And the run begins… Over the course of the next four weeks, I have a string of great courses coming up. Starting it out was Tehama Golf Club in the Monterey Peninsula. Tehama is a high end private... Continue »

And the run begins… Over the course of the next four weeks, I have a string of great courses coming up. Starting it out was Tehama Golf Club in the Monterey Peninsula. Tehama is a high end private course owned by Clint Eastwood. It sits 1200’ on top of the mountain range between Carmel Valley Road (Quail Lodge, Carmel Valley Ranch) & Hwy 68 (Laguna Seca Golf Ranch, Nicklaus Club).

I played on Tuesday 5/29 and the weather was perfect.

Driving up to the facility you immediately know you’re in for a treat when you feel the need to take a picture of the parking lot! Parking is underground on polished tiles for the cars. We handed the car keys to an attendant and he loaded our bags and stuff into a cart while we strolled up to the pro shop.

Check in is simple as there are no reserved tee times. However, there was some mix up regarding our forecaddie which does have to be reserved for a specific time. Due to the mix up we didn’t have a forecaddie for the day.

The pro shop is fairly modest with a small sampling of soft goods (shirts & hats mainly) and a few golf clubs on display for “resale”. A quick stop in the locker room which was staffed with an attendant and naturally included all of the accouchements you would expect of a place of this quality (mouthwash, shaving foam, shoe shine service, etc).

Off to the range. We were just a twosome as my buddy decided not to invite anyone else, so we could just enjoy the day. The range is set up with 15 hitting stalls on the most perfect grass you’ve ever seen. Completely level, lush, and the most beautiful green you’ve seen. Hitting stalls were completely divot free.

Each hitting station had its own towel, aiming rod, bag of balls, tees and club wash bucket. The range overlooks the Monterey Peninsula and bay. I will say that the condition of the golf balls was a bit disappointing. There were a number of balls that I punched shot into the range because they were cracked or the covers were sliced from mi sh-t s.

A chipping station and practice putting green are available as well. After clicking off a few we were off to the first tee. A par 5 that starts with an elevated tee box. The hole is V shape. You hit down from an elevated tee box and then back up to the green. Painted on the fairway grass approach under the green is a huge Revolver just like Clint used in his spaghetti western movies. It was pretty cool actually.

Greens were super super fast. I don’t think I’ve ever putted on greens this fast before. There was a big charity even the week before so the grounds grew had lightly sanded all of the greens to fill in any divot marks from improperly repaired ball divots. Even with the light sanding the greens were rated at a 9 out of 10. As fast as the greens were, they easily held well struck approach shots.

However, there were plenty of false fronts and sides that sucked your ball off the green and down into the collection area15-30’ below.

Fairways were absolutely perfectly lush, cut to 3/8”. As nice as the fairways were, they didn’t even come close in comparison to the perfectly manicured tee boxes. Cut to an exact ¼” of the most perfect level, lush and divot free hitting surface you will find anywhere.

The 2-3 sand traps I were in were fine with good quality sand. Not over the top white fluffy sand but good dirt to easily hit out of. My buddy was in one that was a bit thin though. Overall, the sand traps were the weak link of the course (and they played at a rating of 8).

As for the layout of the track. It’s a challenging course to say the least. This is a golfers golf course. You need to have all of your shots ready to go at a moments notice. We played the orange tees which is a Blue/white combo. The course had its share of scoring holes mixed in with the “just survive and move on” challenges.

The entire course is built on a mountain so there isn’t a flat hole to be found. The closest is the short par 3 17th which played at 130 yards into the wind. Tee to green was flat however the back of the green sat 15’ above the collection area. The rest of the holes all had some sort of elevation change with a number of the greens being elevated making precise distance control/knowledge a must.

There’s only one water hazard which I would have said doesn’t really come into play, except I snapped hooked my drive and found the water! Other than that it’s edges of the mountain that present the real hazards. Mis the fairway and your ball can plummet into the deep forest.

The exception is the 9th hole which has natural “guard rails” in the form of rock walls lining both sides of the fairway. It’s like having gutter guards up while bowling. Your ball will get knocked back onto the fairway.

Being that there were only 6 people on the course for the day, POP was excellent.

All in all Tehama is a challenging course played on excellent conditions with spectacular views. Now you've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? – (Inspector Harry Callahan). I think we all know the answer. Lol