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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The past decade has been a rough ride for Pasatiempo Golf Club, one of golf's most revered classic courses, designed by Dr. Alister MacKenzie.
From a devastating drought that required a historic water agreement in 2016-17 to a two-year restoration in 2023-24 that brought plenty of operational challenges, Pasatiempo has emerged through it all more beautiful than ever. It was fully dialed, conditions-wise, when I played the fully restored version for the first time last week.
"It's the best I've seen it for sure," says Ken Woods, who is going on his 22nd year as Pasatiempo's head golf professional.
All three GolfPass reviews since the greens restoration project was completed in December 2024 are five stars. "Wow. Amazing course, amazing layout, amazing condition and stunningly amazing ocean views. Go play it!" wrote Mattjo in January.
The timing couldn't be better as the 78th Western Intercollegiate is ready to showcase Pasatiempo to a national audience on GOLF Channel and Peacock April 14-16. If The Masters is your MacKenzie meal, then seeing Pasatiempo makes for a fine dessert. Past Western Intercollegiate participants have racked up 577 PGA Tour wins, including 56 majors. Seventeen tournament alumni are in the field vying for a green jacket this week.
TV Schedule: 2025 Western Intercollegiate
Round 1, Monday, April 14
- Live: 4pm-7pm PT/7pm-10pm ET
- Replay: 9pm-12am PT/12am-3am ET
Round 2, Tuesday, April 15
- Live: 4pm-7pm PT/7pm - 10pm ET
- Replay: 8pm - 11pm PT/11pm - 2am ET
Final Round, Wednesday, April 16
- Live: 4pm-7pm PT/7pm-10pm ET
- Replay: 2am-5am PT/5am-8am ET
Pasatiempo unveiled a commemorative bronze statue of MacKenzie and Marion Hollins near the first tee on April 11. The two are credited with designing Pasatiempo and Cypress Point. It was created by sculptor Steven Whyte. You can bet photos of lucky golfers getting ready to tee off and posing with the two legends are going to fill up your social feeds.
Changes worth watching at Pasatiempo
When the restoration schedule was announced several years ago, a small but vocal contingent of course members and golf's passionate architectural community were against the project. Tweaking MacKenzie greens is akin to messing with the Mona Lisa for golfers.
The work, spearheaded by architect Jim Urbina and superintendent Justin Mandon, painstakingly stripped the greens to their core - the front nine first in 2023 and the back nine in 2024 - and rebuilt them to MacKenzie's original sizes and shapes from 1929. Poa annua has been replaced by Pure Distinction bentgrass that rolls better.
"The new greens maintain their speed throughout the day," Woods said. "The poa would grow and you would lose a foot and a half (of roll) by the end of the day. This is more consistent on a consistent basis."
Nobody is complaining now. Certainly not me. I nailed two 35-40-footers during my round.
"Everybody is excited about where we are," Woods said. "There were some detractors when we started. When you talk to people who have been here a long time, they didn't want disruption. Now they know it was the right thing to do. We've got greens with USGA specs. Now it is our job to pay it forward. Before, it always felt like the greens were in flux. Instead of 60 days of good greens and 300 days of greens in flux, now we will have 300 days of good greens."
The biggest changes on the back nine involved the greens of the two par 3s: the 142-yard 15th and 173-yard 18th. I tell people that the 15th is a '2 or 5' hole. If you hit it stiff, it's a birdie. If you miss the narrow green, a double is looming.
"We went from very few pinnable spots, especially on 18," Woods said. "Now we have close to a dozen. Looking at the heat maps before and after is quite profound."
The 11th green, which sits above a barranca on the No. 1 handicap hole, also saw significant alterations, growing 1,100 square feet in size. It brought fireworks to my foursome. One of my playing partners chipped in (no one saw the ball go in the hole) and another putted off of the green from above the cup.
The three-tiered 16th green was treated with care. Watch the Instagram video below to see its two massive slopes for yourself. "Touching that is touching a lot of history, being one of MacKenzie's favorite holes," Woods said. "We were able to expand the back and offer more pin placements in the middle, but looking at it from the fairway, it is still [the intimidating] 16th. It is a sensitive thing."
A primer for the 78th Western Intercollegiate
As a par 70 of 6,486 yards, Pasatiempo will be the shortest course most college teams play all year. And yet it will still end up being one of the toughest. Playing a West Coast MacKenzie the day after the pros take on MacKenzie's most famous masterpiece 2,500 miles to the East only adds to the tournament's appeal.
San Jose State will serve as tournament hosts, welcoming Arizona, BYU, Cal, Chattanooga, Hawaii, Nihon (Japan), Oregon, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Stanford, UC Irvine, UNLV and Washington. With firm greens still maturing and featuring different slopes, it's unlikely any course records will be set.
"Our goal is a third of the field shoots under par," Woods said. "That's a success. We want it to be a challenge, but we want to see birdies. We want to see kids in the 60s. It is such a fun golf course. I've played it a thousand times. Every hole is memorable. You look at the [rippling] fairway on 14 and the collection of par 3s, there just isn't anything like it."
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