Location: Pinehurst, NC

Architect: Donald Ross

Year: 1935

June 8, 2007

The site of two US Open Championships (1999 & 2005) this course is well known for its near impossible greens and Payne Stewart’s dramatic win in 1999 memorialized in the statue below. 

 

 

The Donald Ross designed course is fairly standard tee to green, so the real challenge is with the putter. On the day I played the greens had been recently aerated and, although there were no bumps or visible signs that this had been done, the grounds crew only had them stimped to 7 instead of their usual 12-13.

 

I booked a tee time the day of which is when they open the tee sheet to the public if there are any slots left. My group was a 3 ball and play was slow on the first nine. I liked number 4 with its elevated tee box and number 9 which was a fun par 3 that had a tricky hole location. A storm started brewing as we hit our drives on number 10 which helped pick up the pace of play quite a bit. We played the second 9 in an hour and 40 minutes compared to 2 hours and 30 minutes for the first nine.

 

This course is one not to be missed and tee times can be had by anyone who stays at the Pinehurst resort or is in the area to make a same day reservation. I’ll definitely be back to putt those greens when they’re a little speedier. Overall, it was a great day much of which was owed to my incredible Caddy Jimmy G. He’s been caddying there for years and knows every square inch of that course. I’d recommend asking for him if you decide to head to North Carolina’s sandhills.

 

The Itinerant Golfer :: May.01.2008 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

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