Pasatiempo Golf Club opened on September 8, 1929, the vision of Marion Hollins, the 1921 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, who hired English architect Alister MacKenzie to design the course. The grand opening drew over 2,000 spectators following an exhibition foursome of Hollins, Bobby Jones, British Amateur champion Cyril Tolley, and U.S. Women's Amateur champion Glenna Collett. MacKenzie considered Pasatiempo his favorite layout and built his American home along the 6th fairway, where he lived from 1929 until his death in January 1934. His ashes were scattered by airplane over the course.

On the course

The routing runs through the rolling hills above Monterey Bay, with a relatively tame, tree-lined front nine giving way to a back nine dominated by deep barrancas that cut across fairways and greens. The course measures roughly 6,500 yards at par 70 and features five par 3s, culminating in the 181-yard 18th played across a canyon. Other signature holes include the uphill, 384-yard par-4 11th, which demands a long drive followed by a mid-iron across a winding barranca, and the famously severe 16th green, where MacKenzie's ashes were reportedly scattered.

Who it suits

A lengthy restoration completed in 2007 under Tom Doak returned bunkers and green complexes toward MacKenzie's original intent, and in 2023-2024 architect Jim Urbina cored out and rebuilt every green to address drainage and decades of organic buildup. The course has hosted the 1986 U.S. Women's Amateur and the 2004 U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, and stages the annual Western Intercollegiate.

Semi-private but open to public tee times, Pasatiempo suits players who value strategic, angle-based architecture and can manage severely contoured greens where the wrong side of the hole often means putting off the surface. It rewards shot-shaping and course management over raw distance.

Architect: Alister MacKenzie · Opened: 1929