pebble beach, california. You’ve probably heard of Jim Nantz’s backyard golf hole, a miniature replica of the seventh at Pebble Beach golf courses. You may have seen a video of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning on the doorstep of their private residence. But have you heard the story of how you bought your dream home overlooking Pebble Beach? well, pull up a chair and let the voice of cbs sports tell it in his inimitable style.
nantz’s fondness for the monterey peninsula dates back to 1969, when he was 10 years old and living in the east bay town of moraga. Ella’s father, Jim II, took the family on a three-hour drive to Pebble Beach, and young Jim never forgot to look out the window at the golf course in the distance.
years later, when he was assigned to go to pebble beach to broadcast the 1986 at&t pebble beach pro-am, his time there reaffirmed those childhood memories that this was a special place. she even stopped to look at a house for sale near the spyglass.
“I was beginning to understand that in my line of work I could live wherever I wanted. I don’t have an office at CBS in New York, no desk, no phone, nothing,” Nantz says. “Then, the whole country is yours. it’s quite a daunting task if you think about it. but I always thought, ‘where is there a more beautiful place in the world than right here?’ I haven’t found any.”
For 25 years, Nantz harbored a dream of owning an address overlooking what he calls the mecca of American golf. every year during the at&t pebble beach pro-am, nantz would wake up while the sky was still dark, jog to the par 3 seventh hole, sit on the split-rail fence at the back of the tee and make a inventory of your life.
“I used to call it my one-man board of directors,” Nantz said.
Its significance grew in importance when he took his now wife Courtney there for the first time in 2010.
“something happened that I had never seen before,” Nantz said. “A rainbow was draped over us across the sky. it was a perfect 180. I mean, the pebble is the end of the rainbow, but you don’t see them often here. it’s not hawaii in fact, I don’t know if I’ve seen one since.”
Over the years, Nantz also looked at quite a few houses in Pebble Beach. on Thursday night, Oct. On January 20, 2011, a real estate agent called Nantz with a unique property that he thought would sell very quickly and urged Nantz to fly there immediately. There was just one problem: He was scheduled to call a New York Jets home game on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers. Unwilling to risk losing his dream home, he made arrangements with CBS Coordinating Producer Lance Barrow to miss Friday’s rehearsal and booked a flight to San Francisco.
“I got on a plane with courtney the next morning at 6 on the first flight out of the new york area. lo and behold (cbs nfl commentator) ian eagle is on the plane. he says, ‘did I screw up or did you screw up? i think i’m going to call the oakland raiders game and go to their practice today. please don’t tell me you think you’re playing the mugger game too.”
“I told him we were going to go to Pebble Beach,” Nantz continued. “He knew we were getting married there in June and I told him we had some final details to work out. it wasn’t fake. everything was tied to our future. we landed at 9 a.m. m., we jumped in a car and headed straight to pebble beach for a noon date. we had an hour. I had seen a lot of real estate over the years and at the end of the house tour, our real estate agent said, “what do you think?” I said “I love it”. I loved the environment, I saw the potential to do a lot of things to make it the kind of house I’ve always wanted. I wanted a Spanish villa with interior and exterior, all looking like terracotta tiles. he said: ‘I don’t want to pressure you, but I think it’s going to sell.’ there are appointments scheduled for the whole afternoon. I asked what the number is and offered the total selling price. i signed a document and i got in a car and we rushed to the airport and made the last afternoon flight back to new york and i still had to hold my breath through the weekend. In short, we got it.”
Thus followed an eight-month renovation and expansion project with the goal of having their new home ready to move into on their wedding night, June 9, 2012.
“My god, they did it,” Nantz said. “There were 45 people in the house doing the finishing touches the day before the wedding. we had our rehearsal party and house christening the day before the wedding – we didn’t stay there – and cut a ribbon. the next night, after the reception, I carried her to the threshold of our new home.”
don’t you love when a plan goes well?