The National Championship- Torrey Pines

Playing in this year's GCSAA National Golf Championship was a blast! Who could complain about playing golf in San Diego this time of year.....let alone at Torrey Pines! Somehow Torrey didn't make the list of courses I'd played the previous twop visits to San Diego. Mistake made and made up for now! If you haven't experienced Torrey Pines, place it high on your list. The two courses there, the North and the South, are both magnificient in my eyes. The Pacific Ocean is part of these courses, and it doesn't take long to notice as it's visible from the golf shop and the first tees on both courses. Each course has several holes that play down to or alongside of the ocean, and better yet, the ocean breeze and fog are cool elements (no pun intended) across the entire property most days. We experienced a two hour long fog delay on day one of the tournament, something that I'll remember for a long, long, time. My Phoneix buddies and I spent most of the delay putting for dollars on the practice green.This is about the only place I can win money off of these big hitters. The dense and healthy poa annua turf was in fine shape, running very smooth and fairly fast. the putting green fits the greens on the course with plenty of slope from back to front. Our coversation included our taste for the split rail fencing and brickwork that surrounds the putting greens. I liked it, some others didn't. I'll show you a photo so you can get your taste. The fog was thick enough and lasted long enough to convince several competitors that bloody mary's were the route to more pars, I thought otherwise knowing the day would be tough enough without them. Once on the course, I was half consumed with looking at the course and it's archtecture and half consumed with trying to make pars. The overseeded rough was a challenge, wet, dense, about four inches in length and the ball sitting down in it all day. Overall the course was in fine shape. Narrow fairways, I'd say averaged about 35 yards wide, which placed my cut off the tee into the right rough most of the day. Adding a club or two out of the rough wasn't always the answer as it was difficult to get it up and out to begin with. Like many courses with back to front green slopes of poa annua, you need to stay below the hole to have a better chance. Not always easy though as many pins were tucked behind the often single, well groomed bunker protecting the green. The spectacular views added up across the course as did the unspectacular bogies. I'd love to play these courses on a regular basis like many in San Diego do. Pacific poa annua doesn't get any better than this!