Bayonet and Black Horse re-opened in December, 2008 after a $13 million renovation by Bates Golf Design Group (Gene Bates). Both courses underwent dramatic view-shed alterations and hole re-routings to reveal new, breathtaking ocean vistas and improved playing options (including new bentgrass greens).
They were included in Golf Digest’s “Best New Courses” issue for 2009 in the ultra-competitive “Remodel” category.
Bayonet, with its narrow playing corridors and steep, penal bunkering, has long been considered the most difficult test of golf on the Monterey Peninsula. The par-72, 7,104-yard course has retained its famous bite after the recent renovation by award-winning architect Gene Bates, but playability and strategic options have been greatly improved. The uphill, dogleg right, 476-yard, par-4 ninth hole exemplifies the course’s significant challenge.
Black Horse, a 7,024-yard, par-72 layout, features sweeping vistas of the Pacific and is highlighted by fescue-framed fairways, bunkers with distinctive, serrated edges and slickly-contoured greens. The par-3 15th, created during the renovation, faces the bay and is sure to emerge as one of the great holes on the Peninsula.