The Links at Spanish Bay

The verdict

The Links at Spanish Bay is the Scottish accented sibling of the Monterey Peninsula's famous coast, opened in 1987 to a design by Robert Trent Jones Jr. with the links loving pros Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum. Built on a restored dune field between the pines and the Pacific, it set out to bring the feel of Scotland to California, fescue turf, low running golf and a bagpiper who plays the sun down behind the 18th green every evening, a tradition kept since the day the resort opened.

It is the most divisive of the Pebble Beach Resorts courses, loved for its atmosphere and its setting and argued over for its quirks, but a tee time here has always come with the bagpipes, the ocean and a genuine attempt at links golf an ocean away from the real thing. As of 2026 it is also a course in transition: Pebble Beach Company has closed it for a complete redesign by Gil Hanse, so the Spanish Bay you book next will be a new course on the same storied ground.

The holes worth the trip

In its 1987 form, Spanish Bay played as a true seaside links for its opening stretch, the fescue running fast in the wind off Monterey Bay, before climbing into the Del Monte forest and back out again. The routing moved between dunes, wetlands and pines, and the wind was always the defining hazard, turning short par 4s tricky and making the par 3s a test of flight and trajectory.

The finish is the signature: the 18th runs back toward The Inn at Spanish Bay, and at dusk a lone bagpiper walks the course playing the day out, a piece of theater unique in American golf. Tom Watson's line that the place was so like Scotland you could almost hear the bagpipes gave the tradition its name, and it remains the lasting memory most visitors take from a round here.

The Gil Hanse redesign, announced for completion ahead of a 2027 reopening, lengthens the course to about 7,115 yards at par 71 and reroutes it to lean harder into the linksland character the original chased. Until it reopens, the holes above are the course as it stood, and the new layout will be its own story to tell.

Where to stay nearby

The natural base is The Inn at Spanish Bay, the Pebble Beach Resorts hotel set right beside the links, where the bagpiper finishes his evening walk on the lawn. Staying on resort is also what secures tee times across the Pebble Beach courses, so most golfers book the room and the golf together.

From Spanish Bay the rest of the Monterey Peninsula is on the doorstep, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill and the wider coast, making it an ideal anchor for a multi course California golf trip built around the 2027 reopening.