More travelogue
Still pretty clear and bright today, so I did the next item on the ‘don’t waste the ideal weather’ list and walked the golf course at Pebble Beach. It must be a closely-guarded secret that one can do this, because walkers are there in the single digits rather than the thousands. (But then there weren’t all that many people at Point Lobos, either. Carmel is always packed to the rafters while Point Lobos is blissfully underpopulated. Funny.) I encountered a guy on my dawn walk this morning, who stopped to greet the dog who was with me; the guy asked if where we were was the Pebble Beach course and I said no, it’s at the far end of 17 Mile Drive. We chatted dog for a bit and then parted, and as an afterthought I called after him, ‘You should walk the Pebble Beach course if you have time, it’s spectacular.’ He was all astonishment. ‘They let you do that?’ he said. They do. They don’t put out big signs saying YOU CAN WALK HERE but they definitely let you. ‘If I had my dog could I take him there?’ he asked. Yes. It’s funny, you’d think it would be all exclusive and get offy, but it isn’t. It costs the earth to play the course, but nothing to walk it. I’d much rather walk it!
So I did, and spectacular it was. It’s laid out on bluffs that overlook the ocean and Carmel Bay and the hills behind it. It’s an excellent walk on a very clear day in December.
What a splendid idea, OB: walk Pebble Beach!
But how does one do it? Simply go up to the starter at the course and tell them you’d like to walk? Obviously you couldn’t be directly on the fairways or else there’d be conflict with golfers. So you must be off and parallel to it?
Please tell more. Thx.
You just go, David. It helps to know ahead of time that you can! Which is probably why there aren’t thousands of people doing it. You can even be on the fairways if they’re empty, though of course I err on the side of caution and stick to the paved paths – but I will cut across a corner or walk along an edge if there are no golfers for miles. You have to give golfers precedence of course, and be careful not to risk distracting them when they’re about to drive – and that’s all there is to it.
Yesterday I stopped because a couple of guys were just about to drive and if I’d kept walking I would have gotten into their line of sight. It was awkward and amusing because they both made a mess of it – hit the ball about 20 feet. I walked on when they’d finished but then I got to their golf cart just as they did; I was trying to pretend I hadn’t seen a thing but they joked about it so we all had a good laugh. Golf etiquette.
Anyway – you don”t need to tell anybody you’re doing it. Keep an eye out and you’ll see other people doing the same: walking dogs, showing friends around, all but having picnics. It’s private property but public – perhaps an interesting theoretical question for you. There is one highly private course on the peninsula, and it’s plastered with rude hostile signs that are visible from the road (17 Mile Drive). All the others are open.
It’s probably even easier at Pebble, because it’s such a big resort and tourist destination. There are places where óne could just wander onto the course by accident – right next to the Beach Club for instance, and the parking lot next to the tennis courts. I’m sure lots of people stroll around a bit and then suddenly realize they’re out on the course.
Mind you, I’m sure all this doesn’t apply during the US Open!
:- )
Hush, OB, telling people about Point Lobos!