The best credentials for which a golf resort can possibly hope is to have a course rated No. 1 in the country by Golf Digest and to be preparing to host its fifth U.S. Open. That's the enviable status of Pebble Beach Resorts, the setting for the Pebble Beach Golf Links, Golf Digest's top dog for the sixth consecutive year and on deck for the 2010 U.S. Open.

Jack Nicklaus has said, "If I only had one more round to play, I would play it at Pebble Beach. It's possibly the

The best credentials for which a golf resort can possibly hope is to have a course rated No. 1 in the country by Golf Digest and to be preparing to host its fifth U.S. Open. That's the enviable status of Pebble Beach Resorts, the setting for the Pebble Beach Golf Links, Golf Digest's top dog for the sixth consecutive year and on deck for the 2010 U.S. Open.

Jack Nicklaus has said, "If I only had one more round to play, I would play it at Pebble Beach. It's possibly the best in the world."

But Pebble Beach is much more than its star course. In fact, there are three more distinctive layouts to play. And three Mobil Four-Star hotels—the Lodge at Pebble Beach, overlooking the ocean; Casa Palmero on the opening holes of Pebble Beach Golf Links; and the Inn at Spanish Bay, sitting among tall pines near the Links at Spanish Bay. An abundance of activities keep golfers and their families happily entertained.

This was what Pebble Beach founder Samuel Finley Brown Morse had in mind when he originally acquired hundreds of acres on California's Monterey Peninsula. Starting with one course, he built a world-famous golf enclave that was his life's work for more than 50 years.

The Pebble Beach Golf Links and The Lodge at Pebble Beach opened in 1919. Incredibly, the world-famous course was laid out by a pair of amateur golfers with no design experience. Jack Neville and Douglas Grant said the course was there, as nature created it, and that they simply plotted as many ocean holes as possible. The layout has changed very little. However, in preparation for the 2010 U.S. Open, Arnold Palmer oversaw some alterations to preserve the historic shot values. For instance, play is now closer to the ocean on several holes and the distance from the back tees is 6,828 yards.

Robert Trent Jones, Sr. designed the Spyglass Hill Golf Course, which opened in 1966. It ranked 11th in Golf Digest's 2009 list of "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses." Holes are named for characters in Treasure Island, the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, who may have drawn inspiration from this coastline during a visit in the late 1870s. The layout runs among the dunes for five holes, then threads through pine forest for 13 holes with heavily bunkered, elevated greens. From the back tees, it has a daunting rating/slope of 75.5/147.

The Links at Spanish Bay, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Tom Watson, and Sandy Tatum, is a quintessential links layout, with sand dunes, clusters of gnarly vegetation, and firm fairways dotted with pot bunkers. The Pacific contributes waves and wind in a good imitation of the Irish Sea.

Pebble Beach's fourth course lies inland, out of the limelight shared by the coastal trio. Opened in 1897, the Del Monte Golf Course was for many years considered one of the best in the world. It's a classic parkland track, cleverly bunkered, with small, sculpted greens.

For more than 20 years freelancer Dale Leatherman has specialized in golf and adventure travel. Assignments take her all over the world, but she's always happy to be back home playing mountain courses in West Virginia. She is also president-elect of the Society of American Travel Writers.