Facts About Monarch Beach Golf Links
- Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. in 1983 and renovated in 2001.
- Named as the best golf course in Orange County by the OC Register in 2017.
- Awarded 4.5 stars (out of 5) among Golf Digest’s “Best Places to Play.”
- Affiliated with a hotel that received the AAA Five-Diamond Award
- Click here to view tee-times
First Take on the Golf Course
Monarch Beach Golf Links is perched on a golden hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean and provides a golf experience that exudes a classically Southern Californian vibe. All but a handful of holes grant the player exhilarating views of the ocean and, south of Monterey, perhaps only Torrey Pines and Sandpiper better connect the golfer to the sea.
That having been said, it would be an injustice to the golf course at Monarch Beach if the views hogged the lion’s share of the praise for the design. The holes themselves offer thrills of their own and decisions weighing risk and reward abound all across the golf course. Players are frequently presented the opportunity to hit heroic shots to targets fraught with danger, but the more conservative golfer won’t find the course to be terribly penal. The net result is a layout that will challenge the best of players, entertain the worst of players and please the eye of anyone who sets foot on the property.
Observations About the Golf Course
- Monarch Beach rewards a good driver of the golf ball but isn’t oppressively demanding off the tee. The properly placed drive yields the player his due advantage, but recovery opportunities from less than ideal drives exist on most of the holes.
- The greens are usually in immaculate shape and their pace helps accentuate the sizable slopes found within.
- Hole locations diversify the daily challenges on most holes and the placement of the flag from one section to another on the putting surface can really intensify the nature of the challenge faced by the player.
- Very few holes do not possess a fair amount of elevation change and the player must constantly keep these slopes in mind during the club selection process.
- These same slopes generate a fair number of uneven lies that further complicate approach shots into the greens.
- The persistent presence of the ocean view throughout most of the experience of playing Monarch Beach makes the golf course a peaceful and relaxing place to be even when the player isn’t at the top of his game.
- The ability to maneuver the golf ball both ways (especially off the tee) will go a long way here as there are a number of holes that make significant turns one direction or another in the driving area.
Our Favorite Holes
#3
The short par-four third hole that was easily our favorite holes on the golf course. The hole is measured at 315 yards but plays a lot shorter than that thanks to a hard dogleg to the left that obscures the player’s view of the green from the tee. Conservative golfers can lay it back into the visible part of the fairway and play a wedge to the wild three-tiered green, but the aggressive player can take a run over the corner and try to drive the ball onto the putting surface. The greensite is located right at the edge of a bluff just yards away from the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean.
#5
The fifth hole measures 215 yards and plays to a dramatic greensite bisected by a large tier and fortified by water on its right side. Hole locations on the high tier away from the water make birdies difficult to come by and hole locations on the lower right side bring the water into play. The savvy player can use the tier in the middle of the green to feed shots into those dangerous back-right hole locations.
#9
The par-five ninth hole is a treat for a few different reasons. First and foremost, the hole features a pair of greens that vary the challenge the hole presents on a day-to-day basis. The left green is a tiny near-island with water wrapping around three-quarters of its edges while the right green is a far more inviting target that permits golfers to run approach shots on to the putting surface. The hole measures just 515 yards (a short five by today’s standards) but trying to play a second shot onto the dangerous left green is a daunting task. Even wedges must be carefully played to that less-inviting target, but those players who face the right green should have opportunities to make eagles and birdies here.
#13
The thirteenth hole measures 155 yards from the back tees and plays downhill to a greensite located on the far side of a pond that wraps all the way around from the front to the back edge of the putting surface. Well played wedges should yield birdie opportunities, but the careless player could run up a score here in a hurry. The water will tempt players into tugging their tee shots into the left bunker from where trouble still looms playing downhill back towards the water.
Final Thoughts About Monarch Beach Golf Links
Monarch Beach provides its players a healthy cocktail of ingredients that are good for the golfer’s soul. The ocean views can’t help but put a smile on your face for most of the way around the property, but the golf course itself provides a thorough examination that should stimulate players of all kinds.