My Pinehurst golf excursion – an insane weekend of golf in NC

As I wrote about in an earlier blog entry, over Columbus Day weekend in October a bunch of us (3 foursomes) took a trip to Pinehurst, NC to play the legendary Pinehurst #2 as well as the other fantastic golf courses that are part of the Pinehurst complex and the surrounding area.   What a blast it was.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with Pinehurst, the Wikipedia article is here, but here is an excerpt from it:

The first PGA Tour major staged at Pinehurst was the 1936 PGA Championship which was won by Denny Shute. In 1951 the resort hosted the Ryder Cup and in 1991 and 1992 it was the venue for The Tour Championship. In 1999 Pinehurst staged its second major, the U.S. Open, which was won by Payne Stewart at the #2 course. It also hosted the 2005 U.S. Open, which was won by New Zealand‘s Michael Campbell, and is scheduled to host the tournament again in 2014.  The resort now has eight golf courses, three hotels, a spa and extensive sports and leisure facilities.

I took the redeye from Seattle and arrived on Thursday am, got off the plane, and almost immediately started my first round on course #6.  What a great way to start off the weekend.   We then settled into my friend from college’s house for the weekend and got ready for what was going to be a great set of golf courses with an assortment of friends from college, SF, and business school (see below). 

The courses we played are below in ranked order of my most favorite to least favorite:

1. Pine Needles – not a Pinehurst course but it was designed by Donald Ross (the architect of Pinehurst #2).   The course was difficult but not killer, beautifully laid out, painstakingly and lovingly manicured.   A must play course if you take a trip to Pinehurst – especially since it is ranked #45 in the US public course rankings!
2. Pinehurst #2 – the legendary course that everyone talks about and few have ever played.  A classic Donald Ross course with crazy crowned greens and wide fairways.  I loved the course but I had very high expectations due to its rating and as a result, I wasnt wowed.   This blog entry by a USAToday columnist describes the feeling that I had perfectly.
3. Pinehurst #6 – Just a beautiful rolling hills course designed originally by Tom Fazio and then re-designed in 2005 by a friend of mine from high school who was working for Fazio as a designer.   My friend’s specialty was bunkers and I guess it is a testament to his design skills that my ball just loved to rest in the bunkers he built… A phenomenal golf experience.
4. Pinehurst #4 – the site of the 2008 Amateur, the kids playing this course must have had a blast.   I think that all of us had a huge smile upon leaving the course.   For some reason, it was just one of those great courses that is really fun to play in addition to being extremely challenging.
5. The Pit – This was an interesting course to rank since two of my friends that had played Pinehurst already highly recommended the course to me.  As a result, I chose it over a few other ones.   That being said, when we arrived we knew we were in for a harsh second round (post-#2 in the morning) when the hats they were selling were in camouflage and said “i survived the Pit”.   I loved the course because it has some very interesting layouts and beautiful scenery.   Most of the rest of the crew flat-out hated it.   Not for everyone i guess!
6. Pinehurst #5 –  A fun course.  Nothing out of the ordinary but nothing bad either…
7. Pinehurst #1 – Our last course and it probably should have been our first.  Definitely not bad but a little disappointing after playing so many fantastic courses over the rest of the weekend.  The 18th hole in particular was bad because it seemed like they forgot about it and inserted it as an after-thought.  Especially since hole 17 was great and would have served as a perfect finishing hole.

All in all, an experience that I will hopefully repeat a few more times in the near future (especially given the ability to get member discounts as well as a free place to stay…).  Thanks Brandon!!

I also plan to try and play as many Donald Ross courses as I can – what an amazing eye he had for golf course layouts.    Here are some random pics from the weekend.

When I go back (or for anyone planning a golf trip there), here is the order that I would recommend:

Pinehurst 5
Pinehurst 6
Pinehurst 4
Mid-Pines (we didnt play but Pine Needles’s sister course)
Pinehurst 2
Pinehurst 8 (the only public Pinehurst course but we didnt play because it was fully booked)
Pine Needles

If you made it this far, then you may be interested in a little video compilation that my friend Chris M. from business school put together of the weekend.   Great times!!!