Pinehurst No. 2: I'd play it every day
Despite how tough it is to score well, don't shy away from Donald Ross's crown jewel!
(This is not another April Fools story about playing Pinehurst No. 2)
The 18th hole—451 yards from the U.S. Open tees—at Pinehurst #2 from green to tee
It was the hot and humid afternoon of the recent Memorial Day when four of us gathered on the first tee of the Pinehurst Resort No. 2 course for our mid-afternoon 3:10 p.m. tee time. We had the luxury of being the last group of the day and none of us—me, for sure—were in a hurry to get through the amazing 18 holes created by renowned architect Donald Ross and brought back to life in recent years, as it was originally designed, by the twosome of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.
The temperature that Memorial afternoon tried to reach 90 degrees, but we were not discouraged. The group in front of us and the golfers in front of them and maybe others ahead of them were taking it slowly, probably soaking in one of the great golf courses in the world, or having difficulty scoring well. We reduced our pace so as not to be rushed. Sunset was about 8:15; we had plenty of time to enjoy the surroundings, even if our golf achievements were, well, on or over par, so to speak.
Departing from the USGA Rules of Golf of practicing on the course in stroke play competition throughout the round, we replayed short chip shots around the green and missed putts on the green to see if there was a better route to approach the hole, to get closer to the cup, maybe dropping a chip or a putt of any length on No. 2’s sometimes-referred-to diabolical greens with false fronts, sides and backs.
For Memorial Day, the Bermuda grass greens had been tightly mowed and slightly sanded to help with summer growth and grass life. On one hand it made the round tougher, not only reading the grain of the grass but the give and take of the sand dusting. On the other hand, we were playing a two-person total net Stableford per hole in a Nassau of front, back and overall. Since that’s match play, we could practice all we desired after the completion of each hole with no penalty. And with no one behind us, we took advantage of practicing on Pinehurst No. 2, just a little.
May 30th was a fun and funny day on the golf course. Walking the layout was fun, even without a caddy and with a pushcart carrying my bag. At age 70, I had no reason to shoulder my bag, especially in the heat. It was a somewhat funny day as we all hit some very good shots and some very bad shots, mixing the two throughout the round. For me, the fun didn’t begin until the third hole after missing the fairways with tee shots on the first two holes and playing longer approaches from the sandy soil and “love” grass in the “rough” just off the tightly mowed fairways. There’s no transition between the fairway and the sandy soil, love grass area.
Lesson learned on the first two holes: avoid the deep greenside sand bunkers which can add strokes to your score and age to your age, especially if you’re trying to beat the course, to score well, to surpass your declared over/under score of 85 despite having a course playing handicap of just seven shots. With all of that, we made it to the third hole, my best of the day. Keep reading.
Three of us agreed to compete from the hybrid White/Tufts tees, reducing the White tees course yardage of 6307 yards while increasing the Tufts tees course yardage of 5771. The hybrid course was 5949 yards, nearly the same of 5959 yards from the tees I play regularly at Lonnie Poole Golf Course. The Wolfpack tees at LPGC are 6032 yards long, but we’ve been playing a hybrid course—moving to the Gray tees on the 5th and 18th holes—which doesn’t change the course rating and slope of 68.8/123. The White/Tufts hybrid at Pinehurst No. 2 has a course rating and slope of 68.9/124.
For anyone who has played the two courses, the greens at Pinehurst No. 2 make it much tougher than do the sand bunkers at LPGC. Course ratings are not for comparison to other courses. If so, the course rating at LPGC might be higher which would cause handicap indexes to drop. That’s another story for another time so back to No. 2.
After a couple holes to remind us—this wasn’t our first rodeo there—of the intricacies of Pinehurst No. 2, we reached the third hole, a 330-yard par four with rough that juts out into the fairway, which can scoop up tee shots that seem to be down the middle. In the 1970s, a cousin was head professional at Pinehurst Country Club. My tee balls then traveled a bit longer than today. Back then, I wasn’t interested in playing the longest layout and hit a pretty good tee shot on the first hole from a more forward tee only to watch my ball roll into the rough, a thick Bermuda which had replaced the original sandy, love grass rough.
My cousin suggested I play from a longer tee with him. My second try went as far as the first but it never made it to the rough. “The landing areas here are perfect for the long-ball player from the back tees,” he explained. “You’ll have a little longer shot to the greens, but you should avoid the rough.” I’m reminded of that when playing any course: Figure out the tee ball landing areas to keep your second shot from being played from the rough or a fairway bunker or being lost in the red lined hazard area.
My tee shot on Pinehurst No. 2’s third hole was down the middle and came to rest just short of the jutted rough, now sandy soil and clumps of love grass. My second shot was with a 46-degree wedge, hoping to land the ball a few feet onto the green and watch it roll closer to the hole, a middle pin position. My approach was stroked as expected; it landed on the false front, took one bounce forward, and fortunately came to rest just above the false front break point. A half-inch shorter and the ball would have rolled off the front of the green and likely into the front left green-side bunker.
Considering the grain of the Bermuda and the sandy film covering the green, and the up-hill left to right length of 20 feet, I was pleasantly surprised when my putt barely reached the cup and dropped in for a birdie three. I was so thrilled by the results of the putt that, unknowingly, I let players on the adjoining fourth tee, fifth green, and sixth tee know of my accomplishment. “I made a birdie!” I shouted to the heavens several times before I realized all those other players had stopped their play until I stopped celebrating. That birdie was one thing that made my day at Pinehurst No. 2.
The remainder of the round was a mix of pars, bogeys, and double bogeys with a few remote chances for another birdie. The closest was the par-3, ninth hole, playing 148 yards with the pin on the right of the two tier (upper left to lower right) green. I hit my Titleist ProV1 with a 7-iron, which landed left of the hole on the transition incline between the two levels and rolled toward the hole, stopping about four feet from the cup. I read the putt as a slight right to left break. One of my fellow competitors told me it was a sure thing left to right break of about two inches, but that was after I missed the birdie attempt wide right, missing out on receiving a special coin from Pinehurst Resort that would have said, “I made a 2 on No. 2!” For the day and for the record, I was one over par on the four par threes and three over par on the four par fives. And, I made three pars in a row: the 9th, 10th and 11th holes!
Golfers have good reasons when deciding on the superiority of a golf course, especially compared to other golf courses. Some of the factors are routing, flow, design, strategy, fairness, memorability, condition (especially the greens), variety, aesthetics, and experience. Who am I to disagree with the architect, Donald Ross, or the renovators, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw? I give those factors top grades. The superintendent who takes care of No. 2 gets top reviews for course/greens condition.
Pinehurst No. 2 is continually rated as the top course in North Carolina for all the right reasons the least of which, hopefully, is the prestige it brings to our state, especially as a USGA anchor site for the U.S. Open. It’s a tough course, no doubt. And not everyone who plays it likes it. “Of all the Pinehurst courses, number two is my least favorite,” said one golfer playing on Memorial Day “I couldn’t play it every day.”
I beg to differ. When asked my humble (hah!) opinion of golf courses, my first thought is: Would I play it every day? As tough as the No. 2 course at Pinehurst Resort presents itself with greens that make you talk to yourself and curse the architect for the design of those greens and the superintendent who makes sure the greens are at a level that makes you…well…talk to yourself and curse the architect and superintendent, I could play Pinehurst No. 2 every day.
Indeed, it was a hot and humid late afternoon when four of us gathered on the first tee at Pinehurst No. 2, the last group to play that course that day. Just about four and a half hours and 18 holes later as we walked off the last green, I looked back at the beauty of the layout and the enjoyment I derived from playing it, trying to figure out when I could return for another round at Pinehurst No. 2. Yes, I repeat, I could play that course every day.