Pinehurst no. 10 is a wild, wonderful experience.
GOLF
In the rapidly expanding world of destination golf, one course qualifies as a true American classic: Pinehurst.
Although Pinehurst No. 2 dipped into Bryson and Rory’s historic spotlight this summer at the US Open, an epic golf hole was bubbling to the surface outside the resort’s gates. In August, as Pinehurst’s hot summer hit a tipping point, GOLF editors James Colgan and Josh Sens visited the region to find “everything else” — the great golf that ISN’T No. 2, cool spots that don’t get visited enough by tourists, and yes, even a Martini (or three) favored by the locals.
This is the second installment in that series, following the conversation with another legendary area championship host: Pine needles.
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i played Pinehurst no. 10 for the first time in April and almost immediately regretted it.
To be honest, it was only my fault. Pinehurst’s newest golf course was everything it was billed to be: interesting, creative, engaging and provocative. I thought its contours were friendlier than anything I had encountered in the Pinehurst area, and I found its variety extremely fascinating. In my mind, it easily achieved the difficult feat of being completely distinguishable from anything in the (already loaded) North Carolina Sandhills Region.
There was just one problem: It was too long.
To the naked eye, this seemed impossible. Pinehurst no. The 10th was a par-70 golf course with a pair of driveable par-4s and a pair of par-3s close to 100 yards. But as I returned to the back 9 with a great score, I found a disturbing development on my scorecard: This par-70 golf course with a pair of drivable par-4s and a pair of par-3s close to 100 yards . it Was also somewhat more than 7,000 yards from the summit.
Where was the distance? I was about to find out.
The next five holes – holes 10-14 – beat me senseless. By plot: a 265-yard par-3 (almost everyone plays driver), two 500-yard holes, a 600 yard par-5, and a 180-yard par-3 where “everything left is dead,” the course designer said Tom Doak.
By the time the stretch was over, it occurred to me that I hadn’t played anything shorter than a 6-iron in over an hour.
“It’s a par-70,” Doak said with a maniacal grin. “But we’re going to get those two shots back one way or another.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t give myself much time to enjoy Doak’s commentary – I was brooding over the state of my golf game and the sheer number of high-impact, long-distance shots I’d tried and failed over the course of 90 – the last minutes.
My day on the combined blue-and-white tees – nearly 6,600 yards – had given me a glimpse of all the great things that No. 10 had to offer, but it also taught me something else: I was happy to be there, but it wasn’t fun.
It didn’t take long to realize how silly the self-understanding was. I was playing one of the most beautiful new golf courses in the world, for my workand I could understand conceptually what was cute and pleasant about it. Why was I letting the pride of playing in the white and blue combo take my enjoyment away from me?
I walked the 18th fairway, looked at the wild property around me—its towering pines and imposing dunes, its odd bunkers and subtle dramatic contours—and silently made a pact with myself.
If I ever come back herei said I will play this differently.
Thankfully, it took all of four months before the opportunity presented itself again. This time, I returned to Pinehurst no. 10 with Josh Sens, senior GOLF writer and extremely talented veteran golfer, and we were tasked with a mission: See the best Pinehurst has to offer OUTSIDE and no. 2.
As we drove to the course, I explained to Josh my plan for the day. Pinehurst No. 10 is a large piece of property with half a dozen possible tee options on each hole, I said, so OUR The goal was simple: maximize fun. They play a match against each other with the goal of playing the most enjoyable and exciting hole imaginable – whether it’s from the front tee box on a short par-4, or the odd tips on the mammoth 600-yarder.
And so, for the better part of the three hours that followed, that’s exactly what the two of us did—putting our way through the various contours of the golf course with little thought for anything other than our own fun. We played the 265-yard par-3 14th from the tip, blasting drivers down the fairway in hopes of landing one on the green. We played the fourth, a short par-4 with two holster-shaped fairway bunkers, from the fairway in front, making it a real risk-reward shot when you factor in an area of debris up the left side.
On the 17th hole, a tricky par-3 over some of the only water on the course, we bent our tee box to prompt a heroic putt to extend our match. On the 16th, a par-4, we chose our spot based on the shortest walk from the previous green.
It was curious to think of golf in this way; as a follow up to pleasure AND free time rather than one based purely on competitive integrity. But it was also strangely comforting. The stakes of our match were no less serious, but our intellectual attachment to our round was far greater. (Actually, I play matches stimulated (this layout, since we were both playing from the same tee boxes anyway.)
By the time my second round on No. 10 was over, I was pretty sure I was going to have more fun there than any golfer alive. It was a terrible turn from the experience I had just four months ago, but I couldn’t say it was a surprise. As we pulled off the course that August morning, Josh summed it up nicely.
“If you’re in Pinehurst, you’re probably here with friends and you’re probably here for fun,” he said. “I hope more people do what we did.”
And what did we do?
We had fun.
