Inside Comments by Steve Turcotte

Teeing it up at Torrey Pines

I’ve seen it on television. I have seen those major championships. The Farmers Insurance Open. It all looks like a scene from a postcard. Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif. has always looked too good to be true on the small screen.

But in person, it was as good as advertised – even better.

Torrey Pines is a place with two of the top golf courses in the country – the North and the South. It is a place which annually hosts a PGA Tour event called the Farmers Insurance Open each February and a place which has played host to two U.S. Opens. Remember in 2008 when Tiger Woods sank a putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate with NBC announcer Dan Hicks asking the world “expect anything different?”

It is one of those places that golfers from around the country – even the world – want to get a tee time.

And I finally got one.

But this wouldn’t be a typical Turcotte story with some background. Our group had planned to leave Seattle for San Diego on a Thursday. It turned out that same day Alaska Airlines decided to have a IT outage. I didn’t think much about it as we imbibed in cocktails at the airport. But at 2 a.m. and after eight hours, Alaska pulled the plug on the flight and cancelled. There went my Torrey Pines tee time. There went my two free nights at the Lodge at Torrey Pines. There went one of the best golf trips I had planned in quite a while.

OK, enough of the sob story for now. We rebooked for the following week – Tim Graham from the city helped me with a tee time and presto, the next week we made it back and got to take in a round of golf I had dreamed about for years. And I would be remised if I didn’t thank Robert Arends from the Lodge at Torrey Pines for helping us with a dinner on our rebooked trip.

As my golfing buddy Don Goethals and I stood on the first tee of the North course, we stepped back and smiled. It was if we both knew was about to happen in the next four-plus hours. As usual, my opening tee shot traveled a robust 210 yards off the tee and with 190 into the green I hit a 3-wood onto the green, two-putted and we were off.

The North course is used for the Farmer Insurance Open on the PGA Tour stop. All the players play both the North and South courses for the first two rounds before the final rounds are held on the South course. The U.S. Open is held on the South course, but trust me, the North course is worth the tee time you can arrange.

The course can stretch to 7,258 yards for those PGA Tour guys but we played it as 6,343. Plenty for the 63-year-old short knocker. The South course can be lengthened to 7,802 yards – yes that’s no typo – seven thousand eight hundred and two yards. Figured I might spell that out just to give you an idea how long that course can play.

You get an eyeful of terrific views around the property. But on this day as we played the North course, the views on the back nine were like something you had to see to believe. You get an idea about the back nine on the 12th hole which is a par-3 with a carry over a ravine. Three holes later as you stand on the par-3 15th tee box it is a straight downhill look with the Pacific Ocean in the background. And the 16th hole is a par-4 uphill where you can’t see the green with the ocean looming on the left.

As we putted out on the 18th hole, we took a look around, shook hands with our playing companions and then looked over at the ocean as the sun set. It was a surreal scene. And a scene we would love to repeat one day.

Torrey Pines Golf Course – a place definitely that you need to check off on that golf bucket list if you ever get a chance to head to the San Diego are.

Steve Turcotte is editor of Inside Golf Newspaper. He can be reached at sdturcotte@comcast.net.