Pasatiempo

Posted by Michael on 18 May 2010 | 1 Comments | Tags: Mackenzie, Robert Kaufman, California, wow

Dr Alistair MacKenzie, the great golf course architect was a bit of a lad. He grew old drinking his scotch in a place one hour south of San Francisco called Pasatiempo.  Mac had a great fondness for this course as it was one of his finest designs and after our round there today I can see why he could never grow tired of playing here and living in this peaceful setting. 

The serenity was contrasted today, not with our van �??Dodgy�?? but with our attire. In particular, our golfing pants which we have been hooked up with from a new supporter of puregolf2010 �?? a company called loudmouth golf.  They have other upstanding persons promoting their kit such as John Daly, Michael Hill (Jeweller) and the Norweigen curling team.  So clearly we fit the mould...  What am I saying, these pants have no mould, they are unique and Loud!  If you want to make a statement on the golf course check them out.  Even better they fit like a glove (well at least the one pair I could find in my tiny waist size do). 

Jamie started with a bang today. A big bang.  Into the trees initially, but a smart play to pitch out and he was standing over a sand wedge for his third into the par four first hole.  �??Shot mate�?�, I said as I saw it sail up only to lose sight of the pill as it landed on the slightly elevated green.  We walked up and his ball was nowhere to be found �?? except for the hole! The longest shot ever to be drained by JD Patton. Awesome stuff and one way to make birdie on the first hole!

Jamie paired up the four-ball today with a chap named Andrew Guillen. Andrew is a friend of Robert Kaufman and is from our part of the world. In fact, meeting Andrew at Pasatiempo GC proves how small the world really is �?? he is an uncle of a friend of ours who we went through school with in Christchurch �?? Sacha Van Beek (who incidentally is a Top Notch jazz singer these days, and her grandfather and Andrew�??s dad Sam is a champion cricketer who played for both NZ and the West Indies).  So Jamie and Andrew took on myself and Robert and needless to say that after JP�??s heroics on the first RK and I were one down.

Two down on the third tee, after watching our man Andrew (off a 12 handicap) make a solid tap in par tap after hitting it to 15 feet on a 420 yard par four�?�. The third hole (below with Andrew) was brutal. 235 yards, uphill bunkers everywhere. MacKenzie style bunkers.  Two in your face which don�??t come into play unless you skank it along the ground but they definitely have a huge visual effect on the hole.  The green was a long sloping beast, and the greens here are quick (although not as quick as some days as we were told by a member and puregolf2010 blog reader whom we met at the beginning of the round who goes by the name of Rob Babcock and publishes a �??where-to-golf-in-the-UK guide�??).  This hole was so gnarly and the slope around the hole so penal, that I won the hole with a 4. This proved to be one of 8 fours that I made on the front 9 (which looks good but isn�??t so flash when there are three par 3�??s on the nine, and the 9^th score on the card is a double bogey 6).

I�??m going to skip over most of the front nine, not because it wasn�??t tremendous �?? indeed it had some quality holes such as the signature 6^th where MacKenzie lived and a par five which looks like you should take 6 iron off the tee, but we all managed to hit the fairway with driver.  The narrow fairway is unique for this course as most of the fairways are very wide and true to MacKenzie form this golf course is a game of angles and hitting it down the side of the fairway that best opens up the green. But the 6^th is narrow and has OOB rolling down the left �?? something Jamie learnt after some intense sledging from Robert and Andrew caused him to duck hook his 2 iron into the great mans fence where it duly popped back out onto the path for a free drop. Jamie and Andrew were Red Hot through the front nine and combined to make three birdies in the first five holes but a couple of fours on the very reachable par fives (6 and 9) helped Robert and I to only be two down at the turn.

Which quickly turned into four down and despite a courageous comeback the match ended on the 17^th green with a comprehensive 2 and 1 victory.  The story, however of Pasatiempo really begins on the back nine, non-golf fans skip over this section, but for the purist here�??s how it goes: 

10: The tee shot is over a canyon and then the fairway slopes severely down and to the left. From the top of the hill (unless you really bomb driver) the approach drops in elevation to a green which slopes from back to front and from the bunker long you�??re dead to a back pin placement, unless you can roll in a 20 footer to save par like JP.

11: An ultimate two shot hole. Only 400 yards but stroke 5 on the card. Sting it down the neck of the fairway on the right �?? a draw will end up in the hazard, right is OOB. But you can hit it 280 yards before you run out of room and from there it�??s just a 9 iron or so. The green is guarded by bunkers and crazy swales - and today the pin was on the top of the severe false front. Both Andrew and Jamie had 20 foot putts from above the whole which upon rolling past the hole, just, then rolled 20 metres off the green and down the fairway. I hit it to 2 feet for the only uphill putt on the green and made birdie.

12: Where I got �??MacKenzied�?�. Wide fairway. Short hole. 2 iron and then wedge. Sure.. The slopes on the green were truly baffling �?? somehow despite the green facing into you, it actually slopes away from the front of the green?  I sure didn�??t see it for my putt which I thought was dead but ended 10 feet past. Jamie and Andrew were both spooked and missed their easy birdie putts. Fortunately none of us went down the left side of the fairway which would have made the approach very difficult. 

13: A par five which if you hug the left side is reachable it in two. Of course there are bunkers on the left so you don�??t feel inclined to do this. Around the green �?? well there is sand. Check it.

14: A hole that I couldn't take enough photographs of. It's not the signature hole, but it has an awesome trench running down the left side of the fairway which gives it a unique character. The trench is still part of the fairway, but it is definitely an advantage to hit your drive onto the flat part to the right (of course there is OOB just to the right of the fairway). Easy par, difficult birdie some would say of this hole. The green slopes away and to the right, of course the opposite way from the fairway (there is a name for this feature?). Classical par four.

15: Gorgeous wee par three which is set amongst the trees with amazing bunkering short, right and long. There is a gully with a hazard short if you really chunk it. The pin was right on the edge of a slope. I lagged a 20 footer for birdie, twice, for my four. Anything past the hole and the ball rolled 30 feet away. 

16: This is the signature hole. A blind tee shot over a hill which bounds your ball left towards rough and a hazard. We all took a wild guess and smoked it down there somewhere ignoring the pro's advice to lay back a bit. The approach - wow. Well it needs a picture so when you read this, make sure to come back to this blog post for the visual aids. The green is elevated and slopes at you and is massive. It is like a giant dart board that you have to ping it at from the elevated approach back on the fairway. There is a ravene short and right and ginormous bunkers on the right and left. It looks like the ball cannot stop on the green, but there are three or four tiers that they could probably put the pin on. Today it was middle left on a small hollow that wouldn't have been larger than a Coolamon green (20 feet across tops). Jamie and Andrew both were wizards to leave their chips from the top tier within 6 feet.

17: An innocuous par four that spat a few of us out. Mentally exhausted from thinking my way around this course and you can't stop for a breath on this straight away par four 17th. Short left for two the green actually has the most revolting slope from left to right. Doesn't look like it mind you. Three of us putted from about 10 feet.

18: Pasatiempo finishes with a par three. A spectacular par three down hill to a green that slopes crazy loudmouth styles from back to front, and of course has MacKenzie bunkers everywhere (and a giant ravene) to make it just that little bit more inviting. No place to chill out at the end of your round - as the entire back nine is..

JP and I were going along OK but the last few holes really nailed us as we started to get beaten by the greens. Final scores were M:78, J:82. We finished the day with a drink or two in the bar and then were given some home cooked biscuits by Andrew - what a chief champ boss captain skipper. Just what you need after 5 months on the road.

Thanks to Pasatiempo and Robert and Andrew and LOUDMOUTH golf for making this all possible!