THE SANDPIPER

 Next stop was the Sandpiper Golf Course in Santa Barbara, also known as the poor men`s Pebble Beach. After the big disappointment at Pebble Beach due to the way too expensive green fees I really appreciated the low fee of 96 dollars only.

I organized myself the second teetime of the day at 8am. Wow, it was just such a perfect day for golf. I made a couple of practice swings and teed up my Vice ball.  Then I hit my drive with a heavy slice right on the fairway of the 9th hole. From there I had to punch it back on my fairway, from there I just could see an incredible moment.

The sun broke through the trees and created one of those magic moments. My fourth shot was a short 7 iron in front of the green. The first putt on this course reminded of that the stamp meter or green speed in the US is so different to most of the German golf courses. To sum it up a triple bogey was written in the scorecard on the first hole. No.1 was a great par five with 524 yards from the black tee.

The next five holes just made me extremely happy. Super nice holes through the woods with great designed bunkers.

I really love it when bunkers are kind of naturally shaped, they always create their own type of graphic.

Beside the beauty of the course I got into heavy troubles very often.

But arriving at the 6th hole I felt like I almost was in heaven. A mid length par 3 with 195 yards from  the black tee. Having the Pacific ocean on the left side I felt a nice and calm fresh breeze while hitting my 5 iron on the green, just awesome.

The next 3 holes led straight back to the clubhouse.

 No.10 was again a master piece of golf, a par 4, 381 yards with an elevated tee shot. I hit a perfect 3 wood in the middle of the fairway. From this spot I had a beautiful view over the green, which extended beautifully extended over the coast of the Pacific. From this position I just had a pitching wedge in to the green. Two putts for par, perfect!

The next holes, the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th, were played along the coast. It was just amazing walking along these fairways.

Beside all the nice views and the perfect shape of the course I noticed many fine details. Like the neat tee boxes with a little sandpiper icon on it or the stones with the birdie book.

I totally enjoyed the second stop on my road trip to happiness and if you will ever be around Santa Barbara I highly recommend the Sandpiper Golf Course.

Do you think somebody else might enjoy this article?
Then share the love on Twitter or Facebook now!