Pebble Beach Golf Links on the Monterey Peninsula
In advance of the 2010 U.S. Open June 17-20, the United States Golf Association, in consultation with Arnold Palmer, managing partner at the resort, renovated Pebble Beach Golf Links in hopes of creating a tougher test of golf.
The renovation brings to the golf course new tees, trees, bunkers and slopes. The fairways on the sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th, Pebble Beach Golf Links' most dramatic seaside holes, have been shifted toward the cliffs along the beach.
"Now the ocean has become very strategic," Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competitions, said. "It will make players really think and carefully choose their options. That's the way Pebble Beach used to be."
Since the last U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (in 2000), new tees have been added at holes No. 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11 and 13, stretching the layout roughly another 250 yards to 7,040 yards for the championship.
The new tees on the 505-yard, par-4 ninth and the 495-yard 10th will dictate the driver for most players on two holes traditionally among the toughest on the course. Visually, the most noticeable differences come at the par-5 sixth and the par-4 15th holes, where new bunker clusters along the left side pinch the fairway.
The new lines of play make the golf course more challenging, Phil Mickelson said during the 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
"It will be a very defensive course off the tee with so many fairways being cut in and brought over towards the water," Mickelson said. "No. 6 and 8 are good examples, No. 9, 10, 11 (too). These fairways now are so much tighter."
Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 1 green
Pebble Beach has been tweaked, massaged and molded into what the brass at the United States Golf Association hope is a tougher test of golf.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 2 green
The USGA's new emphasis on graduated rough - thicker rough further off the fairway - will add another element for players to consider at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 3 green
A view of the third green at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Traditionally, the small greens have been among the course's key defenses.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - cliffs
The fairways on Pebble Beach Golf Links' most dramatic seaside holes have been shifted toward the cliffs along the beach.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 4 green
Pebble Beach Golf Links' Poa annua greens will run 11 to 11 1/2 on the stimpmeter in the 2010 U.S. Open - the slowest in any major since 2000.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 5 green
The firm and fast conditions expected at Pebble Beach Golf Links for the 2010 U.S. Open could propel wayward drives to some unsettling lies or even out of bounds.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 18
If the USGA moves up the 18th tee box at some point, look for some longer hitters to go for the green of the par 5 in two.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 6 green
The fairway on the par-5 sixth hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links has been shifted toward the cliffs along the beach.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 7 green
The Pebble Beach Golf Links web site recommends playing it safe by knocking down a short iron and keeping the ball from ballooning in the wind on the par-3 seventh hole.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 8
Phil Mickelson said the new lines of play make the Pebble Beach Golf Links more challenging, citing the tighter fairways on holes 6, 8 (shown here) 9, 10 and 11.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 11 green
When playing Pebble Beach Golf links, take enough club on the uphill approach on No. 11. The green is fast from back to front.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 14 green
Newly shaved collection areas around the diabolical green of Pebble Beach Golf Links' par-5 14th hole dished out a trio of nines in the final round at the 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
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Pebble Beach Golf Links - hole 17 green
The weather at Pebble Beach Golf Links will go a long way toward determining the score of the 2010 U.S. Open champion.
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