This article first appeared in the September 2026 issue of NCGA GOLF Magazine
The NCGA’s role in the creation of Spyglass Hill
By Neal Hotelling and Jerry Stewart
Spyglass Hill Golf Course, which has been dubbed ‘the greatest meeting of sand and trees’, officially turned 60 this year.
Looking back, it may have been destiny that played a role in the course’s creation.
By the early 1960’s, the NCGA had grown into one of the largest allied golf associations in the U.S. That meant the NCGA’s tournament schedule continued to grow, which resulted in the need to find venues to host.
The conundrum did not go unnoticed by then NCGA Executive Director Bob Hanna.
Hanna, always looking to expand the NCGA, began talking with legendary architect Robert Trent Jones Sr., who agreed to build a course if the NCGA could find land. In 1963, Hanna took it a step further and approached Pebble Beach Company founder Samuel F.B. Morse, who was a longtime supporter of golf in the NorCal region.
Hanna eventually made an offer that Morse agreed to: If the Pebble Beach Co. would put up the land, the NCGA would get the funding to construct a course. Pebble Beach Co. would own the course and could sell tee times, except for 30 days each year when the NCGA would host tournaments and tee times for a group called The Founders—those being the NCGA members who put up the funds to build the course.
A course site that was originally examined was between what was called the Indian Village and Cypress Point Club. At the time, the land—which featured some parts near the ocean and other parts in the forest-- was where Pebble Beach Co. did some sand mining.
Jones Sr., when presented with the proposed land, expressed to Morse that it would be an exceptional spot where a great course could be built. Morse would buy back some of the land--a bit in the dunes that had been sold to a local artist who owned what is called The Gingerbread House—and let Jones go to work.
Design and construction for the course and clubhouse, including Jones’ fee, was $650,000. Hanna sought out 260 Founders, who each put in $2,500, and construction began.
Meanwhile, as work on the course continued, Hanna began the task of finding a name for it. One of the names that kept popping up was Pebble Pines, but Morse was not a fan. He had veto power and used it.
A Monterey Peninsula history buff, Morse had known that the vision for Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’ stemmed from his time in the Monterey area. Morse himself also had some suggestions, including Spyglass Hill. To this day it is not known who exactly suggested Spyglass Hill, but the name stuck in Morse’s head.
In a meeting between then NCGA President Francis Watson Sr., Hanna and four other NCGA officials, all suggested names were discussed and eventually voted on. Three votes came in for Pebble Beach Pines, but that was not a majority. There were no more than two votes for any of the other suggested names, and Spyglass Hill had received none.
Seeing that they could not agree, the six made it easy on themselves and went with the dark-horse candidate—Spyglass Hill. Soon after, the Articles of Incorporation were amended to officially change the name of the course from Pebble Pines to Spyglass Hill.
Having decided on a name, Hanna went about providing the layout some extra character, naming most of the course’s 18 holes after sites and characters from Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, “Treasure Island”.
“Without Morse’s help, there is no Spyglass Hill,” said Robert Trent Jones Jr., who worked with his father Robert Trent Jones on the course. “Without the Founders Club, the NCGA would not be the most progressive golf association in the nation and true pioneers in eventually owning their own course.”
Along with constructing the course, there was the addition of a clubhouse and offices. At the time, the NCGA offices were in a cottage located at Pebble Beach, near what is now the Pebble Beach Market.
In October 1964, Morse’s Del Monte Properties Co. agreed to a lease from Spyglass Hill to the NCGA of enough land so that the association could build its offices provided that the offices included a Founder’s Room at no cost to the club and could be worked into a part of a master plan for an eventual clubhouse.
Consequently, a loan in the principal sum of $100,000 was negotiated for the construction of NCGA offices and a clubhouse at the Spyglass Hill site.
On March 11, 1966, Spyglass Hill officially opened. The first big event would be the 1966 NCGA Amateur Championship, won by Vic Loustalot.
Not much later, Bing Crosby, who hosted his Clambake Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula, visited the course and said, ‘Let’s use it.’
Along with replacing Monterey Peninsula Country Club in the Clambake rotation, Spyglass Hill began hosting other NCGA tournaments as intended.
Today, Spyglass Hill is the 13th ranked best public course in America, according to Golf Digest, and continues to host the NCGA’s Four-Ball and Amateur Week championships.
Still an annual co-host of the PGA Tour Signature Event AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Spyglass Hill championship pedigree also includes the 1999 and 2018 U.S. Amateur Championships. In 2030, the course will host the U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open in back-to-back weeks.
All of it thanks to a collaboration between the Pebble Beach Co. and NCGA.