After much anticipation, I joined a group of artful golfers yesterday to play Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, CA - in an event hosted by The Shivas Irons Society. The event celebrated the Society's 16th anniversary, with "The Secret to Golf Revealed" by guest speaker, Fred Shoemaker. Having never played Pasatiempo, this historic Alister Mackenzie masterpiece became the 50th golf course added to my career course list. In case you were wondering, it's not my "artful 50th" birthday yet. That's still 5 months away.


Pasatiempo Golf Club - 13th Hole, by Rob Babcock

Pasatiempo, ranked #30 in "Golf Digest's 2008 America's Greatest Public Courses" and #55 in the "Top 100 Public and Private Courses in the U.S." by Golf Magazine, recently completed a 10-year, multi-million dollar restoration effort led by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina of Renaissance Golf. Doak's team overhauled Pasatiempo's 18 holes, relying on hundreds of old photographs and drawings to bring back original MacKenzie bunkering, green complexes and tees that had been lost for decades.

The course was incredible - seemingly short, but hard!

The event was a shotgun start and my foursome was assigned to start on the first hole, playing the middle tees (6125 yards, 70.5/136). I was grouped with Ron (a local retiree who had never played Pasatiempo even though he had a 2nd home in Santa Cruz), Todd (the story-telling owner of The Mackenzie Golf Bag Company in Portland), and Dave (surely the friendliest and most competent caddy at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, who was carrying his own Mackenzie golf bag).

We were among the few who decided to walk the course. I thought I was in for an easy walk since the greens and tees were situated close by. But, not only was it a particularly hot day out, I'm convinced that every hole went uphill! Anyway, after little sleep the night before followed by a 3-hour drive the morning of the event, I was zapped of energy early in the round. Fortunately a breeze helped cool things off later in the round.

Tired or not, I had no excuse for poor play since the round was preceded with Fred Shoemaker telling us all about "The Secret." According to Fred, the secret is that we already know how to make a perfect golf swing. We don't have to read books or hire experts to help us "find" our swing, we simply need to look inward to "discover" what's always been there. Fred shared experiences and stories to provide evidence that by simply being present and aware, that which lies hidden beneath our mental noise and emotional interference awaits our discovery - perhaps at Pasatiempo. I was thinking the course name might even provide a tip to untap this hidden ability - to simply take a "pasa" at the ball with good "tiempo."

Inspired by his talk, my round got off to a good start with solid drives on the 2 opening par 4's and an artful chip to within inches on the challenging long uphill par 3 3rd to save par. But I guess I failed to take a pass at the ball with good tempo with my drive on the 4th. A duck hook put me in long grass under a tree, where I stubbornly tried to reach the green with a punch shot that would have had to go under some branches, over a bunker, then stop quickly on the green. Instead, the ball lunged forward about 10 feet. My next shot didn't fare much better. I then tried to lob the ball over the bunker to a tight pin from a tight lie. I ended up in the bunker. I finally got on and 2-putted for a triple bogie! I think I rediscovered my mental noise and emotional interference.

I quickly let go of any thoughts of self-pity and returned to the present moment, taking in the beautiful setting and artful course design. I went on to play a pretty decent front nine, finishing 4-over, with help from a tap-in birdie on the short downhill par 3 8th.

But the challenging back nine proved tougher.

I failed to get up and down from just off the undulating green on 10, but then hit 2 solid 4-woods on 11, leaving a 6-footer for birdie - which I barely missed. Four consecutive bogies followed and put me 9-over after 15. I was particularly disappointed with my bogies on 13 and 15. On 13, a 280 yard drive left me an easy sand wedge in. Somehow, I ended up well over the green from 115 yards out. On the 120 yard par 3 15th, I choose to take an extra club due to a strong headwind. I hit an excellent 9-iron right at the pin, but landed on the back of the green and rolled into the rough, leaving me with a quick downhill chip.


Pasatiempo Golf Club - 16th Hole, by Rob Babcock

But it came together again on the infamous 16th. I hit a perfect 4-wood off the tee that drew a little left and rolled to the end of the fairway, leaving me 105 yards out. With the pin tucked up on the edge of the upper tier near the left side of the green, I took a little extra club. I'd heard horror stories about balls rolling back down to the front of the green. My shot landed 1 foot from the pin, but bounced well over the green, leaving me nearly out-of-bounds with a testy downhill pitch that could easily roll past the pin and down to the bottom of this severely sloped green. I visualized the shot, let go of any fear or tension, and relaxed my arms and grip. I opened my lob wedge way up, opened my stance, and took a perfect pass at the ball with good tempo. I barely landed the green and rolled downhill to just 4-feet past the pin, barely short of the point where the ball would have rolled over the edge to the lower tier. Making the comeback putt made for a welcome recovery.

I made another bogie on 17 from inside 100 yards after another good drive (where our entire foursome teed up alongside each other and hit our drives at the same time). But I finished with a par, finally choosing the correct club on the downhill 143 yard par 3 finishing hole. My pitching wedge and 2-putts got me in with an 80.

Although I'd like to replay a few holes, I did par each of the 3 hardest, made some remarkable shots, and thoroughly enjoyed my friendly foursome, the clear skies and awesome views of the Monterey Peninsula, the challenging Mackenzie design, and of course, learning "The Secret."

But part of uncovering "The Secret" is looking inward to determine "why" I hooked that drive on 4, "why" I didn't just accept that mistake and punch back out to the fairway, "why" didn't I sleep well the night before, and "why" did I consistently pick too much club on my approaches. The biggest reward from this day will come from finding these answers and learning from them. The answers won't just help my game, they'll tell me more about who I brought to the course that day and where I still need growth, in golf and life.

Following the round, the entire group met for cocktails and dinner and enjoyed discussing the course, their rounds, and their challenge to discover the secret and their perfect swings. I think it's safe to say that a few imperfect swings found their way into everyone's round!

To top things off, I found it particularly rewarding that on this day that I played my 50th career course, I found myself seated next to a participant - Larry Berle - who has played all of the Golf Digest Top 100 courses! During 10 years that spanned from 1992 to 2002, Larry found his way on to 117 top U.S. courses (the list of top 100 courses is a moving target over a 10 year span). Larry was introduced to the game by his wife Annie in 1990. She took him to Pebble Beach for his birthday in 1992, where on the 18th hole his caddy informally told him that "you are standing on the greatest finishing hole in golf!" This is where his dream to play the Golf Digest Top 100 was born. Larry has written a book - A Golfer's Dream - that tells the story of his inspiring quest and what he learned along the way. I'm planning on buying a copy!

It was a pleasure to play such a great course and to meet so many interesting golfers like Larry, Fred, Ron, Todd, Dave, and so many others. I highly recommend attending a The Shivas Irons Society event if you're interested in meeting some truly artful golfers. Thanks Steve and Jo for putting on such extraordinary events!

Labels: Alister Mackenzie, Books, Courses, Fred Shoemaker, Pasatiempo, Rounds, Shivas Irons Society

Ian Andrew, a Golf Course Architect residing in Ontario, Canada, just finished up a long exploration of design ideas, holes, strategic concepts, architects and architectural history at his blog about golf course architecture. The series ended with a countdown of his choices for the greatest architects of all time. Only two living architects make his list. I was particularly pleased with his top choice, Alister Mackenzie, the renowned designer of Cypress Point, Royal Melbourne, Augusta National, Pasatiempo, and remodelling work at Pebble Beach and St. Andrew's Old Course.


Alister MacKenzie's 15th at Cypress Point by rebjr

Alister MacKenzie was a doctor in Scotland before giving up his medical practice to become a golf course architect. The monumental change in direction came about when he suggested to the old men hanging around his office, "why don't you go out and play some golf." And although they had been complaining about an endless number of ailments, once they started playing golf, they never came back. With that, Dr. MacKenzie figured he could do more for the world by designing golf courses than by being a doctor.

Ian Andrew shares that, "MacKenzie could do it all. His work has so much variety from the strategies to the artistry that he almost defies description as an architect. His routings featured holes that very few would dare try, he almost seemed to revel in the oddest bits of land and there possibilities for holes. Every part of his designs pushed the envelope from the wildly contoured greens through to spectacular bold bunkering that framed his strategies. MacKenzie loved to present multiple options from hole routes to approach styles, leaving the player often to choose where they cam in from and what style of approach to hit. He generally presented the player with choices but occasionally pushed the player to hit one great dramatic shot too. Only a handful of architects have been able to create bunkers that blur the line between strategy and art and the greatest of all was Alister MacKenzie. He was able to combine artistic flair, with scale, a little intimidation, a tremendous amount of strategy and the greatest blending of grades around bunkers any architect has ever done to build the best bunkers the game has ever seen."


Alister MacKenzie's 2nd at Pasatiempo by rebjr

Although it's only a dream of mine to someday play Cypress Point Club or Augusta National Golf Club, I do have plans to play Pasatiempo Golf Club next month with the Shivas Irons Society!

After being inspired by Ian Andrew to play a Mackenzie course and by Hilton Tudhope to play more courses this summer and play golf in a place where there are like minds, I decided to sign up for the Pasatiempo event. And amazingly, Pasatiempo was Mackenzie's favorite layout and where he made his American home, which still borders the sixth fairway.

I can't wait to play my first course in the Monterey Bay area!

Labels: Alister Mackenzie, Courses, Ian Andrew, Pasatiempo, Shivas Irons Society