In securing the property for the design, Pebble Beach Company needed to create three new homesites. The new hole really had only one logical green location and the land happens to slope towards the ocean. If a larger green was built to create a banked hole, players could see from the tee, it would require bringing in a lot of soil. Such a build up would be completely out of character on an old course like Pebble Beach. The narrow green and the formidable bunkers also put some teeth into a hole that would otherwise be a simplistic 157-yard shot.
Many questions arise, and the hole has only been in play a few days.
Wait until the PGA Tour rolls through in February. While there is not a single chunk of persimmon in many golfers' bags, you will hear the cries of tradition lost with this redesign. There are likely to be few things about the hole that will not be contested. The setting is phenomenal however. Looking across to Nos.