Del Monte Golf Course

Del Monte Golf Course is definitely the “runt of the litter” when it comes to golf at Pebble Beach. Even though it’s officially a “Pebble Beach Company” golf course, I’m not sure it even makes the “must play list” when staying at Pebble for your bucket list golf trip. For sure- if you are playing only 3 rounds it’s not the third round to be played. After Pebble and Spyglass the plan of attack would be to play Poppy Hills, Spanish Bay, Black Horse or even Pacific Grove before you play Del Monte. Another approach would be to have your round number 3 be at Pasatiempo on your way from the Bay Area to the Monterey Peninsula. 

That said, we do owe a lot to the course formerly known as “Old Del Monte”. It’s the oldest golf course in continuous operation west of the Mississippi river, and frankly being the first course in the Pebble area it can be credited for starting one hell of a kingdom for amazing golf trips. Pebble Beach, and the overall Monterey peninsula, is second to none for destination golf. When the Del Monte Hotel opened in 1880 it catered to tourists who took a train down from the Bay Area, and Old Del Monte was the hit golf course when its original 9 hole layout debuted in 1897 (it was expanded to the current 18 hole layout in 1902.)

Old Del Monte Golf Course is a challenging championship golf course with a long history. It became the top venue for competitions on the West Coast in the early 1900’s. It hosted many events, including the Del Monte Cup, the Pacific Coast Open and the 1916 Western Amateur Championship. 

The course itself is a standard old parkland golf course in the Del Monte forest in very good condition. The Del Monte forest is made up of Monterey pine trees, and many have moss that adds to the magical ambiance. It plays longer than its yardage due to very generous rough and perennial wet conditions. Seriously, I think there’s a 2 week window in September where the course might be dry as the marine layer comes in and goes out almost every day which means there will be fog, wet conditions and potentially even some wind. 

The greens are small and very tough. Similar to Pebble they were built at a time when the defense of a parkland golf course beyond the trees were the small greens. Now they keep them so fast that a 3 putt is not guaranteed. Don’t expect much in terms of having your club cleaned at the end of the round or the customary blowing of the shoes you get at the other Pebble golf courses. Even a “Pebble Beach” golf bag tag is hit or miss. 

Should you have a round in the Del Monte forest on your bucket list golf trip there are just better choices that have popped up in the last 120 years… All of that said, if you live in the bay area, you really should go play this golf course. It’s an interesting piece of history, just not one that should take up a precious spot on a destination golf trip.  Also, you can often get great deals on it. Consider doing the Dukes Club membership. The deals on Del Monte can be insane, but you also get discounts at Spyglass and Spanish Bay.

Best Buddies Golf Trip Rankings:

• Bucket list rank (from 1 to 5 buckets): 2 buckets (mostly because of the history)
• Caddies: n/a
• Location: 8- the del monte forest is beautiful. 
• Spectacle/ visual: 8
• History: 9
• New/ancient: Early 20th century parkland course
• Playability :6
• Memorability : 5
• Buddy-a-bility : 7
• Service/etc: 5
• Value: 5
• Shopping: 8
• Warm up facilities/Range: 3 No driving range near the course. Too far away from Pebble to use that facility. Nice practice greens though…
• Food & Drink: 4