Pasatiempo. She remains the club’s touring professional and will once again captain
the USA’s Solheim Cup side in 2016. That should solidify Pasatiempo’s design pedigree
and challenge!
There’s a similar feel to Rustic Canyon’s back nine (less flat, more along the canyon
walls) and the entirety of Pasatiempo. You’ll seldom have a flat lie as you traverse its
eighteen holes, but you’ll rarely have an extreme one. Along the way, wind your way
among eucalyptus and cypress trees and cross the occasional barranca. Well, more
than occasional, as the barrancas are a unique and critical element to Pasatiempo.
And you’ll come to understand the genius of Mackenzie, whose military experience
with camouflage instilled in him a vision for deception unlike any other golf course
architect in history.
At Pasatiempo, you’ll soon familiarize yourself with the term “half-par hole.”
Essentially, it’s a hole that plays a bit easier or a bit tougher than its par. A short
five has the golfer drooling over a possible birdie, while a long three threatens the
scorecard with bogie or worse. The first hole used to play as a short par five, until it
was converted recently into a long four. No changes from tee to green, so what you
now face is a 440 to 460 yard, down-then-up, two shot hole to a green that will receive
a short to mid-iron shot, as long as it’s a good one! The third hole, a daunting, uphill
par three, is girdled by sizeable bunkers and another tucked green.
Alister Mackenzie was a strategic designer and he left spots below and to the sides of
his bunkers, for players to lay up. If they were deft with their pitching clubs, they could
avoid the barrancas and other hazards and walk to the next tee with a one-putt par.
He allowed the powerful and the astute golfers the opportunity to find success, side
by side.
Remember the 10th-hole bunker from Augusta National? It’s the soel original
Mackenzie bunker left on the golf course. It used to sit adjacent to the green, until
the putting surface was moved back to lengthen the hole. It’s the type of enormous
bunker you’ll find again and again at Pasatiempo. Plenty of grass remains around the
sandy hazards, so don’t let your eyes and aim be seduced into finding them.
Santa Barbara and Sandpiper
It’s important to know your Bells when it comes to California golf. William P. Bell and
his son, William F. Bell, are responsible for nearly 100 golf courses in the western USA,
many of them located in the Golden State. The elder Bell is recognized for his work at
Stanford University’s course in Palo Alto, Balboa Park in San Diego, and many others.
The younger Bell was the architect of the Sandpiper course in Santa Barbara, located
on a piece of land that wouldn’t have been available to his father.
From 1938 to 1965, the land on which Sandpiper now sits (along with offshore
property) was an oil refinery. Seven years after production officially ended, the
property was purchased and a golf course was developed. And imagine the thrill that
Bell the younger experienced when he saw the land. Elevated cliffs above the Pacific
Crossings GC
Volume 3 • Issue 33
61