Poppy Hills Golf Course

Infobox_Golf_Facility
golf_facility_name = Poppy Hills Golf Course


location = Pebble Beach, California
United States
establishment = 1986
type =
owner = Northern California Golf Association
operator = Northern California Golf Association
holes = 18
tournaments = AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
website = [http://www.poppyhillsgolf.com/ poppyhillsgolf.com]
course1 =
designer1 = Robert Trent Jones, Jr.
par1 = 72
length1 = 6,861 yards
rating1 = 74.6
record1 = Matt Gogel, 62
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record4 =The Poppy Hills Golf Course is a golf course in Pebble Beach, California, on the Monterey Peninsula just outside of Monterey, California. It was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and it opened in 1986. Along with the Pebble Beach Golf Links and the Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Poppy Hills co-hosts the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament, usually held in the month of February. It is the first course in the United States that is owned and operated by an amateur golf association, the Northern California Golf Association, which has its headquarters at Poppy Hills. Poppy Hills has been ranked among the best courses in Northern California and has been ranked in the top 20 in California by "Golf Digest".

The course

The course is a par 72 that is set among the many trees of the Del Monte Forest. The course is noted for its many dogleg holes as it bends through the forest. Many holes have elevated greens with undulating slopes to make putting difficult. Almost every hole has at least one bunker and several have ponds fronting the green. The second hole, a par three, actually has two greens, which allows for many pin positions. Another interesting fact is that the course has five par three holes and five par five holes. Most courses have only three (four at most) of those.

The course measures 6,861 or 6,833 yards from the back (blue) tees with a slope rating of 74.6/144 for men. From the middle (white) tees the course measures 6,254 or 6,237 yards with a slope rating of 71.5/138 for men and 76.3/141 for women (as a par 73). From the front (gold) trees the course measures 5,471; 5,403; or 5,396 yards with a slope rating of 72.1/131 for men and 71.6/131 for women. Spikeless or non-metal spike golf shoes are required to play at Poppy Hills.

Matt Gogel holds the course record of 62, which is ten under par.

Criticism

PGA Tour players have criticized the fact that Poppy Hills replaced the Cypress Point Club after that course did not immediately admit an African-American member to its private club, despite the asking of the Tour. Cypress Point is set on the Pacific Ocean and has been called one of the best golf courses in the entire world, not just Northern California. At Poppy Hills, players have complained about the number of dogleg holes and the course's poor drainage during the common winter rainstorms.

External links

* [http://www.poppyhillsgolf.com/pebblebeach/index.htm Poppy Hills Golf Course]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/05/SP197173.DTL Article about the criticism of Poppy Hills] from the San Francisco Chronicle
* [http://salinas.golfnation.org/course32/poppy-hills-golf-course Golf Nation: Overhead views of each hole]
* [http://www.hookedongolf.com/poppy_hills/virtual_tour.html Take a virtual tour of Poppy Hills]