Awesome! Yeah I was impressed when I got there, so needed to snap a few pics. Doesn’t look like your typical golf store with a basic fitting setup, this is the real deal.
I would say Spyglass is harder than Pasatiempo but Pasatiempo is a better course and one I would like to
play more and more.
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The two of them together vie for the best back nines in golf, at least of any courses I’ve played. Going to play Pasatiempo this Saturday for the third time and I’m on pins and needles. It’s so good.
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Spyglass is a LOT harder for me. I think if you hit the ball very high, then the ubiquitous front left and front right bunkers with an elevated green at Spyglass won’t be nearly as penal. But for a low ball hitter like myself, there’s just no place to land the ball. If I take enough club to carry the bunkers safely then I’ll end up over the green. So I basically played to the front of the green, in many cases purposely coming up short and trying to get up and down. And even then if you’re offline a bit, you’ll end up trying to do that from a bunker.
Pasa’s challenge is primarily in the greens. So the first time you play it, you’ll probably 3- and 4-putt a bunch of times. But once you’ve played it a bit, this becomes less of an issue. It makes repeat rounds lots of fun, at least for me. Each flag makes you think really hard about where you’d like your approach to end up, and it always tests your short game. I wouldn’t get any better at playing Spyglass no matter how much I played there – the design is simply too penal for my game.
So I totally agree with you that Pasa is by far the one I’d play repeatedly!
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Does this mean you prefer the back nine at Spyglass over the front nine? I’m definitely surprised by that notion. My favorite hole on the course is #4, and #1, 2 and 3 are all excellent as well, even if you ignore that they are the ones with ocean views. Not sure there are many holes on the back that are as good as these four, at least by my tastes!
I’m also curious why #4 hasn’t been replicated elsewhere. It’s a pretty simple idea and requires no special land really. Maybe other people think it’s too quirky or weird?
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I thought the first six holes were tremendous.
Hm. Do I prefer the back nine over the front nine? I mean … I do love the holes on the water and I think #4 is indeed the best hole on course (and certainly one I think of a lot). But 6 and 7 don’t really stand out so much for me, while 10-18 are just all great holes (and I’d love to hate on 15, the short par-3, except I got ejected so badly by it that it’s deviously tough). 16-18 are such a good, stout finishing stretch.
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Maybe it’s just me but the artificial ponds on spyglass are architectural atrocities. 1-4 is great but I’d rather play poppy hills than spyglass
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Do you remember when there was a pond short of green on #11?
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I think the back is underrated, and I don’t know if I’d go as far as I’d choose Poppy (cost being equal), but those first 4/5 holes are unreal 2 is ok). I really like 8&9 actually. I don’t really remember 7 and 6 is of course just tough uphill. If given a choice to play only one of the nines, I’d pick the front 11 out of 10 times.
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Hey everyone! I currently live in NYC but moving back home to the bay area in a few months and was wondering if there is a community to join? I’ve been pretty involved in the NYC chapter (https://www.racdgny.com/) and was wondering if there is something similar in the bay area? I’ll be moving to the east bay and heavily leaning towards joining TPC Stonebrae.
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You’ve come to the right place my friend. We have a very active RACDG chapter (RACDG NorCal). We do a few tournaments a year, have an IG page (@racdg_norcal) and WhatsApp chat group. One of our members and fellow Refugee @leric90 is a Stonebrae guy and I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions.
I’ll shoot ya a DM and get some info.
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Hi!
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I also would rather play Poppy, even at the same price. I find it much more interesting being able to run balls onto the green, and in some cases, it’s the best play. With the price difference, it’s a no-brainer for me.
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Hey west coasters - I’m going to be in town in about two weeks and was looking to play Pasatiempo some time around lunch on November 2. Would anyone be interested in joining?
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Hey Tuck. Won’t be able to make it, but I hope you get to play! An incredibly special place, obviously.
Also, Bay Area gang…we had a spot open up in our City Nines event on 10/30. DM @fullbodyfix
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Came here to post that I’d be traveling up to the Bay Area on 11/2 and wanted to play Pasa. I’d join if you could do a time around 1:30/2pm.
That’s an expensive round to be racing the sunset.
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Good point, 2pm is too late, I always want to hang onto the summer and my brain thinks the sun sets at 8pm.
Is pasa a 5+ hour round on a weekday afternoon? I figured 1:30pm gave me 5 hours of daylight
I think sunset is just after six. I couldn’t tell you the average, but five hours is not unheard of. I’m probably just always very attuned to it because my eyesight stinks and I hate finishing up nearing dark.
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