A Day in Monterey

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to play one of the best public golf courses in the United States, Spyglass Hill, in Monterey California. Spyglass Hills gets it's name from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Treasure Island. Each hole is named for a character. Local legend maintains that Stevenson once wandered the Spyglass area gathering ideas for his novels. The first five holes line the ocean and are surrounded by grassy sand dunes. The other 13 are inland carved out of tall cypress trees.

I had a great time! The course was ridiculously hard with beautiful scenery and trouble everywhere you looked. Janelle came along as the photographer for the day. I was paired up with three other guys that where all on vacation. They where all very nice and fun guys to play with. We had a good time working our way through the course and talking golf and hockey. Two of the guys where from Toronto and where avid Leafs fans and the other was a former hockey player from Los Angeles.

I played fairly well, shooting 92. I had a few lose shots that cost me a couple strokes each, but I hit more good shots than bad. The day was capped by two birdies, each in spectacular form. The first, a 60 foot double breaking putt on the par five 11th hole. The second birdie was on the 18th hole. I hit the fairway with my three wood, then missed the green left with a six iron. I then hit one of the best bunker shots of my life! I splashed the ball out of the bunker, and landed it softly. It hit the flagstick and dropped. What a way to finish a memerable day!

Second shot on the par four 17th hole. Shot landed 20 feet away from the pin.

After I finished playing golf, we continued on the 17 Mile Drive around the Monterey Penninsula through the Del Monte Forest. Above is a picture of "the lone cypress" along the way to Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Janelle and I had a great day exploring the Monterey Bay area and playing one of America's most famous golf courses.

Check out the rest of our pictures on Flickr (link under "Additional Links"). There are over 200!