Best Golfing Holiday ever

I have just come back from the best golfing holiday ever. We started off with a touristy non-golfing week in San Francisco but this was a bit golfy as we had a tip off about a new golfing superstore which had opened about half an hour south of the city. It was called the PGA Tour Superstore and the ladies clothes section was larger than any American Golf store I have been in. The men's section was just enormous and they had every type of club, ball, glove, shoe - anything at all and it was there. They even had about 10 separate booths, each with simulators and trackman to try out clubs. If you are ever in the States I would google this chain to see if there is one near you.

The next phase of our trip was still based in SF but we had 3 invitations to courses 1) Claremont Country Club - this is very much a resort type course, you need an invitation to play but it is a great (if a little short) course and the facilities are amazing. 2) Green Hills Country Club - this is right next door to the airport and is quite a short course which has it's greens as it's defence. They were just ridiculous. So fast and slopey and pins in tricky positions. I'm not sure but I think you can book tee times here without an invitation. 3) Meadow Club - this is in the hills north of SF and is fantastic. If it wasn't for a couple of obvious ones later this would have been my favourite course. It is invitation only but if you can get on it is worth it. A proper Alister Mackenzie course. A test for the good golfer but still enjoyable for my level.

We then moved onto the Santa Cruz region (about an hour south of SF) and played:

4) Pasatiempo - Similar to Green Hills. very very very tricky greens. You really have to have the game to place the ball in the right place otherwise you will rack up a cricket score - guess what I did! 5) San Juan Oaks - what a relief - this is about an hour away from Santa Cruz and is a much easier course than all those played so far. We played off the forward red tees but I think this was way too short. If you are in America and can play golf to a reasonable level (I am a 23 handicapper) then don't go off the forward tees on most courses - they will be too short. In this instance it was such a relief to play something easy I really enjoyed it!

The final stage was down to Carmel/Monterey area to play the three serious courses we had all really come out for: 6) Cypress Point - yes - pinch me now but I was incredibly lucky to get an invite to play this course. It is everything everyone always talks about. It is long and tough but yet very enjoyable for the higher handicapper. I even managed a couple of pars including on the lovely 14th hole par 3 where you hit it across the ocean. It was my best golfing experience ever and cannot believe it will ever be beaten. Every single hole is unique and memorable. A fantastic experience 7) Spyglass - a disappointment. The course was in poor condition, nothing really memorable and just not that enjoyable. I guess it was always going to suffer as we had played CP the day before but even my husband thought it was a bit rubbish and he played great golf that day. 8) Pebble Beach - what can I say. I thought CP would be miles ahead of anything else but actually PB came a lot close than I expected. What an amazing place to play golf. The holes are so familiar after watching it on TV that feel you are playing on telly. I got a birdie on the 4th hole and I will never forget that. My husband played 1 under gross on the front nine and is now considering turning pro .

Sounds amazing!

Sounds great Judy. My son looked into the pro shop at Pebble back in August when touring over there. He brought me back a bottle of sunscreen. It was the only thing he said he could afford in the shop. lol. You were really priviliged to get to play there!