POT PLANTS NOT PAR FOR THE COURSE NEAR LINKS

Deputies Discover 101 Mature Specimens

Monterey County Sheriff's deputies have cut down a 4-foot-high patch of
sweet-smoking rough that was just an errant 9-iron shot away from some of
the world's finest golf real estate.

The marijuana plantation, hidden right where the eighth hole at Spanish Bay
meets the 10th at Monterey Peninsula, had a par value of half a million
dollars.

Lt. Bill Freeman, head of the narcotics squad, said deputies found 101
rapidly maturing plants in a well-hidden but sunny area just off 17 Mile
Drive, where the Spanish Bay Golf Links abuts the Dunes Course of the
Monterey Peninsula Country Club.

Freeman said deputies, who were tipped by someone who was not a golfer,
also found a watering system and trash cans full of water. Freeman said the
plants were "obviously being manicured,'' and watered by hand as well as by
drip.

"It looked like the water was coming from the ninth tee at Spanish Bay,''
he said.

There are no suspects. The investigation is continuing. Freeman said his
department follows up all tips made to (888) 833-4847 and keeps them anonymous.

Freeman estimated the plants were about a month away from full potency and
might have been worth more than $500,000 if sold after the Fourth of July.

"We're entering the height of the growing season,'' he said. "and I'm
assuming there's a good demand for good marijuana.''

There seems to be a correlation between wine country and marijuana country.
Monterey County is less famous for its marijuana than, say, Sonoma and
Mendocino. But, said Freeman, "a lot of the old-time growers, they'll say
that the marijuana that comes out of the Big Sur area is as potent'' as any
Northern California produces.

"At one time,'' he said, "we used to have what they called the Big Sur
Bomber. Big Sur Bombers were, oh, about an ounce of marijuana rolled up --
I mean, it was like a cigar.''