You'll have to "settle" for this on a Pebble Beach golf vacation.
An eight-year struggle to add another Pebble Beach golf course to the already phenomenal layouts available on a Pebble Beach golf vacation has ended in defeat. The Pebble Beach Company, whose notable members include Clint Eastwood, Arnold Palmer and ex-baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, lost a vote on Wednesday that would have allowed it to develop a new, 18-hole golf course, about 35 homes, and a 160-room hotel on the Monterey Peninsula.
At issue was the need for clearing nearly 20,000 Monterey pine trees, which are found in limited supply along the California coast (but are not endangered), to make way for the development. As a tradeoff, the Pebble Beach Company was prepared to designate about 500 acres, formerly slated for development, as a conservation area, never to be disturbed.
In the end, it was a compromise that the California Coastal Commission didn’t want to make. It voted down the plan 8-4, overriding what Monterey County voters initially approved back in 2000. Critics of the development say that voters were somewhat duped into supporting the plan, partly because a $1 million ad campaign featuring Clint Eastwood made it sound as if it was entirely about wilderness conservation.
So, for the foreseeable future, it looks like you’ll be “stuck” playing Pebble Beach Golf Course, The Links at Spanish Bay, and Spyglass Hill Golf Course on your next Pebble Beach golf vacation.
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