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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Tournament golf is part of the fabric of the Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
Its stunningly scenic duo of the Dunes and Shore courses have shared the spotlight over the years by hosting prominent tournaments and championships. Most modern golf fans know that the Shore Course played a key role in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am from 2010-2023, but did you know that it was the Dunes Course that actually hosted the original Crosby Clambake first from 1947 to 1964?
Once again, it's the Dunes Course's time to shine, this time on the elite amateur level. The 38th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur will be held Oct. 4-9, the club's fifth United States Golf Association championship to take place on the Dunes, but the first since 1976. Although the wait for the USGA to return has been nearly five decades, the timing couldn't be better: M.P.C.C. celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
With such high-profile neighbors as Cypress Point Club and Pebble Beach Golf Links, it's a mistake to think that Monterey Peninsula Country Club takes a back seat to either. Both of its courses rank among America's Top 100 Greatest Courses, according to Golf Digest. Let's dig deeper into the club's storied history and preview the upcoming championship.
What the ladies can expect from Monterey Peninsula Country Club's Dunes Course
Seth Raynor originally designed the Dunes Course, but Robert Hunter, an associate of Dr. Alister MacKenzie's, completed construction after Raynor's passing in 1926. Rees Jones tweaked things in 1998 before Tom Fazio was brought in 2016 to fix some perceived weaknesses. Ultimately, it was Fazio's former associates Tim Jackson and David Kahn who have received most of the credit for unearthing the sandscapes and enhancing dune features that help the course live up to its name today. Jackson Kahn Design also introduced various MacKenzie influences that challenge and charm everybody who tees it up.
"JKD did a phenomenal job of taking our Dunes course from good to great," reads a quote on the Jackson Kahn Design website attributed to Mike Chandler, who was the club's committee chair during the work. "As a result of the remodel, the course now has magnificent dunes on several holes. The greens have unique, interesting shapes and now vary in size from 3,800 to more than 11,000 square feet. Previously straight fairways now flow naturally with the seaside topography."
Its most famous hole - the 169-yard 14th - sits directly on the ocean across 17 Mile Drive from the rest of the club's 400 acres. Tourists often gather to watch golfers tee off since there's an adjacent parking lot and scenic roadside pull-off for cars.
The Dunes, which tips out at 7,089 yards, will play 6,093 yards for the 2025 U.S. Women's Mid Amateur. A record 616 golfers - players who are age 25+ and have an index of 9.4 or lower - attempted to qualify to compete. Following two rounds of stroke play, three days of match play will determine a champion. Although there will be no TV coverage, spectators are encouraged to follow the action and enjoy one of America's most scenic golf walks.
All four of Monterey Peninsula Country Club's previous USGA championships were contested on the Dunes. The 1952 U.S. Girls’ Junior was won by then-future four-time U.S. Women’s Open champion and World Golf Hall of Famer Mickey Wright. It was followed by the 1958 U.S. Senior Amateur, captured by Thomas Robbins. The club also held two U.S. Senior Women’s Amateurs, in 1968 and 1976, won by Carolyn Cudone and Cecile Maclaurin, respectively. For Cudone, it was the first of five consecutive titles.
Walking the Shore Course
As good as the Dunes Course is, the Shore Course remains everybody's favorite. Playing all 18 holes on a classic overcast Monterey day in September was as memorable a walk as I've had in golf.
Originally designed by Bob E. Baldock and Jack Neville in 1961, the 6,942-yard Shore was famously reconstructed by Mike Strantz in 2004. It's currently David Zinkand's job to keep it recognized among the world's most inspiring courses. Zinkand, who worked for Coore & Crenshaw for 14 years, is one of golf's most underrated architects. He recently created a new reversible nine-hole loop at Ohio’s Medina Country Club and is on retainer with the Old Elm Club in Illinois, the Sharon Golf Club in Ohio and the Chechessee Creek Club in South Carolina.
Zinkand, based in North Carolina, treads lightly on the influences of Strantz, while continuously working to improve the finer details of the playing experience. He has been working with the club since 2015, executing three main renovation phases:
* Phase 1: Reducing turf and expanding native areas to give the course a more rugged look.
* Phase 2: Repositioning, expanding, regrassing and leveling tees.
* Phase 3: Rebuilding all bunkers and adding new sand for better drainage while also repositioning and reshaping a few; plus drainage upgrades and sifting all the sand in the waste areas.
The 13th hole, a 417-yard par 4 that doglegs left around the sandy native areas and trees at the corner, is a perfect example of this modernization effort to create strategic risk-reward options for better players while maintaining forgiveness for higher handicap members. A rear tee was extended to make the hole longer, while the expansion of the right greenside bunkers was done for playability.
Future projects include revamping the par-4 18th hole to make it as memorable as the previous 17. Whatever happens, it will be to keep Monterey Peninsula Country Club recognized among the best 36-hole clubs in the world for the next 100 years.
"This is a golf course and a club that deserves to usher forward the Strantz design and style. We really try and work with that as much as possible," Zinkand said during a recent round walking the Shore. "It doesn't mean that we don't make moves to modernize the golf course and to work with turf removal and other considerations that are environmental. We definitely aim to make sure that Strantz design is conceptually intact."
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