Played Nicklaus Club / Pasadera Country Club. About every three years this place changes it’s name when new owners take over. Memberships and conditions had been down a few years ago but both are o... Continue »

Played Nicklaus Club / Pasadera Country Club. About every three years this place changes it’s name when new owners take over. Memberships and conditions had been down a few years ago but both are on the rise lately. The facility is top notch with a pro shop, spacious locker room, indoor (closed due to covid) and outdoor dining areas. There is also a small 4 lane lap pool and some bocce ball courts on site.

Staff is very friendly but… Since they can’t actually touch anything (load bags etc) they tend to be out of sight and out of mind. Checking in at the gate and pro shop was simple – just provide our names and off we went.

First tee was a disaster. It was a busy Friday (late morning tee time) and there was no starter to organize the groups. There were 3-4 groups of us at the tee box initially ready to tee off. Luckily we just all figured it out based on group sizes and playing abilities (one of the members had his young kid with him and opted to go off last).

Some of the signage is obscure so knowing where the next tee box is at or if you are actually on the correct tee box can be a bit confusing as well. Especially since the course crisscrosses in a few places on the front nine.

Now for the highlights. Course is a blast to play as it is built on the side of a hill so there’s a TON of elevation changes. Yardage doesn’t mean a whole lot on the scorecard as there are a number of holes that are UP HILL with Elevated greens. Of course there are also some super fun downhill holes as well.

Pasadera has some great par 3’s with some forced carries over water and then the “signature” par 3 14th over the canyon.

Condition wise, the course was just a tad under what you would expect from a Monterey private course. Greens were still healing from recent aeration so there were some bumps here and there. No big deal on that. Greens are fairly tame but have some tricky subtle breaks in them. I had the speed dialed in from the get go but constantly got fooled on the break.

Fairways were a mixed bag. Overall they were rated in the 8 category. Some fairways were in the 9+ range being perfectly lush and deep emerald green. Other fairways were a little brown and tighter lies. All were very playable. Rough was thin and patchy in numerous areas.

The skirt area round the greens were in excellent condition and rated at a 9.5-10. If you missed the green you had a great opportunity to chip it close. Bunkers were decent. Nothing spectacular but easily playable.

Tee boxes are small in size as in very small. Tee boxes had been aerated and sanded lately and will no doubt be super lush in a couple of weeks. A couple of the tee boxes did have some unevenness to them.

COVID – No bag assistance, optional single or double occupancy carts. No rakes in the bunkers, Cups had plastic rings in them about halfway down, masks required indoors, no beverage cart out, practice green open no flags. Range open and grass. Range maxes out at 240-250 yards.

Not the best of the bunch, but Pasadera holds in own with the abundance of great private and public courses in the Monterey Peninsula.