If I had a friend planning a trip to the Pinehurst Resort these are the tips I would share:

Book Early: If you want to go during a peak time (spring or fall) book early. Especially if you have your heart set on staying at a specific hotel or want specific tee times. For example, we booked in July for October and there was not much choice in tee times. We had two early morning tee times at Pinehurst which turned out fine but getting up in the dark on vacation to play isn’t ideal.

Transportation: We had a car which was great because we wanted to play a course outside the Pinehurst Resort and we had a day that was a non-golf day and we went exploring. However, if you plan to just stay at the Resort (and Pinehurst Village), then a car isn’t necessary because they have a great shuttle service. All you do is call the shuttle and they will take you to any location on property or in the Village of Pinehurst. They advise you to call for a shuttle 15 mins in advance but we never waited that long. I asked a shuttle driver how it works and he said they have 50 shuttle vans and 200 drivers! The driver also said they do airport shuttles for guests.

Also, If you are playing multiple Pinehurst courses, the night before they use shuttle vans to take guest clubs from the main club house to the various courses and your clubs will be waiting for you when you arrive for your tee time. So you don’t need to worry about lugging your clubs back and forth to your hotel or condo every day during your stay.

Food: First, all the food was excellent. Our plan came with breakfast and dinner included. The breakfast buffet opens at 6 am and everything you could want to eat is available. The dinner plan included all the restaurants at the resort and some places in the Village of Pinehurst. The dinner plan includes an appetizer, entree, and dessert so it was a lot of food. Also, if you order ice tea that is included in your meal plan but wine/beer or other alcohol drinks are not included. By the last night my friend and I just did a “to go meal” of soup from The Deuces because we were so tied of eating so much food.

Also, they recommend you book dinner reservations before you arrive at the resort. If you really want to eat at a specific time then book early because we really could not make a dinner reservation (at a reasonable time) a day or two ahead. So, we ate early and found it easy to get a table.

There is a 18% gratuity added to every meal. Oddly, at Pinehurst #8, when we had lunch, the server said she did not get any of the “service charge fee” – which surprised us. We thought maybe a “service charge” was different from a gratuity charge. Anyway, I did some research for this blog post and the Pinehurst resort states that they have a 10% service charge, a resort fee, and if you go to a “dinning establishment” an 18% gratuity fee is automatically applied (which you see on the bill). And, they state the majority of the 18% gratuity does go to the server. So perhaps at Pinehurst #8 which is “off site” the grill is categorized differently? Either way, read the meal receipt carefully to see what fees are being charged.

Bottom line, I would definitely recommend you get the breakfast buffet in your plan but if its possible, I would ask the cost of a plan without dinner. Depending on the cost difference in plans with and without dinner, it may make sense to skip the dinner option (unless you are a big eater).

Lodging: There are a number of options and I assume many guests want to stay at the Carolina Hotel. Although I did see reviews that complained about the hotel rooms being old and needing to be updated. I spoke to the receptionist when we were at the Holly Inn (in the Village of Pinehurst and part of the Pinehurst Resort lodging options) and asked about the rooms. She said the hotel is a “historical site” so the rooms are older.

Anyway, we stayed in a condo on property, The Golf Terrace (perhaps built circa 1980s but very nice – didn’t feel new but didn’t feel “old”). I really liked staying in the condo. It had a kitchen, nice sitting room, balcony, and we each had our own bedroom and bathroom. Everything was clean and water pressure in the shower was great. Like a lot of Airbnb places, you could log into your apps (i.e. Netflix, YouTube) but it was hard to find local TV channels or the Golf Channel. The condo also does have maid service.

The only tip staying in an on-course condo is that it is very dark at night so if you are driving to your condo on the course, pay attention to where your are driving (or better yet, just take the shuttle). Also, driving during the day, you have to watch out for golfers teeing off or riding by in a golf cart.

Golf Terrace Balcony View

Bring Some Cash: Most of the resort is credit card only (even the drinks cart on the golf course only takes credit card). However, If you use a caddie you need to pay the tip in cash; and it is good to have some cash to pay a tip at the bag drop when you arrive at the main club house or any other service person you want to tip; and of course, we left a cash tip for the cleaning staff at the end of our stay in the condo.

Statues at Pinehurst – just for fun!