Enough with comparing Tiger Woods' new, unfinished Baja coast course to Pebble Beach

I’m not one of those bitter buffoons in the golf world who rip on everything that Tiger Woods does because they think it makes them counter cultural and edgy or something. I’m not one of those liberal loons who whines that Tiger should be making courses for inner city golfers all while they themselves are being promoted by huge money elitist websites such as the Huffington Post.

But with that said, Tiger Woods is making the kind of mistake with his new Punta Brava course that Tiger never makes.

He’s way overhyping it. This from the guy who always underplays everything. That’s been part of Tiger’s brilliance. When other lesser golfers (and every golfer who’s ever played is lesser to Tiger Woods) pat themselves on the back and try to play up their modest accomplishments into near legends, Tiger always goes completely the other way.

He downplays the knee that has him limping at Torrey Pines and pulls off the win in the greatest U.S. Open ever - while still being smart and aware enough to tell the drooling media fools that no, it doesn’t compare to Ben Hogan. Hogan was hit by a freaking Greyhound bus.

Tiger’s always understood that by not going too crazy over himself, he builds even more of an aura and gains more historical respect. But what he’s doing with his new golf course on the Baja coast of Mexico, the one that’s not even going to be completed for another three years?

He’s trying to brand it as Mexico’s Pebble Beach. He’s giving the type of 1-on-1 interviews he never gives at a swank Beverly Hills hotel (even if they five totally controlled minutes each, that’s still way more than Tiger usually does). He’s almost turning into just another salesman.

Obviously, a lot of this has to do with the fact that the owner that is paying him many, many, many, many crazy millions to design this $100 million course is trying to build buzz. But Mexico’s Pebble Beach? Before it’s even close to being much more than some nice land on the ocean?

Here’s a newsflash for the fawning sportswriters who’ve been dutifully repeating the Mexico’s Pebble Beach spin: the Baja coast already has some pretty damn spectacular ocean courses. Many of them are even public. Jack Nicklaus’ Cabo del Sol Ocean Course brings you awfully close to the surf. Cabo Real is almost just as good (though Palmilla’s 27 holes are overrated). And that’s just a few of the public golf courses in the Cabo corridor that have been around for years.

I go to Cabo at least once or twice every year for this job and my next trip is already set up for early this winter. I’ll probably try to make a side trip to see the Punta Brava site too. So I’ll be adding at least another story to the hype (though an honest one). But truth is, if you know golf in that part of Mexico and appreciate something unique, you might be more excited to see what Arthur Hills has done on a peninsula near the town of La Paz, a course that will actually open this year.

And one that regular resort guest golfers can play.

Mexico’s Pebble Beach? Three years early? Come on Tiger, you’re better than that type of hyperbole. You always have been.