The USGA takes the U.S. Open to our country’s finest courses:
Shinnecock Hills, Merion, Oakmont.
But Pebble Beach,
set in the midst of California’s 5,300-acre Del
Monte Forest on Monterey Bay, radiates a uniquely indefinable
energy that puts it in a class by itself. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this rugged, well-worn marine beauty is a
miracle to behold, and presents a perplexing physical and mental challenge to
any round there, Open or not. Pebble Beach is the ultimate producer of sweaty
palms, tummy butterflies and irregular heartbeats, as it constantly bombards
players with unparalleled tests of shotmaking.
The three wise men originally responsible for making
Pebble Beach the all-world course and resort it is were
Samuel Finley Brown Morse and two California golf champions, Jack Neville and
Douglas Grant.
Morse, a distant relative of the inventor of the telegraph,
fell in love with the Monterey Peninsula the first time he visited. As he
got to know the land more thoroughly, he was determined to make it his own. He
presented the Board of the Pacific Improvement Company a proposal to buy the
hotel and much of the Carmel Valley, and they agreed. By 1919 Morse had
arranged for the financial backing of his dream, and Del Monte Properties was
formed, the beginning of his own conglomerate.
Morse always had a plan for his beloved Del Monte Forest, and
golf was to be the cornerstone of his land empire. He came by his vision of
golf-as-savior because of its profit potential rather than from any overriding
personal passion for the game. In fact, he didn’t even begin to play golf for
another 20 years.
His original idea for Pebble Beach was to sell lots right along the
coast, where the golf course is today, and to build the new course further back
in the forest. Fortunately Morse changed his mind and began to see the value of
putting the course along the waterfront. Once the location of the course was
determined, Morse began buying back the oceanfront lots he had already sold.
The course opened unofficially in 1918 with a tournament,
which was not well received. Players complained of little or no turf on the
fairways, rocks everywhere and greens with just a few too many hoof indentations
from the sheep thatwere employed to mow the course.
After much work to improve the playing conditions, Pebble Beach officially opened on February 22,
1919, and hosted the 1929 U.S. Amateur. It’s quite possible that only Harrison
R. “Jimmy” Johnston’s relatives remember that he was the man who won the 1929
U.S. Amateur. That’s because the real news at Pebble Beach that first week of September was
what happened in the first round to the defending champion, Bobby Jones, who
lost his first match, to Johnny Goodman.
One of the most enthusiastic spectators of the 1929 Amateur
was the reigning Women’s Amateur champion, Glenna Collett. Writing in the
tournament program, she eloquently summarized the Pebble Beach
experience: “From the minute my dream was realized and I set eyes on the
Monterey
Peninsula, I knew there
could not be another place as beautifully magnificent as this. ... To sit and
gaze out over the quiet brilliant waters and hills and reflect on the wonders of
nature—that’s life! Playing rounds here brings with it the realization of what
golf is doing for this country and what an inspiring game it is. We are no
longer human beings when we are out there—we are treading on air with our heads
in the clouds.”
