Birthday Weekend in Monterey

After arriving in Napa we regrouped for a long weekend in Monterey to celebrate Jacob’s birthday.

Sunset evening landscape in Monterey

Golf was of course on the docket, with Jacob and I getting to play the recently renovated Pasatiempo, a bucket list Alister MacKenzie course for many folks.

Jacob playing up the fairway at Pasatiempo

We drove separately from the rest of the family to the Santa Cruz area for an afternoon round, about a 90 minute drive from Napa. After a breakfast bagel we arrived at the understated but still posh clubhouse. We took the shuttle to the driving range which runs parallel to the first hole but plays back up the hill towards the tee.

I commented to Jacob that this is probably the closest I’ll get to playing Augusta. The back nine was jaw dropping as it wound around the key terrain feature, a barranca that intersects or runs along just about every hole. The greens had been recently aerated and looked perfect but ran slow.

Exploring the touch tanks at Monterey Aquarium

Saturday was birthday and a day of family fun. We hit the aquarium when it opened, wandered cannery row, and had some tasty fish and seafood for lunch. Our rental house was right near where Monterey Peninsula CC and Spanish Bay meet, and less than a quarter mile from the ocean.

Beach walk

The wind blew up big time on Saturday and we felt it on our beach walk. Lots of tourists driving by as they began their 17 mile road adventure.

Jacob at Spanish Bay

On Sunday we played the Links at Spanish Bay, considered the lesser of the Pebble Beach properties. Our expectations were low after Pasatiempo but the course exceeded our expectations. Next spring they begin a major renovation so it will only get better.

In addition to the beautiful vistas we found a wide range of holes including some layup shorties, reachable par 5s (Jacob had an easy two putt birdie on the first hole), and fantastic green complexes.