Wow! A truly remarkable, unbelievable 18 holes on Donald Ross's famed Pinehurst No. 2!

Walk with me as I play way over my head on this U.S. Open golf course at the Pinehurst Country Club. It was a great stroll with a lot of golf-playing imagination!

The par three seventeenth hole at Pinehurst No. 2

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Funny but not to make you laugh

Golf is a funny game. It’s a frustrating game. It’s a game to make you think, and a game of luck with some skill tossed in, or maybe it’s the other way around, skill then luck. One minute you’re disgusted with a shot only to murmur-laugh—you know, under your breath—then the next stroke results in unthinkably good results which make you laugh louder and harder.

Recently my game has had so many ups and downs, I’m not sure if I’m coming or going or never returning or determined to make the next starting time, scoring in the mid-to-high 70s one day, the mid-to-low 80s the next, back to the 70s and then toss in a solid and surprising 90, as I did recently at my home venue, the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on the N.C. State University campus. Frustrating? Laughable? Encouraging? Disappointed? Yep, all of the above tossed in with thoughts of laying off two weeks and then quitting the game, yuck, yuck!

That is until the recent invitation from a friend arrived via Gmail requesting my presence at the Pinehurst Country Club for a round on Donald Ross’s gem, Pinehurst No. 2. I didn’t want to embarrass myself so for an instant, maybe less than that, I considered rejecting the offer, hoping for a second chance when my game included more confidence in playing well. That was for an instance, actually a lot less than an instance. Game on, I responded. Never turn down the chance to play that course, especially on someone else’s dime.

Golf, it has been said, is a good walk spoiled, but, on an early spring day, walking a special course with friends while caddies tote the golf bags and offer advice on club selection and putting breaks, it’s definitely NOT a good walk spoiled no matter how you play, what you score. Think of it as a fun time to be had. When you play well, when you hit solid and accurate shots, make putts, stroll along the fairways, and enjoy the course, the surroundings, it’s an experience that is not to be forgotten and must be chronicled.  Especially when the course is Pinehurst No. 2.

So, on Tuesday of this week, just a few days ago, I played No. 2 in the Sandhills of North Carolina, and, well, let me just say that it is always a treat to play No. 2, now an anchor course for the U.S. Open. Scoring well, actually spectacularly, made it specialler (not a word but a good way to describe the day). Those up and down scores at home are forgotten for now and for many days to come because of Tuesday’s round. If you have a few moments, read this account of that remarkable day, and see for yourself.

The round played Tuesday, just a few days ago, wasn’t my first at Pinehurst No. 2, and I hope it’s not my last though age will catch up with me sometime. I’ll turn 70 in late May. I played Pinehurst No. 2 in the 1960s as a junior golfer in leisurely and tournament settings. That’s when “love” grass and sandy soil without Bermuda grass in the rough was aplenty along the fairway edges. I played No. 2 many times as a full resort course after the sandy rough was replaced with thick Bermuda grass, heaven forbid, from tree line to tree line. That’s the course condition when the 1999 U.S. Open was played there. Thank goodness Pinehurst No. 2 was restored a few years ago to Ross’s original idea and design. Tuesday’s drive to Pinehurst to play No. 2 wasn’t my first round on the renovated layout; it’ll probably be my best ever before and after my landmark birthday.

Starting on the sixth hole

It was a wee bit unusual when we started our round on the sixth hole instead of the first. With daylight savings time and the course in demand, management wanted to maximize play so there were two shotgun starts scheduled—one early morning; one early afternoon—and a nine-hole shotgun at the end of the day. It was a little uncomfortable and unconventional way to begin play Pinehurst No. 2 which hosted the U.S. Open in 1999, 2005, and 2014 and will host the U.S. Open in 2024, 2029, 2035, 2041, and 2047. My round Tuesday was an early birthday present offered by a friend, so who would I be to argue with our starting hole?

Given time, walking to the sixth tee from the clubhouse would have been so peaceful, especially watching the tradition of caddies and the greens staff using bamboo fishing poles to sweep the dew off the fairway. However, to expedite the day, everyone drove carts to the starting holes while the caddies, all looping double bags, road with us. The dew remained until the sun warmed things up. As we made it to the sixth tee, I remembered this area as a great U.S. Open viewing spot where the third and fifth greens and fourth and sixth tees merge. As we rode past the third green, I looked to my left to get a glimpse of the fifth hole which at one time was Ross’s favorite par four among all par four holes he designed. It was but isn’t now Ross’s top par four because the hole was extended in the Coore & Crenshaw renovation and made a par five while changing the fourth hole from a par five to a par four to maintain par 72. (Ross’s second favorite par four is the third at Linville Country Club in North Carolina’s High Country near Grandfather Mountain.)

As we made our way to the sixth tee, goose bumps engulfed my body as always happens when playing No. 2. This is a special place, one to be revered no matter how you play and score. It’s a must on any golfer’s bucket list. I thought about rounds of yesteryear, viewing the course, appreciating what the team of Coore & Crenshaw had done to Mr. Ross’s prized layout, transforming it from the resort appeal to the sandy spaces between fairways and trees. I was ready to appreciate this magnificent course no matter how it received my game and how my ability attacked the golf course.

Since, even at the age of 69, I have considerable distance off the tee and know when to play a little longer club for approach shots, I chose to play from the white tees—6307 yards with a 70.7 rating and 126 slope—as did my playing partners. The distance, I knew, would be a challenge but nowhere close to the U.S. Open tips of 7588 yards, 76.5 rating, and 138 slope. And off we went.

The sixth hole—our beginning hole—played 178 yards, and there was no wind early that morning. Actually, the wind was minimal all day and gave us a chance to play the course as designed. I’ll not bore you with a description of every hole, only the unusual circumstances and successes. The sixth green is one of those weird and frustrating examples but with my success. The green appears relatively flat except for the edges. Ross’s greens have always been described as inverted tea saucers which cause your ball to depart the green unless squarely in the middle. On the sixth, the front left is severe that way. I thought my tee shot, a five iron, was safely on the green and 10-feet from the hole, but it veered a little left, caught the slope and rolled off the front of the green, nearly rolling into a sand bunker. I chose to putt from off the green, rolling the ball to a foot from the hole and making a nice but uncomfortable opening-hole par three.

On the seventh tee, I took the advice of my caddie, Wheeler, and drove the ball to the straight and away from the sandy, love-grass filled space to the right on this dogleg right. After a solid shot onto the green which then rolled off the front again from which I putted again, I lipped my birdie and made an easy par four on the seventh handicap hole. After two holes and even par, I felt pretty good. And lucky.

Playing like John Daly, sort of

Then came the par five eighth, the hole where John Daly, in the 1999 U.S. Open, was given a two-stroke penalty for hitting a moving ball. I pushed a drive to the right, stopping 240 yards off the tee atop long-leaf pine straw about 200 yards from the green. It’s unusual for me to cut a shot, but I did with a 20-degree hybrid off the pine straw with such effort the ball skidded across the green, coming to rest close to where Daly was that day in 1999 when I watched him try to putt up a hill only to have the ball never make it to the green and roll back to his feet. After it stopped, he tried again and told his caddy he would hit it on the move if the ball rolled back again. It did, and he did. For Daly, the pin was on the back of the green; for me the pin was on the front; my effort was a little easier but still delicate so as not to roll it off the front. My shot, a putt (my chipping and pitching around the green is suspect these days, so it’s not unusual to see me use a putter from as much as 20 yards off a green) up a sizable hill, came to stop four feet below the hole. I made the putt for a birdie. One-under. after three holes.

After failing to get up and down from a bunker and scoring a bogey on the 148-yard par three ninth hole (now even par) and a routine par at the 455-yard par five tenth hole, I played the par four eleventh, 375 yards, very well, hitting driver and 9-iron and holing a 15-foot down hill left to right slider, read perfectly by Wheeler. Another birdie and I was one-under after six holes and feeling really good and fortunate. The Bermuda greens were rolling true and fast.

The twelfth through fifteenth holes were up and down, literally, making par four from a greenside bunker on twelve, a bogey five after bunkering my second shot on thirteen, a two-putt par four on the fourteenth, and a bizarre bogey on the par three, 170-yard fifteenth, playing into the slight breeze. My five iron reached the fifteenth green, just past the cup located on the right side of the green, but I didn’t follow my caddy’s advice and played too much break, and watched the ball slide past the hole, take the green’s severe false front and roll into the deep front right sand bunker. Somehow my blast from the sand came to rest two feet below the hole and my second putt went in for a four. I was one-over par for the round after playing 10 holes.

After a par five at the sixteenth hole, I asked Wheeler to club me on the 162-yard par three seventeenth. The breeze, not very strong, was right to left. The pin was on the front, reducing the distance to about 150-yards. Wheeler thought six-iron; I asked for the seven, took a hard swing, hit the ball high above the tree line and watched it draw toward the green. It landed just over the front right sand bunker, caught the green’s downhill left slope, and rolled to within six inches of the cup. Birdie! Now, even par!

Pinehurst No. 2’s eighteen hole, where Payne Stewart made a 15-foot putt to win the 1999 U.S. Open, is a wonderful finishing hole but our 13th of the day. The 366-yard par four plays uphill usually into the wind, and a little longer than advertised. Today was no exception. After a less than desirable drive, I was 185 yards from the green and asked for my hybrid, much like a three iron, because the wind seemed a bit stronger than it had been. As he handed me my club selection, Wheeler pleaded for me to hit the ball above the clubhouse roof line to allow for the wind to knock it down onto the green. A low approach would end up in the clubhouse.

I hit the eighteenth-hole approach shot as Wheeler suggested, and the ball came to rest in the middle of the green. I two-putted for another par and turned toward the first tee level par for the day with five holes to play. I was dreaming of grandeur at this point. I noticed my playing partners were not very talkative at that point, at least not about golf. They wanted to make plans to go to the Pinehurst Brewery post round. It dawned on me I was the pitcher with the perfect game or the no-hitter headed into late innings; no one would approach me, must less talk to me, about golf. Wheeler remained steady.

Even par with five to go

The first three holes at Pinehurst No. 2 are the type that will make or break anyone with high hopes of a good round. It’s not the layout or the rough that are issues. The greens with their interesting contours and less than obvious breaks can be frustrating right off the bat, causing angst for the rest of the round, but we had played 13 holes, so I was used to it. I was short of the first green in two and, using a putter from off the green, failed to get up and down in two, recording a bogey five. I was one-over par for the round. Four hole to play.

The second hole played at 411 yards, and I needed a well-played bunker shot for my third to set up a four-foot par putt which did a 360 before settling into the bottom of the cup. The third hole is one of the shortest par fours on No. 2, but the 330-yard layout is difficult, calling for an accurate tee shot with a three-metal instead of the driver. Perfect. My second shot landed on the green but rolled back into the front left bunker, and I failed to make par. The five put me at two-over par for the day with two holes to go, the 434-yard fourth hole which was playing as a par four instead of the original and longer par five, and the fifth hole, which was originally a par four, now a par five.

On the fourth tee, I reviewed my scorecard, which wasn’t necessary because I knew how I stood to par. I was somewhat disappointed at age 69 that I was two-over par with two to go, a great accomplishment whatsoever. Earlier I had thoughts of playing to my age but that would take a miracle finish of eagle and double eagle. So, I dropped that from my thoughts. I just wanted to finish strong and be happy with 74 or 75 or 76.

Wheeler made small talk to keep me loose, offering up my eight-iron for my tee shot on the fourth hole. Hah! I knew what he was trying to do, to stop me from over playing. I chuckled a little as he pulled back the eight iron and handed me the driver. That tee shot may have been my best tee shot of the day, maybe the longest. But I was still about 195 yards from the green, hitting uphill. Without any discussion, Wheeler handed me the 20-degree hybrid. “Remember the eighteenth hole but with the breeze,” he said as he pulled the golf bag a few yards away from my ball.

My second shot landed on the green. I grabbed my putter and raced up the hill to the green, waving to the imagined gallery. One putt would put me one-over par for the day, allowing me to zero in on scoring level par at No. 2. My ball, always a Titleist ProV or Titleist ProV1, was 18 feet right of the pin with a sweeping right to left downhill break, thank you Wheeler. My stroke was solid and the line was perfect; my playing partners watched in a hush as the ball grew closer to birdie, but it slowed just enough to break more than anticipated and stopped inches left of the cup. I made the par putt—I holed everything that day; no gimmies—and was a little disappointed. I remained two-over par with the par 5 fifth hole ahead, my last chance for finishing strong.

A story-book ending

The fifth hole is 462-yards long from the White tees. From the U.S. Open tees, the fifth hole is 576 yards long with the tee so far back, it brought back memories of the original World Golf Hall of Fame behind that tee and the fourth green. Knowing I needed to do something special Tuesday, I creamed my tee shot about 250 yards to a up-hill fairway, leaving more than 200 yards to the green. I reached for my 15-degree three-metal, hoping to get to the green, hoping for a shot at eagle, hoping to score an even par 72.

The pin was on the left side of the green, and I recalled a years ago, when one of my playing partners was on the right side of the green putting to a middle-left pin placement on a very fast green. He barely touched the ball when he stroked it and watched as the ball rolled toward the cup, then past it, then off the green, down a hill, eventually stopping some forty yards off the green in front of the fourth tee. I didn’t want any part of the right side of the green, so I put the three-metal back and opted for the 20-degree hybrid to purposely be short of the green.

My swing was even-keel; the connection was solid. The ball rolled up onto the green but didn’t make it past the false front, rolling back off the front, stopping 15 yards short of the elevated green. I couldn’t see the cup, only the top half of the pin and the flag. I asked Wheeler for my putter which he, knowing my game very well by then, already had pulled from the bag. He suggested a firm stroke toward the middle of the green allowing the ball to break to the left.

Wheeler stepped back and watched my effort, a good connection with a much-needed follow through. It made the green, starting down the middle, as instructed, and then veered left toward the hole. For some reason, I didn’t chase the ball up the slope to see where it would stop. I was frozen in time; just happy I had made probably my best off-the-green putting effort of the day. The reaction of my playing partners told me the results as they cheered wildly as my ball rolled along the chosen line, disappearing into the hole. The unthinkable had happened. I made an eagle three on what was once the toughest par four at Pinehurst No. 2 but is now a par five. Better yet, I completed my round even par for the day. An amazing 72 on Pinehurst No. 2!

Truth be told

Anyone who has played golf understands the joy of playing a career round, especially at Pinehurst, and while 72 is not the best score I’ve ever had at all golf courses I’ve ever played, shooting 72 Tuesday for this golfer with a current 12-month low handicap index of 5.2 (I would get eight strokes on Pinehurst No. 2 from the white tees), would be remarkable, especially on one of the toughest courses anyone will play no matter from which tees the round is played. Golfers only dream of such rounds.

Ah, yes, to dream of a great round of golf, an even-par score is what many golfers sleep on. We wish our dreams would come true, at least once if not more often. Considering the date (April 1st) of the posting of this story, I trust that you will consider this round at Pinehurst No. 2 as more of a figment of my imagination than reality. Tuesday, my game wasn’t quite as described above; I didn’t play Pinehurst No. 2 that day. I didn’t play at Lonnie Poole Golf Course. I didn’t play golf at all that day. I had my regular piano lesson, got my monthly haircut at the Man Mur barbershop in Raleigh, returned home, and wrote a little, a pastime I enjoy almost as much as playing golf. I worked a more on this story, completing it today and then posting it.

I can dream, can’t I? I’ve played Pinehurst No. 2 several times in my life, and maybe, if my memory is correct, I may have broken 80, maybe 85. I probably wouldn’t get near that score these days. Today, I led you through a miracle round for me which I hope you enjoyed. Since today is April 1st, please excuse me for this little bit of fun. I hope you had a good time reading this account of a day playing Pinehurst No. 2. I had a good time writing it.

So, April Fools’!

My imaginary scorecard from playing Pinehurst No. 2. We started the round on the par 3 sixth hole, completing it on the par 5 fifth hole, back to back 3s, sort of!