Always a good time at Poppy Hills. Continue to keep in rotation for Pebble Beach golf trips. Great layout, greens are in fantastic shape along with the rest of the course. Only complaint is complet... Continue »

Always a good time at Poppy Hills. Continue to keep in rotation for Pebble Beach golf trips. Great layout, greens are in fantastic shape along with the rest of the course. Only complaint is complete lack of drinking water on course and/or drink cart. Seemed to be a trend in the area.

I played Poppy Hills in 2017 and as I recall it was just OK. What a difference this time! We played on Friday the 13th "Lucky" for us, the course was "stone....immaculate"...

Let's call it: "Near... Continue »

I played Poppy Hills in 2017 and as I recall it was just OK. What a difference this time! We played on Friday the 13th "Lucky" for us, the course was "stone....immaculate"...

Let's call it: "Near perfection"... The rough was not as punishing as I remembered it and the fairways were mowed to perfection and were as green and like a carpet as any I have ever played. Yeah the rough was something you wanted to avoid, but it wasn't punishing. The greens were lightning fast. Took a while until I learned not to putt my ball 10-15' by the hole! Loved the staff. Pace of play was great... never pressed from behind.

I will be back.

Went out and enjoyed the glorious Monterey Peninsula weather on Wednesday with a round at Poppy Hills. Everything was excellent as expected. Now that COVID restrictions have settled down, check in ... Continue »

Went out and enjoyed the glorious Monterey Peninsula weather on Wednesday with a round at Poppy Hills. Everything was excellent as expected. Now that COVID restrictions have settled down, check in is back to normal and inside the clubhouse where you can pay for range balls all at the same time. Range was on mats which I imagine was due to the recent overseed so they are letting the grass hitting surface heal.

I got off a bit early and actually had a nice window for the front nine with a nice POP until things stacked up on the back nine. They are back to the original routing with the 1st tee being below the clubhouse and the 10th tee being across the street.

Greens are at about 90% healed from recent aeration. They rolled smooth and a nice medium-fast pace. A couple of the greens have been redone so they aren’t as dramatic with undulations. Greens will still have some undulations to make putting tricky. Greens were right in that zone that were slightly firm but well struck approach shots would generally hold but others would roll out.

Fairways were excellent. Nice and lush with great coverage. Fairways were rated in the 8-9 range. No issues with the tee boxes and the sand traps all had ample fluffy sand. Wasteland bunkers had firm dirt that was predictable and easy to hit from. Tee markers have now gone to a traditional red, white, blue system instead of the old 1, 2, 3, 4, Poppy’s.

Poppy is a fun layout set in the Del Monte Forest. Fairways are lined with tall Monterey Pines but they aren’t too tight. A lot of people play Poppy as a warm up to the big three in Pebble Beach, but this place is worthy of a top billing of its own.

I enjoyed a nice early morning round at Poppy Hills with DeepSea14. A bit foggy in the morning (see picture posted on the GK app) but it was so nice to be in long pants and long sleeve and not in th... Continue »

I enjoyed a nice early morning round at Poppy Hills with DeepSea14. A bit foggy in the morning (see picture posted on the GK app) but it was so nice to be in long pants and long sleeve and not in the 100+ temps. Course is in excellent shape for the most part. Fairways were easily a 9 as were the bunkers (not the waste areas) and the tee boxes. Greens were firm and fast. I was good with the speed of the greens but was disappointed in the extreme firmness of them. Getting approach shots to stay on the green was almost impossible.

The layout is great with the course being set in the Del Monte Forest area of Pebble Beach. Very few houses on the course and though a couple of miles from the ocean had the fog cleared out we would have been treated to a few peeks of the bay.

Services have dwindled while prices have risen over the last couple of years but all in all it is still well worth the price of admission. Range balls are no longer included with green fee and there isn’t bag service or club cleaning. They also did away with the Youth Caddie program this year. Which with COVID is understandable. POP always seems to be on the slower side at Poppy. We waited early, then the group in front got a bout a ¾ hole gap on us and we had about the same on the group behind us.

Played with Alex as a two-some joining a couple of ladies enjoying Poppy for the first time. With the resident expert at my side and my limited (6+) rounds experience since renovation years ago, we we... Continue »

Played with Alex as a two-some joining a couple of ladies enjoying Poppy for the first time. With the resident expert at my side and my limited (6+) rounds experience since renovation years ago, we were able to keep the birthday girl and her friend entertained as they watched a spirited NCGK match play out over 18 holes on a professional (the course) golf course. On the the conditions.
The local left it up to me to get the tee time 8:30 then tells me that he likes 9-9:30 because of the fog this time of year when we warmed up on the range. I like/love it that way and it was cool fog coming in and out almost all round to sunny by the time we finished 4.5hrs on the spot.
Huge well kept greens and practice green here a few with the bumps sized large like I love. (2, 8, 9 for example) Undulating challenging and rolling consistent fast to faster as it dried out a bit.
Rough nice length and able to recover from. I prefer deeper into the pine needles and hit a few nice recoveries from there too with hybrids to wedges.
Greenside consistent and many with high lips but most shots roll to the bottom. Never had a ball stuck into bank. Fairway bunkers allow escape most lies. Some waste areas differentiated by the more yellow color sand not as well maintained.
Don't want to gush too much but I can't say enough about how much I enjoy playing here every time in any weather.
Today if we played the higher $$$$$ courses on the peninsula with views we'd have been disappointed because we didn't see the ocean much. (it was still out there lol) Here it's golf first and for the golfer it's all good.
Easy walk too.
By the time I got my deli sandwich and parked at Carmel beach with my dog for lunch the sun was out (low 70's) and I was watching them playing the ocean holes at PB. A #10 day for me and the mutt.

Course in great condition. Fairways are perfect. Greens were great. I love the renovation. Every hole is unique and presents its own challenge. Great place to play.

Course in great condition. Fairways are perfect. Greens were great. I love the renovation. Every hole is unique and presents its own challenge. Great place to play.

Played Poppy HillS this morning with a 10:20 AM tee time in what was an absolute brutal pace of play. 5 1/4 hours to play on a Monday morning is ridiculous. I saw a couple of marshals out early bu... Continue »

Played Poppy HillS this morning with a 10:20 AM tee time in what was an absolute brutal pace of play. 5 1/4 hours to play on a Monday morning is ridiculous. I saw a couple of marshals out early but not sure they attempted to pick up the pace at all.

They switched the nines back to the original routing. The reason for the original switch and starting everyone on the back nine was to help with the pace of play. They might need to go back to that routing.

Greens aren't quite completely healed from recent aeration in March but they're getting close. Greens rolled smooth at a fast pace. Still just some visual signs of the aeration. Greens are large with several undulations and are tough.

Fairways are a,read showing signs of the drought. Fairways are in that 8-9 range and yes they are in very nice shape but they are a starting to slip from the previous month (Feb) of being a near 10.

No issues with the tee box. Sand traps were a little thin but ok. Customer service: I had issues with my online booking account and had to call the pro shop. The kid (20's) who helped me was excellent. The on course staff today was 50/50

Poppy is a fun, challenging layout with fairly nice conditions. Just plan to make a day out of it with the slow POP and customer service will be hit and miss.

I got an email from a GK’er inquiring about some additional or second tier courses to play during an upcoming Pebble trip. Poppy Hills was thrown into the conversation so I decided to go out and scou... Continue »

I got an email from a GK’er inquiring about some additional or second tier courses to play during an upcoming Pebble trip. Poppy Hills was thrown into the conversation so I decided to go out and scout it out as I hadn’t played here in a while. Not sure why I don’t play here more often to be honest. Course is always in great shape and it’s reasonably priced. I will say that POP can be brutal at Poppy Hills. Yesterday was one of the best with the round being a tad under 4 hours with minimal waiting and that was only because we had a long ball hitter in our group.

First that bad. Customer service has gone into the toilet. They have taken the COVID protocols to extreme levels. No issues with the safety precautions but think it through. Range balls are no longer included. If you want range balls you have to walk all the way around the back side of the clubhouse the back deck, give the kid (20’s) your credit card and he walks into the clubhouse out of sight, rings it up then comes back with a receipt that you give to the guy up on the range who puts out a bucket for you. They won’t accept cash (I’m still not clear on why touching my credit card is safer than touching cash, but that’s a different topic).

Regular check in is at the FRONT, of the building right near the parking lot. That process is easy. There’s a guy under an EZ up who checks the clipboard and after you give him your name away you go…. Unless you want range balls. Payment is done on line.

Anyway, enough of that and I’ll skip the rest of the minor issues. Course conditions were spot on. I’m going to start with the fairways. A perfect 10 without any debate. Super lush with perfect coverage side to side. On a day where I didn’t lose a single ball, I’m happy to say I got to experience the great hitting surface from the fairway all day.

Greens at Poppy Hills are huge. However, the actual landing area is fairly small as all greens have multiple tiers and numerous lumps and ridges to negotiate. We all had a few (too many) three putts. We were paired up with a couple of former college golfers and the one said he had never had so many three putts. Greens rolled smooth at a medium-fast+ pace. Basically the speed is what you would expect for a top notch course. Greens reminded me of Blackhorse except that they held well struck shots much better.

During the remodel a handful of years back, they put in “waste land” areas on the side of the fairways. These areas were designed to cut back on water usage which they do. They’re comprised of basically DG dirt and have super low no almost no lip so escaping them is pretty straight forward. Due to some rain the previous night there were a few of these wasteland areas that were a bit muddy. But overall still very playable.

I was in four greenside bunkers and all were excellent. Vey nice fluffy sand that was predictable. Tee boxes must have been excellent as well, since I don’t remember any issues.

We all walked, but the group in front of us had a cart and it was cart path only. Not sure if that was just due to the rain the night before or if that’s normal. Looked like the restaurant had a side window open for takeout food.

All in all Poppy Hills is fun, tough course with excellent conditions. Don’t expect over the top customer service like Quail Lodge, Aviara or Indian Wells, but once you get going on the course you’ll be a happy camper.

Rode the 3 Poppy tees (6400/71.2/135) in slightly under 4H twilight as a single on a GN Hot Deal. Played through one 4some then was stuck behind a walking 4some until they quit. POP was NOT an issue, ... Continue »

Rode the 3 Poppy tees (6400/71.2/135) in slightly under 4H twilight as a single on a GN Hot Deal. Played through one 4some then was stuck behind a walking 4some until they quit. POP was NOT an issue, as I was taking pictures and enjoying every minute of this place! 60 and overcast with a 0-2 club breeze throughout made for a nice experience. WOW is the best one word descriptor I can come up with. I play alot of golf at courses all over California. Other than Rams Hill when it first opened and Pebble Beach a few months ago, I have never experienced conditions like this... and in my opinion, these were slightly better than those. So what I am saying is that in 45+ years of golfing, this was the best conditioned course I have ever played. Lush and green throughout. They had a 2 man team fixing divots on the tee boxes. There were probably less than 2 dozen fresh tee divots on the entire course. They had a man out fixing divots in the fairways. Cuts around the greens, tees and sand traps were finely manicured. Tees were immaculate. Thick poa cut down, I putted on many tees to pass the time after I took my pictures. How good were they? They putted better than some courses greens I have played this year. Fairways also immaculate, mowed down and firm. They played really well with thick, brown sand/dirt underneath if you took a large divot. Rough was lush/thick. If you missed the fairway by 1', it was the difference in going for the green and just advancing a shorter club for a player of my skill level. The ball almost always sat down, you often could not see your ball from 10 yards away. Traps were large and plentiful. Exceptionally well maintained with thick lighter sand over darker sand underneath. Large, expansive waste areas on many holes were natural but cleaned up and added to the beauty of many holes IMO. Greens I loved! You could make large ball marks and back up balls in places, but they were mostly firm. These were beyond medium fast, they were quick. Downhill putts would creep and creep. If not careful that putt you thought you nestled up for a tap in would be 6-8' coming back. Had three 3 putts and still had an excellent putting day overall. They rolled great. Loved the RTJ, Jr. layout. Fairways much wider than I expected going in, this is not a tight course, but I say that on a day I was hitting it better than average. If you get off line, huge, thick trees await. First time in a good while I played multiple shots off pine needles. That, coupled with the outlying sandy areas and mostly playing around no homes surrounded by thick trees actually reminded me of Pinehurst. Areas around the greens were mowed down close, I used a putter several times from 10+ yards off the green up over raised mounds to tight pins. Speaking of pins, not sure if they had a tournament that morning, but these were tournament pins. There was about 1 pin set in the middle, most others were just a few paces on the green. Up/down rolling hills, large greens that were fair with moderate amounts of undulation. Very peaceful, no ocean views and some nice homes closeby, but most of the time you were away from everything just playing in the forest with lots of wildlife joining you. Customer Service outstanding. I was running late because of the fog and called ahead. Kudos to Benjamin, he had me rearranged and everything set up to go out later. Very friendly cart attendant and maintenance staff, saw the drink gal a couple of times. Highly recommended, really look forward to my next round here.