Torrey Pines

Ed_Gonzales · July 6, 2009, 8:04pm

Anyone played Torrey Pines lately? Danielle will be attending a conference in SD on Wed 7/15 – Fri 7/17 and I’ve decided to tag along. I’m thinking of walking on (Waiting list) – yay or nay?

Thanks in advance,

Bob_Wood · July 6, 2009, 9:53pm

I’ve already sent this via PM to Ed, who graciously thanked me. I’m posting it here in case anyone else would like the info.

You’ll have a much better chance of getting on Thurs or Fri than on Sat. It was easy when I left 12 years ago, but I can’t swear to how it is now. Don’t bother sleeping in the lot, just get there around 6 or 7 and put your name on the waiting list. You might get out right away and you might not get out for a couple of hours but you’ll get out.

Warning - don’t play the South from the blues (they won’t let you play the tournament tees) unless your index is in the low single digits. Even from the whites it’s all you can handle. Another warning - don’t bug the starter with questions about how far down you are on the list. They hate that and have been known to skip over people who bother them too much.

Brian_London · July 6, 2009, 10:10pm

I played the South last Wednesday, teed off at 3 PM. Got in 18 holes. If you want to play in the AM, get there around 6, probably wait 1-2 hours. If you can play twilight, which starts at 3, you can get there right around 2:30 and get out fairly easily, especially if you play the North.

Bob is right about playing from the blues, very long. The whites are sufficiently difficult.

Bob_Wood · July 6, 2009, 10:47pm

Here’s a tip, Ed. The courses sit on a piece of land that slopes toward the cliffs. It creates an optical illusion that there is less slope in that direction than there really is. The result is that north-south putts will always break more toward the ocean (or less toward inland) than what you see. Similarly, east-west putts will be either faster or slower than you think. This is NOT grain, nor is it some mysterious magnetic pull of the ocean. It’s gravity.

Another tip: The 6th on the North is about 165 yards if memory serves, with a severe drop from tee to green. You’ll be tempted to hit less club but if the wind is blowing into you, and it probably will be, don’t do it. Hit your 165 club and hit it dead-handed or knock it down to keep the spin off it so it won’t balloon. Left is dead and so is long, so if you’re going to miss, miss it short and right to take the bunker out of play. Also, there are putts on that green (toward the ocean) that have almost as much break from left to right as they are long if the flag is in the right-front quadrant.

Another tip: Hit a fairway wood off the 7th tee on the North. All you do when you hit driver is hit it right into the slope, which kills distance. More loft will get you farther up the hill. On your second shot, play at least one more club than the yardage, probably two.

Another tip: Play the 12th on the South as a par 5 and you won’t beat yourself up when you can’t get to the green with a driver and a 3-wood.

Another tip: Try to lay up to the bottom of the ravine on 13 South unless you think you can get your second shot up around the green. Your third shot will be blind no matter what, but it’s easier off a level lie at the bottom than a steep slope halfway up the hill, which promotes hitting the shot fat. That said, there used to be a fairly flat spot about 65 yards short of the green that was good to lay up to, but I don’t know what happened to that in the renovation.

Bob_Wood · July 6, 2009, 10:53pm

One more thing, Ed. If Torrey ends up being too much hassle, go play Coronado. It’s fun, flat, easy to walk, has spectacular views and it’s cheap.

Ed_Gonzales · July 6, 2009, 11:00pm

WOW Bob, this is great! Thanks for the heads up especially the 6th North. I guess I’ll club up and hit a SW … (how I wish).

RE: the break/slopes , I can’t wait to see it for myself as I’ve heard many people comment on this.

Bob Wood:

Here’s a tip, Ed. The courses sit on a piece of land that slopes toward the cliffs. It creates an optical illusion that there is less slope in that direction than there really is. The result is that north-south putts will always break more toward the ocean (or less toward inland) than what you see. Similarly, east-west putts will be either faster or slower than you think. This is NOT grain, nor is it some mysterious magnetic pull of the ocean. It’s gravity.

Another tip: The 6th on the North is about 165 yards if memory serves, with a severe drop from tee to green. You’ll be tempted to hit less club but if the wind is blowing into you, and it probably will be, don’t do it. Hit your 165 club and hit it dead-handed or knock it down to keep the spin off it so it won’t balloon. Left is dead and so is long, so if you’re going to miss, miss it short and right to take the bunker out of play. Also, there are putts on that green (toward the ocean) that have almost as much break from left to right as they are long if the flag is in the right-front quadrant.

Another tip: Hit a fairway wood off the 7th tee on the North. All you do when you hit driver is hit it right into the slope, which kills distance. More loft will get you farther up the hill. On your second shot, play at least one more club than the yardage, probably two.

Another tip: Play the 12th on the South as a par 5 and you won’t beat yourself up when you can’t get to the green with a driver and a 3-wood.

Another tip: Try to lay up to the bottom of the ravine on 13 South unless you think you can get your second shot up around the green. Your third shot will be blind no matter what, but it’s easier off a level lie at the bottom than a steep slope halfway up the hill, which promotes hitting the shot fat. That said, there used to be a fairly flat spot about 65 yards short of the green that was good to lay up to, but I don’t know what happened to that in the renovation.

Bob_Wood · July 6, 2009, 11:23pm

You’re welcome. There used to be a putt on 5 South from the right front toward the right back that looked like it broke about 6 inches to the left, away from the ocean. It actually broke about 6 inches to the right, appearing to break uphill. Not so. They’ve re-done the greens, so it doesn’t exist any more.

BLittle · July 6, 2009, 11:29pm

this is what we could have talked about for hours yesterday: my old home course

I haven’t played it since I left in 02 but Bob has given you some great advice… and I think there is some new show on the golf channel, Golf in America, this week about The Dawn Patrol… they are the dedicated golfers who get to Torrey before the sun comes up to put their name on the waiting list.

As a single, you should be able to get on one of the courses… the South is truly humbling and the North is fun! Puts do break up hill and the greens can be a little bumpy… just don’t expect to make anything outside of 10 feet.

Good Luck!

Brian_London · July 7, 2009, 12:01am

Bob Wood:

Here’s a tip, Ed. The courses sit on a piece of land that slopes toward the cliffs. It creates an optical illusion that there is less slope in that direction than there really is. The result is that north-south putts will always break more toward the ocean (or less toward inland) than what you see. Similarly, east-west putts will be either faster or slower than you think. This is NOT grain, nor is it some mysterious magnetic pull of the ocean. It’s gravity.

Another tip: The 6th on the North is about 165 yards if memory serves, with a severe drop from tee to green. You’ll be tempted to hit less club but if the wind is blowing into you, and it probably will be, don’t do it. Hit your 165 club and hit it dead-handed or knock it down to keep the spin off it so it won’t balloon. Left is dead and so is long, so if you’re going to miss, miss it short and right to take the bunker out of play. Also, there are putts on that green (toward the ocean) that have almost as much break from left to right as they are long if the flag is in the right-front quadrant.

Another tip: Hit a fairway wood off the 7th tee on the North. All you do when you hit driver is hit it right into the slope, which kills distance. More loft will get you farther up the hill. On your second shot, play at least one more club than the yardage, probably two.

Another tip: Play the 12th on the South as a par 5 and you won’t beat yourself up when you can’t get to the green with a driver and a 3-wood.

Another tip: Try to lay up to the bottom of the ravine on 13 South unless you think you can get your second shot up around the green. Your third shot will be blind no matter what, but it’s easier off a level lie at the bottom than a steep slope halfway up the hill, which promotes hitting the shot fat. That said, there used to be a fairly flat spot about 65 yards short of the green that was good to lay up to, but I don’t know what happened to that in the renovation.

Ed,

Completely accurate statement on the greens. Putts will break in ways that you would never imagine.

They changed the tee boxes on 6 North a couple of years ago, making the tee shot play dead over the front bunker. Short and right are best bailouts. Also, the green slopes pretty severely from back to front, keep that in mind when choosing which club to hit.

7th North tip #2: the hole is severely uphill, elevated tee which is roughly same altitude as landing area. If you can carry your tee shot 220+, take the angle over the bunker on the right side of the fairway, leaves you about 150 yards up the hill. Left on that hole makes it much longer. Blind approach from landing area.

12 South is a bear, well over 400 yds uphill into the wind.

13 South - good tee shots will leave you about 240 to the green, which is surrounded by bunkers. The lay up to the bottom of the ravine leaves about 100 yards uphill to the green, plays a couple of clubs longer. I was at the 65 yard distance last week, pretty easy approach.

Bob_Wood · July 7, 2009, 2:43am

I hope so. I’ve only played about 1000 rounds on those two courses.

BLittle · July 7, 2009, 3:51am

Hey Phil, fellow Triton here class of '92… was that you by the Sun God that one night?

Bob, technically on the UCSD golf team for one quarter in 1990, but it was past my prime in high school (got down to a 3) and the year I turned 21… Must have played Torrey a total of 100 times in my 15 years in the 619/858/760, and I swear I never made a putt outside of 10 feet

Edson, have fun with the course and I want a shot by shot detail at the Pool Party

Ed_Gonzales · July 7, 2009, 6:30am

Thank you for all the info guys. This is great!

BC - will do. I will call you sometime this week. I have a few ?'s for you.

Nancy_Dolce · July 30, 2009, 1:35am

So, did you play Torrey, Ed?

BLittle · July 30, 2009, 7:10pm

I happen to know that he didn’t because of the World Junior Championship…
I get to play La Costa next week…

Nancy_Dolce · July 31, 2009, 1:27am

Cool! We used to go for the Tournament of Champions back in the day. It was cold and rainy a few times. Fun to see only champions from the previous year in one tournament.

Enjoy the course. I live about 6-8 miles over the hill from there.