The first time I played Pebble, on the very first hole I have about a 12 footer for birdie, left to right and a little downhill.
My caddie asks me how I read the putt and I say "Oh, about 10" left and gonna hit it about 9ft"
He says, "speed sounds ok but you better add about 12" to 14" to that break"
"What!"
I split the difference and hit it about 16" left. I missed it by at
least 6" under the hole and thought it was going to stop a foot away.
It kept going and going and going at a snails pace, had a 7 footer
coming back that I missed.
The absolute most fortunate was 1992, I
answered an ad in the SF Chronicle that read, "2 nights stay and 1
round of golf on the Monterey Peninsula, $200.00". When I called, the
dates were only for June 3, 4, and leaving June 5, It turned out to be a
condo overlooking the 18th green for 2 nights and the round of golf on
Pebble 2 weeks before the US Open.
I had a 10am tee time. I got a
call at 8:15 from my caddie asking when I'd like to go warm up at the
range and I said about 8:45. At 8:45, he showed up with a cart, put my
clubs on the cart and drove me to the range. When I was done hitting
with each club, he would take it from me and clean it off then about
9:45 he drove me to the 1st tee, left the cart, grabbed my bag and off
we went at 10.
What was cool was they had already started
grooming the course for the US Open, fairways cut closer than most
greens I played on, rough that covered your shoes, sand that was
actually "soft" and greens like a linoleum floor.
They treated us like a King and Queen the whole time, Absolutely awesome experience!