From MacKenzie's untouchable Cypress Point and the public icon of Pebble Beach to the historic value of Del Monte, ranked with our verdicts and the access you need to know.
01
Cypress Point Club
Pebble Beach · Alister MacKenzie, 1928 · private
The connoisseur's choice and, for many good judges, the greatest golf course in the world. Alister MacKenzie's 1928 routing runs through dunes, cypress forest and out onto the rocks, building to the most famous one shot hole in golf, the par 3 sixteenth played across an inlet of the Pacific. The ground is sublime and the design flawless. The catch is access: Cypress Point is among the most exclusive private clubs anywhere, played only as a member's guest, which is the single reason it does not also top a list of courses you can play.
02
Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach · Neville and Grant, 1919 · resort
The greatest public course in America and the headline of any Monterey trip, laid out by amateurs Jack Neville and Douglas Grant in 1919 along the cliffs of Carmel Bay. The run from the seventh to the tenth, hard against the ocean, is the most photographed in golf, and the course has hosted six US Opens plus the annual AT&T Pro-Am. It is open to all, with the practical catch that an advance tee time effectively requires a stay at the resort. Expensive, busy and utterly worth it once.
03
Monterey Peninsula Country Club
Pebble Beach · Dunes and Shore · private
A thirty six hole private club often called the best of its kind in America. The Dunes course traces back to Seth Raynor and Charles Banks and has been sympathetically restored, while the Shore course runs out to the ocean with some of the finest closing holes on the peninsula. Quieter and more private than its famous neighbors, MPCC is pure, top tier golf without the crowds, played as a member's guest. The locals' pick when they want the best ground to themselves.
04
Spyglass Hill Golf Course
Pebble Beach · Robert Trent Jones Sr, 1966 · resort
The sternest test on the peninsula and a course many players rate a hair behind Pebble itself. Robert Trent Jones Senior opened it in 1966, and it plays in two distinct acts: the first five holes tumble through sand dunes toward the sea in the spirit of links golf, then the round turns inland and climbs into the towering pines of the Del Monte forest. Long, demanding and beautifully varied, Spyglass is a regular AT&T Pro-Am venue and a public course you can play with a resort stay.
05
The Links at Spanish Bay
Pebble Beach · RTJ Jr, Watson and Tatum, 1987 · resort
The peninsula's homage to Scottish links, opened in 1987 to a design by Robert Trent Jones Junior with Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum. Rolling, dune framed and exposed to the wind off the bay, it is the most overtly links style round in the area, finished off in the evening by a lone bagpiper. Softer and more resort polished than the championship trio, but a genuine pleasure and an easier ticket, played from the Inn at Spanish Bay as part of the Pebble Beach Resorts portfolio.
06
Poppy Hills Golf Course
Pebble Beach · Robert Trent Jones Jr, 1986 · public
The home course of the Northern California Golf Association, a Robert Trent Jones Junior design from 1986 that was stripped back and rebuilt in 2014 into a firmer, more strategic and more sustainable layout. Routed entirely through the Del Monte forest with no ocean holes, it rewards thoughtful golf and is far easier and cheaper to book than its coastal neighbors. The smart pick for a strong, scenic forest round without the resort premium.
07
Del Monte Golf Course
Monterey · Charles Maud, 1897 · public
The oldest course in continuous operation west of the Mississippi, opened in 1897 and now part of the Pebble Beach family. A short, classic, tree lined parkland in the town of Monterey itself, it asks for placement and a deft short game rather than length. It will never out muscle the famous five, but it is a charming, walkable round, by far the best value golf on the peninsula, and a lovely warm up the day before the main event.
