Course information with photos and interactive map.
{{Monterey Peninsula Golf Golf clubs and courses in California Sports venues in Monterey County, California Golf clubs and courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Pebble Beach, California 1966 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 1966