Bayonet and Black Horse

The Best 36 holes on Monterey Bay

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.