I'm going to play, and beat Pebble Beach
I am playing Pebble Beach on Monday. And I'm hardly smiling about it.
Oh, I'm thrilled beyond all belief. This will be a round of golf that I never thought I would be able to play, despite the fact that sportswriters often get these kinds of opportunities. I never considered I was "big time" enough, that our paper was too small, and for sure taking $500 out of my pocket for 4 hours of hitting a white ball around just would not fly well with the old lady. Hell, that doesn't fly well with me.
Playing Pebble will be an experience I'm going to cherish and tell anyone who's willing to hear me blab on about hacking up a beautiful track. But that's exactly why I'm all business in the days and weeks leading up to our round.
I don't want to just play Pebble. I want to beat Pebble. Well, relatively speaking, of course.
Like in 2008 when I went down to Torrey Pines to cover the U.S. Open, I will be going down to Monterey to cover the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. On Monday, the Open is hosting a media day where only the best and brightest (or the hardly qualified media degenerates who use any means to get free golf) get to interview last year's winner, Lucas Glover, eat lunch and then play golf.
And play is not at all what I intend to do.
Full disclosure: I'm an 18 handicap whose best round was an 84 I shot at Eureka Muni last year while binging on golf all summer. That was a good day.
On Monday, I just want a better-than-average day. Specifically, I want to break 100, hopefully be somewhere in the low-90s. Breaking 90 is a pipe dream, but I won't put it out of the realm of possibility.
My brother, who I'm taking and will serve as our freelance photographer, thinks there is no way I can get my score into double-digits. Particularly because my 4- and 5-irons are more likely to hit the lotto than a good shot and I putt like a 4-year old with double vision — short, long, left, right, never with great touch.
But I'm gonna do it.
Nevermind that the course will be in near-U.S. Open conditions with the rough an average of 2 3/4-inches high and fairways averaging 27 yards wide, down from about 43 yards. Oh, and the hellishly small greens at Pebble will be running between 11 and 11.5 on the stimpmeter, the slowest of any major since 2000, but much, much faster than any greens you're likely to play on any time soon. Even Bandon Dunes, the world-class golf facility that it is, usually runs around a 9.
That doesn't worry me as much as the nerves that this triple-bogey-and-more-prone hack of a golfer is going to have playing on what many consider the world's best course. The first tee shot is directly in front of the club house, and I hear that there are usually a half-dozen groups waiting behind the tee box, watching the groups before them tee it up.
Knowing I'd be nervous as all get-out for this shot, I decided to be pre-emptive in attacking Pebble. I wanted to get familiar with that feeling of everyone watching my shot, so this past weekend I played in the Cher-Ae Height 4-man scramble at Beau Pre Golf Club in McKinleyville.
No one's going to mistake Beau Pre for Pebble anytime soon, but it was a great two-day tournament and the experience I gained playing as seven or more pairs of eyes watched me tee it up hopefully will pay off. By Day Two of the tournament I didn't mind, I even relished the chance I got to hit in front of others. Hopefully it will carry on to Monday.
This week I've been to the range every day, hitting a few buckets chipping around the greens and blasting bunker shots before taking to full shots. I'm You Tubing putting videos (finding the "fall line" is the newest tip I've come across") and trying to apply it. Hopefully I'll get another chance to play this week before I head out.
I plan to get to the resort early in the morning so I can get a chance to experience Pebble's practice facilities and maybe even prepare for that infamous rough that will no doubt swallow a few of my balls. I'll putt until my journalistic duties carry me off the course.
Maybe I'm taking this way too seriously, but I'm envisioning a day (hopefully it comes on Monday) where I no longer tell people that I three-putted and duffed my way to a triple-digit score on a beautiful course.
I want to break 100 at Pebble Beach. In U.S. Open conditions.
Either way, though, when I talk about my round, I'm going to smile about it.