After joining the wives for a casual 18 at Pacific Grove Golf Course — the poor man’s Pebble Beach, we heard more than once (most of the back nine is on the ocean) — Dan and I took on Carmel Valley Ranch Resort. It was No. 2 in our rotation of fine golfing.
Carmel Valley Ranch, or CVR, as the bag tag refers to it, has two distinctly different nines. It’s tucked into a little valley, providing scenic backdrops at every turn. The front plays rather short and winds through a few houses and beautiful landscaping. There’s a fair bit of water and plenty of sand bunkering, which add to the challenge.
“It kind of lulls you to sleep,” the pro behind the counter said later.
It doesn’t prepare you for the back side.
“It’s like the architect (Pete Dye) did the front nine, then went to bed and had a nightmare and came back to do the back nine,” said one player.
To get to No. 10, you go uphill. Then you go some more. You play the winding, par-5 hole, then go uphill again, not stopping until you’ve reached what seems like the mountain’s peak. Then you step onto the tee apron of the par-4 11th. You wrestle with two things: Where in the world will the ball land way down there on the fairway, and why am I so dizzy. Rarely have I stood on a tee box and experienced a tinge of vertigo. It was a spectacular hole, and it turns out you can easily reach the fairway with a decent drive. You can reach the woods to the right with one that’s not so good, and that’s what I did on the way to a double bogey.
Dramatic elevation changes are part of the next three holes and really lend character to the track. The course doesn’t allow walkers, and the beverage cart leaves you at the end of nine and picks you up again at No. 15. It won’t tackle Nos. 10-14.
I shot a 79 on the par 70, the best round of the week for me and wholly unexpected. Sorry Watt.
Next up, Monterey Peninsula CC.
