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Poppy Hills: NCGA's Home Course Might Bring You To
Your Knees
By David
R. Holland, Senior Writer
PEBBLE BEACH, CA -- You would think that a golf course that
has five par-5s would make Tiger Woods drool. But like many
others who play Poppy Hills Golf Course in the AT&T Pebble
Beach National Pro-Am rotation, Tiger hasn't exactly destroyed
this tough layout -- yet.
"The first time Tiger played here he shot 72," said
Poppy Hills' Director of Golf Bob Higgins. "He followed
that with a 76 and then 69 his third try. Pebble
Beach and Spyglass
get most of the acclaim on the rotation, but Poppy and Spyglass
usually have the highest stroke averages for the tournament."
Poppy Hills replaced Cypress Point (tough act to follow!) in
the rotation in 1991 and has a contract that extends through
2002.
"It really makes a nice week for us,"
said Higgins. "Last year Jeff Sluman missed the green to
the left on the par-5 18th and the pin was on the lower right.
He chipped in for an eagle and with Bill Murray in the group
you can imagine it was a colorful scene. Murray and Scott Simpson
both ran up to Sluman, bowed down, and kissed him on the foot."
Poppy Hills will make most average golfers bow down. At 6,873
yards from the back tees, this par-72 Robert Trent Jones II
layout has many bunkers, tricky greens protected by water and
ravine drop-offs.
This is a tough, tough layout. It certainly isn't the length,
it's the trouble one faces on the approach. You can't afford
to go brain-dead. You may be in the middle of the fairway addressing
your second shot and you step back and say: "If this isn't
on the green I'm in trouble." Mr. Jones did provide bailout
targets, but these aren't exactly easy to hit if you are not
playing well.
"You must have a good short game,
no doubt," said Higgins. "This is not a low-scoring
course so we hear some negative things from the pros. Even when
Peter Jacobsen shot 65 we heard some criticism, but we figured
he had heard much of it from his playing partner Jack Lemmon.
Jack doesn't like it, I'm sure, because it is hard and he can't
play well here."
How tough is it? Mark Brooks double-bogeyed No. 1 and went on
to shoot 80. Tom Pernice Jr. 3-putted No. 17 and lost to Phil
Mickelson by a stoke in 1998, the year the tournament had to
be concluded in August because of El Niño. Fred Couples
double-bogeyed No. 12, a short dogleg when he hit is second
shot over the green out of bounds. Good shots? Roger Clemens,
the much-traveled Cy Young Award winning pitcher, had a hole-in-one
on 17.
On the first tee you will see a good example of the thinking
day you are about to embark on. There are red stakes and a ravine
to the right and trees left on this 413-yard par-4. It doglegs
right and the safe landing area looks tiny. Even if you hit
the prime location, the next shot must go over the ravine to
a pin placement on the right. The layup area left and short
of the green is also pretty small.
No. 2 presents a deep barranca to carry to this par-3, 174 yards.
It has two small separate greens, one elevated from the other.
The No. 1 handicap hole is No. 4, a 560-yard, par-5. Keep your
second shot in the right-center of the fairway, because this
bends to the left and the right side of the green is heavily
protected by traps. No. 5, a par-4, 426 yards, is narrow and
water guards the right side.
No. 9, the 557-yard par-5, has undergone a recent remodeling.
The new design moved the upper tees back 20 yards and eliminated
a center fairway bunker. The fairway was lowered, giving the
golfer a better view of the landing area from the tee. The second
shot landing area was also enlarged and leveled.
The backside has three par-3 holes and three par-5s. The finishing
hole, a par-5, 500 yards, bends left, then back to the right.
There is a huge Monterey pine guarding the right side along
with four bunkers. If the pin is far right, the bailout area
narrows considerably in front of the green.
 Poppy
Hills is the first golf course in the nation to be owned and
operated by an amateur golf association. The Northern California
Golf Association, which has been around since 1906, wanted to
provide a championship layout to its members at an affordable
fee. So Poppy Hills and Poppy Ridge, the 27-hole layout in Livermore,
have made its 170,000 members happy. They come and come. Poppy
Hills averages 59,000 rounds a year and Poppy Ridge totals 80,000.
The NCGA is a non-profit organization stretching from the Oregon
border into Central California and east into Nevada.
Poppy Hills Golf Course
3200 Lopez on 17-Mile Drive
Pebble Beach, 93953 |
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