Redesigned Poppy Hills Golf Course puts a fresh face on a Pebble Beach, California classic
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Poppy Hills Golf Course was originally built in 1986, it was the first course in the country to be owned and operated by an amateur golf association.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed the challenging layout, which served as host of the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am from 1991 to 2009. In 2013, spurred by the need to replace the course's irrigation system, Robert Trent Jones Golf Course Architects embarked on a major renovation project. Known for building environmentally responsible courses, the new design cuts water consumption by reducing the area of irrigated turf while at the same time lengthening the course from 6,857 yards to more than 7,000.
Due to the renovation, the course has lower power requirements and a smaller carbon footprint. Beyond the environmental improvements, the layout was also reinvented to incorporate new and different challenges. All of the rough was removed, and some of the doglegs were softened to blend more seamlessly into the natural contours of the landscape.
You'll now find natural sandy waste areas surrounded by the towering Monterey Pines of Pebble Beach's famed Del Monte Forest. All of the greens were redesigned and rebuilt, but the 11th is the only brand new hole. The new par 3 is situated between an intimidating Gowen Cypress to the right and a sloping hillside to the left.
-- Photos by Joann Dost, courtesy of Poppy Hills G.C.