NEWPORT COAST, California — Modern psychology has conjured up a term for every possible mental malady except one. The experts have yet to identify that profound mood swing that overwhelms guests at checkout time from a hotel they don’t want to leave. Its strongest expression wafts through the lobby of the Resort at Pelican Hill every day around 11 a.m. Thanks to recent renovations of its Tom Fazio golf courses and additional enhancements slated for 2027, don’t expect this affliction to vanish anytime soon.
Sandwiched between two of Southern California’s poshest towns, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, the Resort at Pelican Hill is perched in secluded hilltop beauty in the town of Newport Coast. It’s just 46 miles south of LAX, though driving south on the 405 can take an eternity on a Friday. The better choice is Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, a 15-minute drive to the resort. However travelers arrive, it’s worth the journey.
For Golden State trophy-seekers, Pelican Hill isn’t as renowned as high-profile tournament hosts Pebble Beach Golf Links and Torrey Pines Golf Course, yet it’s one of the most dependable celebrity enclaves in America. Partly, this is due to the gated privacy it offers, as well as some of the most reliably superb weather in the U.S. Multi-bedroom villas, bungalows and bungalow suites are terraced up and up and up, yielding ocean views from varying vantage points. Ocean breezes, average summer daytime highs between 75 and 82 degrees, low humidity and an almost zero chance of rain elevate the appeal into rarefied air.
Throw in a seacoast aesthetic and dazzling amenities, and Pelican Hill is a very attractive package for folks of means. In other words, for most of us, this is a special-occasion stay. Unquestionably, however, guests get what they pay for. As a wise old Chicago bartender once put it to me when I was waffling on springing for an expensive single malt, “What, are you going to live forever? Do something for yourself.”
Golfers who take the barkeep’s advice will fork over $695 in summer to play either the Ocean South, which dates to 1991, or the Ocean North, its younger sibling by two years. Even the afternoon and twilight rates might cause expense-account auditors to take a second look. Nonetheless, as is becoming a pattern, they’re worth the splurge.
Both layouts sport the usual artful Fazio bunkers and contouring, as well as roomy, saddled landing areas, dense vegetation, coastal pines, eucalyptus and handsome Pacific Ocean vistas. Holes plunge into canyons and climb atop ridges. On most days, flighting a ball amid the sea breezes further livens the proceedings.
Perhaps the more scenic of the two courses — and the friendliest to mid- and higher-handicappers — is Ocean South. At a manageable 6,580 yards, par-70 from the tips, it’s fun and playable for all. The most memorable front-nine test is the 193-yard, par-3 seventh, which starts with an ocean view from the slightly elevated tee. Also visible are three greenside bunkers and a stone-edged lake, along with a recently added sandy expanse popped down between tee and green.
The boldly bunkered, 367-yard, par-4 11th returns to the ocean, though it’s merely an attractive appetizer for the back-to-back oceanside par 3s that follow. At 159 yards but playing longer, the 12th parallels the Pacific and features sprawling bunkers that melt into larger dunes. The 13th is unique. Again, the ocean hugs the left side, while straight ahead are two separate greens, divided by an enormous sand feature. The left-hand green calls for a 131-yard shot, the right green only 108 yards. Wherever the hole location is on that day, it’s a memorable short iron. Ocean South closes in heroic fashion, with a 453-yard par 4 that demands a double-canyon crossing.
Ocean North doesn’t get as close to the sea, but it’s the low-handicappers' course, longer by 400 yards, with narrower fairways, greens tougher to access and more forced carries. Ocean North crests at the 558-yard, par-5 17th, which climbs to a bluff overlooking the Pacific.
Currently, half of the Ocean North holes — one through three and 13 through 18 — are closed for a renovation by architect Brian Curley, who has been prolific in Asia and 25 countries worldwide for more than two decades. Curley grew up in Pebble Beach, so he knows his way around a seaside venue. He has finished the work on holes four through 12 after making adjustments and enhancements to Ocean South, which reopened in mid-May.
Curley earned the renovation commission by espousing a less-is-more approach. The work involved more restoration than remodel. “I came in with a soft-handed, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ concept,” Curley says. “We rebuilt the bunkers with new sand and new liners, and we expanded tee complexes. But equally important was to clear some of the vegetation we were permitted to and to enhance the coastal aesthetic.
“Everybody comes here to see the ocean and to be at the ocean. In 30 years, the vegetation had grown in and essentially created a curtain. We thinned out what we could to open views, so when you stand on a tee, you see as much blue as you can.”
At the seventh, Curley chiseled out what was effectively a fairway on a par 3, creating a wild, rugged, fescued sand sprawl. It lends more of a beachy ambience to a seaside hole. He did something similar at the par-4 11th, pulling the sandy scrub environment all the way to the tee. Elsewhere, he altered the visual monotony of the semicircle upslope of grass backed with vegetation that loomed behind many greens. “The philosophy 30 years ago was that each hole should be an isolated entity,” Curley says. “Today, we prefer to showcase the attributes of a great property, as well as to maximize ocean views.”
In making select fixes to Ocean North, Curley remains committed to placing emphasis on playability, variety and views. He plans to take down the mounds behind the first green so that golfers can partake of an early-round ocean vista. The entire Ocean North is slated to reopen in November.
For a peek at what’s to come (in PR-speak): Already a consistent five-star, five-diamond winner, the resort concurrently is enhancing its villas and bungalows, as it “transitions in 2027 into the first-ever St. Regis Estate, an ultra-exclusive brand expression representing a new tier of storied properties distinguished by expansive grounds, rich heritage and extraordinary amenities,” writes Modern Currency PR.
It’s a stretch to contemplate how a resort can upgrade into next-level luxury when it already exudes a way-upscale vibe; details are forthcoming. For now, offerings occupy the superior category that one expects when rack rates can run into four figures a night.
Set on 504 acres, Pelican Hill embraces a Mediterranean motif, right down to the Italian cypress trees that frame villas and bungalows to more than 750 century-old olive trees that dot the hillside, which yield a signature extra-virgin olive oil used not only in the resort’s restaurants but in spa treatments as well.
The sybaritic Spa at Pelican Hill features treatment rooms, a fitness center and the Acqua Colonnade, where attractions include a cedar sauna, a eucalyptus steam room and saltwater Roman soaking tubs. The ultimate Roman soaking tub on property is the enormous Coliseum Pool, complete with spacious cabanas. An on-site restaurant, the Coliseum Pool & Grill, overlooks this remarkable complex and the golf courses and valley below.
Continuing the culinary adventure, the Pelican Grill at the Golf Club is lauded for two reasons. One-half of the space makes up one of golf’s greatest 19th holes, where golfers can appear underdressed when compared to the locals who flock here at happy hour to check out big-screen TVs, excellent food and drink and a terrace that overlooks the Pacific. The other half of the space is reserved for lunches and dinners, featuring California-accented beef and seafood classics. Indicative of the quality of the restaurant and the bank accounts of the clientele, the menu offers an Italian black truffle add-on for $55.
Clearly, the Resort at Pelican Hill isn’t for every budget. For those willing and able to pay for perfection, however, with service to match, this might be as close as it gets.
