Pinehurst Resort | Forest Creek | Pine Needles/Mid Pines | The National
Legacy | Hyland Hills | Foxfire | Woodlake | Pine Crest Inn

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Pine Needles and Mid Pines: All In The Family
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The Pine Needles Course: A Superb Classical Donald Ross Design 

As celebrated as golf instruction is at Pine Needles, the resort’s centerpiece remains the golf course. Set on a rolling landscape ablaze with dogwood, maples, holly trees, azaleas, river birch, blackjack oaks, cottonwood and loblolly pines, the course winds up hill and down dale. A few holes feature fairways that traverse deep hollows to greens that sit on plateaus above the rises. Meticulously groomed under the supervision of Superintendent David Fruchte, this classic has a wilderness feel to it, suggested by sandy areas and hollows planted with love grass and broom sage. The course site features few homes around the perimeter. The Bells enlarged a couple of ponds on the course and extended the tee boxes to accommodate long hitters, but otherwise the integrity of Ross’s original design has been left entirely intact.

The course at 6700 yards from the tips is not long but it incorporates Ross’s handy bag of subtle tricks. Wide fairways with gentle multi-directional slopes lead to greens that are benign in appearance but inhospitable to errant approaches. They are not crowned as on Pinehurst #2, but the greens’ subtle breaks and slopes can bedevil the most accurate chippers and putters.

The course features an outstanding set of par 3’s, including the signature 140-yard 3rd over a pond to an elevated green and the downhill 181-yard 13th bound by a hillside bunker left and a drop-off area right. 

Most of the par 4’s are not especially long, but require precision off the tee to set up a viable approach. The best of the par 4’s are the uphill dogleg left 470-yard 10th (photos at top) which plays as a par 5 for women. The tee shot from an elevated tee box must carry a hollow to a rising landing area from where the hole veers at almost a 90 degree angle to the green. Trees enshroud the entirety of the hole. Similarly shaped is the 430-yard 17th that requires drivers to turn their tee shots around a left-hand dogleg or risk going deep into the woods right and all but eliminating par.

The best example of the course’s subtle challenge is the straight-away long downhill par 4 2nd. The tee shot must be long and straight but the real problem is holding the green which slopes front to back, tending to pull all but the best approaches off into high rough or bunkers.

The longest hole on the course is about 490 yards, making it unsuitable as a men’s national tournament site. However, recognizing its greatness as a women’s tournament venue, the USGA awarded Pine Needles the women’s U.S. Open for 1966. Anika Sorenstam won the event, which was such a rousing success the USGA turned around and designated Pine Needles as the host site for the 2001 Women’s Open. No doubt, the players’ reaction in '96 had a lot to do with that. Virtually every Open participant in '96 raved about the course, citing its traditional features, subtleties and overall fairness. Some called it the best Open course they had ever played.

You, too, will rave about Pine Needles. For a truly superb classical course and a personal touch you can’t get at most other resorts, Pine Needles can’t be beat. For more information and reservations at Pine Needles, call 1-800-747-7272.  

Continue for Mid Pines: An Elegant Small Hotel and Another Ross Classic

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Pinehurst Resort | Forest Creek | Pine Needles/ Mid Pines | The National
Legacy | Hyland Hills | Foxfire | Woodlake | Pine Crest Inn
Pinehurst Area Introduction 

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Alan B. Nichols is a professional golf-travel writer residing in Bethesda, MD.
He is the featured golf-travel writer for GolfLink. Alan appreciates your
comments on his features and the courses he has written about. 
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