2023 Bucket List Golf Trip – Pinehurst Resort

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My first “bucket list” trip was to Pebble Beach Resort in 2021. This year’s bucket list is Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina to play Pinehurst #2, Pinehurst #4, Pinehurst #8 and Tobacco Road. You must stay at the Pinehurst Resort to play the “bucket list” courses #2 and #4. We stayed in the Golf Terrace 208 Condo on Pinehurst #5 – in the distance, we could see the main Pinehurst Clubhouse from the balcony; as well as watch golfers playing the 18th hole in front of the condo. It was a great vibe staying in the condos. I wrote a blog with “non-golf” tips for visiting Pinehurst if you are planning a trip.

Pinehurst is a lovely resort and easy to get around because they have a free shuttle service that will take you to all the courses, hotels, and dinning options around the resort and in the village of Pinehurst. It’s fun to just hang out at “The Deuce” at the main club house and watch golfers play the 18th green, Pinehurst #2. We also loved playing the 18 hole “Thistle Dhu” putting course. “Thistle Dhu” is Scottish and translates to “this will do.” We had two matches (I won one match and my friend won the other – on the line was a transfusion drink). We did not play the “Cradle” (the short course). Past experience shaped our decision to not play. We had played the short course (The Hay) at Pebble Beach – hitting off mats for the lovely price of $65 – which was nothing special and felt like playing our local short courses. The Cradle is $50 (and yes, you hit off a mat). It was very busy so I’m sure folks enjoyed it but it was not something we felt we needed to experience.

We played Pinehurst #4 on day one, Tobacco Road on day two, non-golf day on day three, played Pinehurst #8 on day four and ended the trip playing Pinehurst #2 on day five. It was a great mix of golf and relaxing (walking around Pinehurst Village and near by Southern Pines) but this is a golf trip so let’s talk golf.

Overall Impressions of Courses

Yardage Books

By the Numbers – All the courses were beautiful, in excellent condition, and challenging to play. To get a sense of the challenge of the courses I looked up the ratings for each on the USGA National Course Rating Database (see the chart below). For my non-golf friends, the first number is an indication of the course difficulty for a scratch golfer (e.g., if par is 72 they play to that number) and the second number is “slope” and indication of the relative difficulty of a golf course for players who are not scratch players compared to players who are scratch players. And the USGA also provides a potential score for bogey golfers. The USGA course rating system lists a male bogey golfer as a 20 handicap and a female bogey golfer as a 24 handicap. For my golfing friends that are wondering about the handicaps — the USGA course rating uses driving distance in determining bogey handicaps (and states the average drive for females is 150 yards). So if you are a female with a 24 handicap index you can set an expectation of a score of 103 (or about three strokes over your “target score” calculated as the course par plus your course handicap: 72+28=100). I personally like to use the GHIN app and look up my course handicap (which is the strokes you get for that course and is not the same as your handicap index) to calculate my target score.

The Chart below shows that Pinehurst #2 is the hardest course. As a non-scratch golfer, I care about the slope of 133 (which is fairly significant against an average course rating slope of 113). Also, the bogey rating is 103.3 for Pinehurst #2. It is interesting that the front 9 slope is easier than the back 9 slope because the caddie said the first six holes of Pinehurst #2 are the hardest.

My opinion on each course…

In many reviews and articles I read before my trip the overall opinion was that Pinehurst #4 was becoming the new favorite (even more so than #2). I disagree (and so did my golf buddy, Donna). We thought both were pretty and challenging but we preferred #2 over #4. In short, the two main differences between #2 and #4 is that #4 had more elevation change than #2 and the sand and grass in the waste areas was different – the waste area for #2 was easier for us to advance the ball farther down the fairways.

Anyway, the easiest way to distinguish the courses are a paragraph on each…

Pinehurst #2 – Everyone said “get ready to get beat up by Pinehurst #2” but that was not my experience. Yes, it was the most difficult course and for women I believe it’s not just the fast greens but also the length. The tee to green yardage for many holes meant I often could not get to the green in regulation or I was hitting a wood into the green which made “holding the fast greens difficult.” For example, Par 3, 17th hole played 167 yards (all carry per Chris our caddie) taking into consideration the elevated green protected on the right by a large bunker. That is basically a driver for most women. On most of the Par 4 holes, it was driver and three wood into the greens and, as I mentioned earlier, that makes holding a green very difficult. With respect to the waste areas, the sand was hard packed so once you realize you could hit a wood or hybrid in the area, it really wasn’t too penalizing unless your ball landed in a “love bush.” Even with the challenges Pinehurst #2 was enjoyable to play. One of the things that surprised me was how peaceful and relax I felt walking Pinehurst #2.

Pinehurst #4 – I expected to really like this course given the reviews but it was my least favorite of the four I played. It was very pretty, hillier than Pinehurst #2 (but nothing like the elevation changes at my local course in the foothills of South Carolina). We did not walk the course because it was noon and a bit warmer; but in the crisp fall mornings, I think it would be an easy walk.

The defense of the course in my opinion was the length (especially on the Par 4 holes) and the sand and grass in the waste areas. After playing #2 and #4, we decided it was much harder to advance your ball out of the waste areas on Pinehurst #4 because the sand was sort of soft and fluffy and the grass was more spread out. Comparatively, the sand in the waste areas at Pinehurst #2 was hard packed. But it really was the distance on some very long par 4 holes on #4 that seemed almost unfair; even my caddie would say to me you can’t get on this par 4 in two (and I was hitting my drives great that day for me at 170-180 yards and my 3 wood 130-140 yards but not reaching a par 4 at 340 or 356 yards). On the bright side, the Par 3s distances were reasonable ranging 90 to 135; but again for any short hitter they would be looking at a hybrid or wood to get on in regulation on the longer par 3s.

Pinehurst #8 – This is a great course for women (and men). It is rated the same as Pinehurst #4 with a slope of 124 but the individual holes have yardages tee to green that are much more manageable because there is a chance you can reach many holes in regulation. It feels a bit more like a course many golfers are use to playing with traditional fairway and green-side bunkers. Yes, there are waste areas but not on every hole or as exceedingly large as the waste areas on #4 and #2. The real challenges at #8 are the really fast greens. The greens were significantly faster than #2 or #4. The reason is that the greens are “new” – all the turf was replaced 18 months ago. I mentioned the fast greens at Pinehurst #8 to our caddie at Pinehurst #2 and he agreed with my assessment. The caddie even told me Pinehurst caddies have a hard time reading the “immature greens at #8.” So my guess is when the greens are “mature,” Pinehurst #8 will be a really fun scoring course.

Tobacco Road Golf Course – This course is in Sanford, NC and is about a half hour drive from the Pinehurst Resort. This course should be on your golf itinerary when you go to the sand hills of North Carolina. It is the most visually stunning of all the courses we played with pristine fairways and huge mounts shaping the terrain; as well as exceedingly large waste areas and every hole was protected by bunkers (some very deep). There were many blind shots and you had to ring a bell on five of the holes so the players behind you knew when it was clear to hit. Our playing partners (men hitting from “Disc” tees at 6,317 yards) described it as “playing on the moon” given they were often hitting over the vast waste areas or playing from them. Often times you would ride your golf cart into the waste area/bunker areas to walk up to the greens.

If your game is not in good shape (e.g., you cannot control your direction or you are not a good sand player) you will probably have a hard time at Tobacco Road. Some call the course quirky, I just call it “a blast” to play.

My Game Overall – So you may be wondering how I did based on the opinions above. I will share with you that I really prepared (practicing every part of my game, taking lessons, etc.) the weeks before this trip. My lowest score was at Tobacco Road with a 86 (with eight pars, six one-putts) which was one stroke better than my target score; but I played well all week and basically played within four strokes of my target scores for each Pinehurst course which means (according to USGA guidelines of four strokes within your target score) I played to my ability – see the chart below – courses are in order of play.

If I look at my pars, bogies, etc. by course (which is a stat in GHIN if you post hole-by-hole with stats), I’m really happy with the results for the four rounds (72 holes) resulting in 65% Bogies or Better (Pars 22% and Bogies 43%).

So, I was really hitting it well and I’m very happy with my scores. Perhaps my biggest take away about my play was that I could say I gave too much respect to the greens because I left so many putts on the edge of the cup. As an optimist I would say that it was great lag putting! LOL

At Pinehurst #4, the first day I had four par putts and one birdie putt that rolled to the edge of the hole. At Tobacco Road I did a much better job with speed with six one-putts but still left some putts on the edge of the cup. This continued with every round. At #8, I had a chance at birdie putts on every Par 3 and the first ones were short and the final one I got to the hole and lipped out. Even on Pinehurst #2 I had a chance to par Hole 1 and I left the putt short. I just think all the folks telling me that the greens were fast and get ready to three and four putt (or get “Donald Rossed” which means you are on the green putting and your putt roles off the green) got in my head and I just never putted with freedom. I did have some three putts but not as many as I anticipated; so perhaps leaving putts short at Pinehurst was not such a bad “miss.”

Thanks for reading my blog and if you want to see more pictures (photo gallery at the end of each post) and more details on playing each course click on the links for each course: Pinehurst #2, Pinehurst #4, Pinehurst #8 and Tobacco Road. If you do go to the detail course blogs please know that I wrote them to document my play (for myself) — so you have been warned that it might bore you to death reading those posts but at least you can quickly scroll and enjoy the photos.

If you are looking for tips on planning a trip to Pinehurst Resort, see my blog post titled “Pinehurst Non-golf Tips.”

A few photos of some Pinehurst SWAG

The image of “bucket list sign” and yardage books earlier in this blog post were purchased and I also bought a zip sweater, ball markers, a cap. The ball marker from Tobacco Road is cool. Believe it or not, I actually controlled my spending (purchased much less than I did at Pebble Beach – ha,ha).

Also, each course at Pinehurst had tees (# on top of tee, different stripes on sides) and plastic ball markers for golfers to take at the 1st hole. Unfortunately at #2 there were no plastic ball markers.

Swag from All Courses

Pinehurst #2

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The reason most golfers go to Pinehurst Resort is to play the famous course, Pinehurst #2 – home to so many USGA championships including the back-to-back US Open and US Women’s Open in 2014. Pinehurst #2 will also host the 2024 US Open.

I was excited to play but had mixed feelings because of the comments golfers made to me prior to my trip – “Get ready to get beat up,” “You will three and four putt many greens (because a good putt will roll off the green),” and my favorite comment when I said I was going to Pinehurst – “Great, just don’t play #2.” Of course, all these comments paid off because it made me really work on my game all summer to be ready for the challenge. And I am really glad I worked incredibly hard because I really enjoyed myself all week.

I only had one par on Pinehurst #2 at Hole 13, (Par 4, 278 yard) and almost parred Hole 1 (Par 4, 340 yards). I really should have parred it but I left an eight foot putt on the lip of the cup (the theme of my game at Pinehurst). I was also thrilled I had a string of one-putts on consecutive holes (10, 11, and 13) and I’m proud to report only two three-putts.

Below are the yardage book images for Hole 13 and Hole 1.

We teed off at 8:10 am and it was cold but we were walking so we warmed up quickly. We had a caddie, Chris and he was excellent. A good caddie makes such a difference (the caddie we had on #4 did not enhance the experience while Chris really added to the round on #2).

I will say one of my favorite things was walking the course. It was very pretty, an easy walk (because it is fairly flat, with only a few elevations at the greens). I just felt very relaxed (which probably help my game). The biggest challenge was the length – I basically felt like I was hitting my drive and three wood on every hole (unlike #8 where I used a variety of clubs in my bag). It kind of became a joke with Chris on Par 4s – what club? let me guess, a 3-wood.

The funniest thing on the course was the squirrel (very aggressive little guy) – he went right for our golf bags while we were waiting to tee off on the 15th hole. Chris said he has actually seen squirrels rip open a golf bag. I gave Chris a cracker and the squirrel actually “begged” so Chris gave the squirrel a piece of his cracker. Click on an image in the gallery to enlarge the photos.

As the second group off we were playing fast (which was refreshing since our other rounds were all more than five hours long). But Chris told us at the turn it would slow down because they were sending groups off the 10th hole. So sure enough we waited on many holes on the back nine. I took a video at “the turn” you can watch which begins with a view of the 11th hole then I pan to the “halfway house” then to hole 9, then you see Chris and Donna, and then hole 10.

The only time I got frustrated was on the 18th hole. I hit a beautiful drive and a perfect 3-wood. On my approach shot Chris told me to carry it 120 yards. I said “are you sure? It doesn’t look that far?” He replied “yes” I hit my 120 club perfectly OVER the green, onto the cart path between the hole and the veranda of “The Deuce” bar and grill. So I went from a possible par to a bogey on my last hole at Pinehurst. I was very disappointed in the moment but as we all say, “That’s golf!”

Final thoughts on my game at Pinehurst #2 – I walked away thrilled that I enjoyed my experience playing Pinehurst #2. Total Score was a 99 with 53 on the front nine and 46 on the back nine (a respectable score considering a slope of 133). I was happy to make at least one par and very proud to have only had two three-putts. I had a string of double bogies (holes 2-5) but Chris our caddie said the first six holes at Pinehurst #2 play the hardest so that neutralized any feelings of “I should have played those holes better.” Overall, I loved playing the challenge of Pinehurst #2 and relieved I avoided the prediction of getting “beat up.”

More Photos from our lovely walk playing Pinehurst #2

Pinehurst #8

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Pinehurst #8 is considered “off property” at the resort but it is only a short 12 minute drive to the course. If I were to go back to Pinehurst this would be a course I would definitely add to my golf itinerary. It’s a very enjoyable track because although the total yardage is 5153 (only 107 yards shorter than #4) the yardages for the individual holes provide more opportunities to get on greens in regulation.

We were the third group off at 8:20 in the morning and it was 43 degrees! We were paired with a father and daughter from the New York/Pennsylvania area. Now we started on Hole 10 and my starting holes were giving me fits because I was not feeling my game which was frustrating because I was striking the ball so well the first two days at Pinehurst #4 and Tobacco Road. It also didn’t help that we were already waiting on every hole and the gentleman in our group was complaining about the wait incessantly. Plus, when play is slow, I have a tendency to rush when I do finally get over my ball (something I am aware of and trying to correct). I was worried this was just going to be one of those days that I didn’t have my game.

My first hole,10th hole (Par 4), I tripled even though I had a putt at par (UGH). Hit my drive right, my approach shot went right into the green-side bunker, got out of the bunker and stood over a putt for par; and what did I do? I three putted. That was when I realized the greens were way faster than Pinehurst #4 or tobacco Road. Hole 11 (Par 5) I got on in regulation but 30 feet from the hole and again had three putts. The Hole 12, three putts again. When discussing #8 with the caddie at #2 (the next day) he said with the new turf the greens at #8 are really hard to read and lightening fast.

Finally I just told myself to slow everything down and on the par 3 13th hole (my fourth hole), I settled down a bit and made a regulation par. However, it really wasn’t until we made the turn that I finally felt like my body was loose and moving better. I’ll use the excuse it was 43 degrees when we teed off and I just wasn’t ready to play in cold weather. Thankfully on the back nine I began to play well.

The course reminded me of many of the courses I play in the foothills of South Carolina. You had to pay attention to the direction of the slope on the fairways, the greens had some interesting undulations but only one green (on hole 9) stood out as “crazy” because of the huge hump at the front of the green kicking the balls in different directions. There were not as many waste areas (only seven holes had waste areas compared to every hole on #4 and #2 with waste areas). If you missed the fairways you were more likely to be in the pine trees w/pine straw to hit off. I hit 11 of 13 fairways. I had one shot out of the trees that went well but I remember telling myself I don’t want to be in the trees again.

The most memorable holes for me on Pinehurst #8 were the par threes. I had a chance to birdie three of the four par 3s. Now, I will say that on the first two attempts the gentleman we were paired with would say to me (right before putting), “this is for a birdie” or “lets see that birdie.” This is my biggest pet peeve with other players — I hate it because I’m trying to focus on my putting process not what the putt means to my score. I missed both birdie putts short on those first two attempts. After the second miss, I nicely ask the gentleman not to tell me if I’m putting for a birdie. The third birdie putt attempt, he kept his mouth shut but it was a 15 foot putt so the percentage of making it was not high; however, I gave it my best try and it made it to the hole and lipped out. I really wanted that last birdie but at least I had another par.

Hole 2 was the other memorable hole because it was a par 5 and I made a one putt for the par. Below are images from the yardage book of two (out of four) of the holes I parred – Hole 2 (Par 5) and Hole 13 (longest Par 3).

We thought the pace of play would be great given we were out in the third group but we waited on every hole. The ranger came by and told us the first group out at 8 am was holding up the whole course. We wondered why the ranger could not get the first group moving? My guess is that the first group was either struggling or they “paid” their money and they were going to take as much time as then wanted to on the course.

The other thing that was surprising was that the golf carts did not have GPS and so I was very glad I had my range finder. I was giving everyone yardages in our group. And, I love yardage books as souvenirs so I just happened to have purchased books for #2, #4, and #8 the day before at the main Pro Shop. Fortunately, I decided to put the Pinehurst #8 book in my golf bag that morning.

Final thoughts on my game at Pinehurst #8 – Overall I recovered from the poor start in the morning. Shooting a 51 on the back nine (our first holes) to rebounding with a 44 on the front nine (our second nine holes) for a total score of 95 made me happy. A score of 95 was four over my target score of 91 (or Par 72 plus my course handicap of 19). I was also happy to have four pars for the round.

Photo Gallery of Images from the Course – I posted photos on other social media sites but want to share them here too. Click on an image in the gallery to enlarge images.

Entrance to Pinehurst #8
Pinehurst #8 Driving Range
Looking back on Hole 9 from the green
Hole 18 – beautiful finishing hole over the water up hill

Tobacco Road Golf Course

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Tobacco Road was not on our original itinerary but a good friend of Donna’s recommended we play and I am so thankful she did because I had so much fun at Tobacco Road. When you pull into the course it is not fancy, the club house feels like a cabin with all the natural wood and it houses the pro shop and grill. It’s not “upscale” like Pinehurst so the price to play may surprise some golfers but it is worth it once you are on the course. It is just visually stunning in every direction on every hole. I had a blast playing it because at 4269 yards (from the forward tees, “Cultivator”) it is a fair test of golf. In other words with good play you can get on greens in regulation. And the fairways are much bigger than they appear from the tee boxes. I believe it has been stated that the course has over seven acres of sand.

Tobacco Road Scorecard

We played with two very nice guys. They were long hitters but even they did not play from the “tips” at over 6500 yards. They played the “Disc” Tees at 6317 yards. The “Cultivator” tees were just under 4300. The first tee shot from the Cultivator tees was intimidating because the next narrowing of the fairway had to be considered. I hit a perfect drive right at the throat of the narrowing and had a straight shot into the opening to the next section of fairway (see images below). I was on in regulation (Par 5 so three shots). The birdie putt was over 20 feet and the odds of making a one-putt were fairly low but I tried and then had about 7 feet for par and left it on the edge of the cup (a theme I repeat all week). So I had one of my four three-putts that day to miss my par on the opening hole. I will chalk it up to first hole excitement.

First Hole (Tips)
First Hole (Forward Tees)
First Hole (Approach Shot)

I love to collect yardage books as souvenirs and when I asked for one, the Pro Shop attendant said flippantly, “We only have player books” (it was too early in the morning to make a comment and put the young man on notice that women are “players” LOL). I purchased the “player book” and it came in very handy; especially with many blind shots off tees and into the greens — the book had a full page of the hole and a full page of just the greens with tons of data.

Hole 1 Yardage Player Book (Red circle lading area of my drive before the narrow to the next part of the fairway)
Player Yardage Book (Hole 1 Green)

If you read my other posts about my Pinehurst trip you know I played well and had my best score at Tobacco Road; but I also had some crazy bounces and shots on the course. First was the long drive I hit on hole 10 that almost ran off the fairway into a massive and deep waste area. Standing over the ball to hit my approach shot was a bit unnerving because over the ball all I saw was the edge of the waste area (which dropped off at least 10 feet). My friend called it my “Jordan Speith hole (search Speith and Pebble Beach if you don’t get the reference). Below are the photos of the ball on the edge and a diagram from the yardage book showing where it came to rest. I am happy to report I did par this hole.

Hole 10 – On Edge Close-up
Hole 10 Yardage Book (red circle ball landing area)
Hole 10 (non-zoom view of approach shot)

Hole 13 is elevated and almost a bowl since you have to hit over large bunkers and hills (unless you have a good angle into the narrow opening to the green (image below). It was memorable because I, unfortunately landed in the left green-side “bunker” guarding the front. Photos below are of the approach to hole 13 and me walking onto the green.

Hole 13 Ball in Fairway (shot into bunker on left)
Walking on to the 13th Green

Hole 9 was long and the green was elevated. I wish I had taken a photo of the stairs but the photo below gives a good sense of the elevation. Of course, I thought Hole 9 was very cool (e.g., the flag pole was the longest I’ve seen, the steep stairs in the waste area to reach the green) and it didn’t hurt my opinion that I parred it to finish up the front nine with a score of 44.

9th Hole from Tee Boxes
9th Hole View from Approach Shot

My other crazy moments – I hit two sprinkler heads. The first one was off a great drive and the ball bounced at least 60 feet straight up in the air which was lucky because it stayed in the fairway. The second sprinkler head was on the Par 3 17th. The flag was at the front of the green (maybe 4 feet on) and so I know I had to land it in the fringe, between the sand and the flag. My ball was heading right at the pin and one of the guys said “this looks great” and it hit the fringe and bounced backwards in the sand. When we went up to the hole, his ball was sitting on the fringe a foot right of the sprinkler head and my ball was directly inline with the sprinkler (and flag, by the way) flag in the sand. And about only 6 inches from the edge of the rough so now I was short-sided for my sand shot. The weird bounce was, of course, funny after I parred the hole.

The other weird bounce was on the 14th Par 3 over the lake. I hit a short iron great (again, I heard one of the guys say “it’s heading right at the flag”) but when it landed on the green just a foot right of the flag it bounced sideways into the right fringe. Again, I felt “robbed” but made my par, laughed about it and moved on. Maybe the guys saying my hits were good (while in flight) was a curse on those holes. LOL Below are two sets of images (1) 14th hole yardage book and photo and (2) 17th hole yardage book image and photo.

Hole 14: * Flag Location, Red line where ball came to rest
14th Hole
Lake and Cabin
Hole 17 Par 3 (Standing on Cart Path)
Hole 17: * flag location and red line ball where ball came to rest

As I mentioned earlier there were a lot of blind shots and on holes 1, 7, 13, 15, and 18 you were to ring a bell to let the group behind know it was clear to hit. The group in front of us seemed to not grasp this concept. Anyway, when we came to 18, it was the scariest ending hole I’ve seen – a huge waste area up to an elevated fairway. At first we could not see the Cultivator tees any where so we drove through the waste area and up the hill to find the tees on on the left beyond the trees (what a relief). Of course we could see the group in front and were able to waive our playing partners up (since the group did not ring the bell). They both hit great drives (280+ yards) clearing the waste area onto the fairway. As the guys said, “It is visually intimidating (again, a blind tee shot) but actually its only a 197 yard carry to clear the waste area from the Disc tee box onto a fairly wide fairway.”

So I think the key to the course is to know that many shots are visually intimidating but actually if you hit where the course designer is “guiding you” then it really isn’t as hard as it appears.

View of 18th Hole (Website Photo from the Tips). Actually there was a lot more sand (no real grass) in the waste area than this photo depicts.

It is worth mentioning the golf course designer was Mike Strantz, who was viewed as a maverick in his time because he was an artist “who looked at courses as a picture.” He was in his prime when other course designers were creating courses where distance was the only defense of the course. Unfortunately, he died of cancer at the age of 50 in 2005. He only designed seven courses but they include Caledonia and True Blue (two courses on Pawley’s Island, SC that are considered “must play” by most golfers). Many course designers believe he was a visionary when you consider course design work today, like Bandon Dunes, by Coore & Crenshaw.

Final thoughts on my game at Tobacco Road – I came to Tobacco Road with confidence in my game after playing well at Pinehurst #4 and could not be more pleased with a score of 86, with eight pars, and six one-putt. Even the four three-putts didn’t destroy my mood because the putts were from distances (over 30 feet) that statistically, if you two-putt that’s a win; and most of the three putts were tap-ins within inches of the hole.

Photo Gallery of Tobacco Road – There were so many memorable views and I didn’t take enough photos. Click on an image in the gallery to enlarge photos.

Sand
More Sand
And More Sand
4th Hole Sign
4th Hole Tee Box View
4th Hole Fairway
5th Hole Sign
Cart Path – 5th hole
5th Hole Fairway
8th Hole view from Tee Marker
8th Hole – Stairs
9th Hole
On the 17th Tee Box (to the right) you can see the Tee Marker – Cultivator (tool that churns the soil)

Pinehurst #4

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My bucket list trip to Pinehurst Resort started with playing Pinehurst #4. Our tee time was at noon and we hired a caddie (Gary) and we were paired with a couple from Florida/Boston. It was perfect weather and I was excited because so many online reviewers said #4 was their favorite course (even placing it ahead of #2). You can read my comparison of the courses we played in my blog post “2023 Bucket List – Pinehurst” but for me #4 was my least favorite of the four courses we played (#2, #4, #8 and Tobacco Road); of course, #4 is a beautiful course but of the three we played at Pinehurst I rank it in third place.

Things that surprised me about Pinehurst #4: (1) Par 4 yardages were very long. (2) The waste area sand was softer/fluffier than I expected which made it more difficult to advance the ball a good distance. In comparison, the waste area at #2 was hard packed and easy to get a wood or hybrid on the ball to advance it. (3) I did not know the course had a lake and holes 13, 14, and 15 are the prettiest part of the course.

Tee to green I was hitting my clubs great and it was nice to feel so comfortable over the ball. I hit 86% of fairways and was only in sand twice during the round. Even with my game in great shape I was surprised how few greens I hit in regulation; but upon reflection, the length of individual holes were very long. My caddie told me on a number of par 4s, “these are long, you won’t get on in regulation,” and I was hitting my drives 170-180 yards and 3-wood 140. An interesting comparison – the USGA stated in a study that the average female bogey golfer (with a 24 handicap) will get on a green in regulation that is 250 to 280 yards long (assuming a drive of 150 yards). Pinehurst #4 has Par 4 yardages as long as 340, 356, etc. from the forward tees. Only two par 4 holes were less than 280 and Hole 3 was 278 yards.

Perhaps, the one thing I will remember most from Pinehurst #4 is that I left four par putts and one birdie putt on the lip of the hole! My putts were on line but I think I got it in my head that the greens would be really fast and perhaps gave the speed of the greens too much respect. It was also interesting that the holes I did have three-putts on were the hardest holes on the course (hole 5 -#1 handicap, hole 7- #3 handicap, and hole 18 – #2 handicap). I actually ended my round with three 3-putts (for a total of five 3-putts for my entire round) but some of these were very long putts (over 30 feet) so I didn’t expect to one putt but hoped for two putts on those holes.

Below are yardage book images of two of the three holes I parred playing Pinehurst #4.

Final thoughts on my game at Pinehurst #4 – Overall I was very happy with my game and I even felt good about my putting because I was rolling it on line to the holes but I just kept leaving putts short (a theme that will continue on #2 and #8). I will share that I worked very hard on my game this year to prepare for this trip and I am thrilled that my hard work paid off at Pinehurst. Scoring a 49 on the front and a 46 on the back for a total 95 which is four strokes over my target score of 91 (Par 72 plus 19 course handicap).

Gallery of Images from Pinehurst #4 – A selfie of me and my golf buddy (Donna), a shot of me hitting my approach on Hole 1 (I was actually in the fairway) but it shows the waste area with the clumps of “love grass” and the pine needles in the forefront. Shots of golfers on another hole, the area around holes 13, 14, 15 was the prettiest part of the course (Funny, everyone called it a lake but it looked more like a pond to me. Go to my Youtube channel to see a video and decide for yourself if it’s a lake or pond).

Pinehurst Trip: Non-Golf Tips

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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

Condo view of golfers playing the hole outside (Hole 18, Pinehurst #5)
View of main clubhouse from condo balcony

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!

Donal Ross (in Village of Pinehurst)
Butter Boy (by Thistle Dhu
Putting Course)
Payne Stuart (outside, back of
main club house)

It’s Here – Back to Back Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup in 2023

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We have the pandemic to thank for the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup being contested in the same year and back-to-back. If you love team competition and golf then this fall is your time to enjoy hours and hours of match play from across the pond.

Dates for each Cup: The official days of competition run Friday through Sunday.

Solheim Cup Competition days: Friday, September 22 – Saturday, September 23 – Sunday, September 24. Golf Channel coverage is from 2 am to 1 pm on Friday and Saturday and 5 am to 11 am on Sunday.

Ryder Cup Competition days: Friday, September 29 – Saturday, September 30 – Sunday, Oct 1. The Ryder Cup gets more TV coverage (including the Junior Ryder Cup and opening ceremony on Thursday). You can find all the times on How to Watch the Ryder Cup on the website.

I assume you will also be able to see replays on YouTube.

Note: When the 2020 Ryder Cup was moved to 2021 (due to Covid), it meant that the Ryder Cup would now be played on “odd” years and therefore be the same year as the Solheim Cup. The LPGA and LET decided to move from their traditional odd years to even so that do not have to “complete” every year with the Ryder Cup. They could not move the 2023 event so their only solution was to not wait 2 years to wait for the next Solheim Cup so there will be a 2024 Solheim cup, in the USA.

My thought was that it would be amazing if the men’s and women’s tours could work together to have one big “match play week” where they combine the events and also add some mixed match events into the event.

If you are interested in a bit of insight, read the overviews below.

SOLHEIM CUP OVERVIEW

The Solheim cup is much “younger” than the Ryder Cup since the first competition was in 1990. The record stands with the USA 10 wins and Europe 7 wins. Team Europe has won the last two cups.

The Solheim Cup is being contested in Andalucia, Spain at Finca Cortesin. The European Captain is Suzanne Petterson and the USA Captain is Stacy Lewis. Details can be found on the Solheim Cup website but let’s look at the players.

Team USA players: I would say that there were no really big surprises in the captain picks from Lewis. Rose Zhang is the new star on the LPGA (winning her first professional tournament her first week on the LPGA) and as a recent college graduate she has played a lot of match play. The other captain picks were all next in qualifying points.

The players earned points starting at the Portland Classic in 2021. The USA has the recent number one ranked player, Lilia Vu and the US Open Champion in Allisen Curpuz. Rose Zang is the new star on the LPGA and has a steller match play record from college. Watching the LPGA tournaments the last few weeks it appears most players are coming into Solheim in great form. For example, Megan Kang just won her first tournament on tour (the Canadian Open). The two players that are struggling are Jennifer Kupcho and Lexi Thompson. In fact, Lexi Thompson has had seven missed cuts in her last 9 tournaments and her best showing was a T31 at the Founders Cup in May. She is on the team because of all the Solheim cup points she accumulated in 2021. But both Kupcho and Thompson love match play and so hopefully they will rise to the occasion.

  • Lilia (automatic qualifier)
  • Nelly Korda (automatic qualifier)
  • Allisen Corpuz (automatic qualifier)
  • Megan Kang (automatic qualifier)
  • Jennifer Kupcho (automatic qualifier)
  • Danielle Kang (automatic qualifier)
  • Lexi Thompson (automatic qualifier)
  • Andrea Lee (automatic qualifier)
  • Rose Zhang (captain’s pick)
  • Alley Ewing (captain’s pick)
  • Angel Yin (captain’s pick)
  • Cheyenne Knight (captain’s pick)

Team Europe players: Suzanne Petersen has stated this is the best European team ever and that’s a big statement given the Europeans have won the last two Solheim Cups. Only time will tell if it is the best team “ever” but she does have a stellar list of players. Celine Boutier (#4 in the world who won back-to-back at Evian Championship and the Scottish Open), Charley Hull with an 11-5-3 Solheim Cup Record and Leona McGuire with a 4-0-1 record from 2021. It is interesting that there are five swedes on her team and three of them were captains picks. The big surprise was Carolina Hedwall because she’s not highly ranked but she is a fierce competitor and did well in past Solheim cups.

  • Celine Boutier (automatic qualifier)
  • Marja Stark (automatic qualifier)
  • Charlie Hull (automatic qualifier)
  • Leona McGuire (automatic qualifier)
  • Georgia Hall (automatic qualifier)
  • Linn Grant (automatic qualifier)
  • Carlota Ciganda (automatic qualifier)
  • Anna Nordquist (automatic qualifier)
  • Madelene Sagstrom (captain’s pick)
  • Gemma Dryburgh (captain’s pick)
  • Emily Pedersen (captain’s pick)
  • Carolina Hedwall (captain’s pick)

Morning Foursomes

The Morning Foursomes for Friday were announced today (Thursday) at the opening ceremony. I am a bit surprised to see Lexi going out first; and Rose Zhang, Lilia Vu are not playing. I’m not sure what Stacey Lewis is thinking. Let’s hope she sees something in the player stats that made these morning pairings make sense. On the European side, Suzanne Petterson has stacked her foursomes with Lin Grant, Celine Boutier, Leona Maguire, and Charley Hull.

RYDER CUP OVERVIEW

The Ryder Cup was first played in 1927 and the record stands as USA 27 wins and Europe 14 wins. If you love golf history you can read about every Ryder Cup on the Ryder Cup Website.

The Ryder Cup is being contested in Rome, Italy at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. The European Captain is Luke Donald and the USA Captain is Zach Johnson. Details can be found on the Ryder Cup Website but, as we did with the Solheim Cup, let’s look at the players.

Team USA Players: If you are a golf fan you know the most controversial pick was Justin Thompas (JT). He has played well below his normal standards this year but was picked because of his stellar match play record. Hopefully, JT plays well but I can’t imagine the pressure he must feel given so many feel he did not deserve to be on this team.

  • Scottie Scheffler (automatic qualifier)
  • Max Homa (automatic qualifier)
  • Brian Harman (automatic qualifier)
  • Patrick Cantlay (automatic qualifier)
  • Wyndham Clark (automatic qualifier)
  • Xander Schauffele (automatic qualifier)
  • Brooks Keopka (captains pick)
  • Sam Shepard (captain’s pick)
  • Rickie Fowler (captain’s pick)
  • Collin Morikawa (captain’s pick)
  • Jordan Spieth (captain’s pick)
  • Justin Thomas (captain’s pick)

Team Europe Players: The European team is solid and they have a few players that are coming into this Ryder Cup is exceptional form. There is Viktor Hovland who won the FedEx Cup and Ludvig Aberg who, like Rose Zhang, was a college star that came on tour and won quickly. I think the United States will face a very tough European team.

  • Viktor Hovland (automatic qualifier)
  • Rory McIIroy (automatic qualifier)
  • Jon Rahm (automatic qualifier)
  • Matt Fitzpatrick (automatic qualifier)
  • Tyrrell Hatton (automatic qualifier)
  • Robert MacIntyre (automatic qualifier)
  • Ludvig Aberg (captain’s pick)
  • Tommy Fleetwood (captain’s pick)
  • Nicolai Højgaard (captain’s pick)
  • Shane Lowry (captain’s pick)
  • Justin Rose (captain’s pick)
  • Sepp Straka (captain’s pick)

So grab your cup of morning coffee (or tea, in my case) and sit back and enjoy the golf. Hopefully the matches will be great battles and make each cup exciting and closely contested.

Tis’ the Season of Match Play

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If you love to watch match play then this is the time for you to make excuses to watch a lot of golf on TV. However to watch live you better be an early riser since all the events are in Europe in 2023. I assume the Golf Channel will have plenty of coverage leading up to the actual match play days but below is information on how to watch the actual match days (USA information only).

September 2 & 3: The Walker Cup

The Walker Cup is the amateur match play event with the top males amateur golfers from the United States and Great Britain & Ireland. It is organized by the USGA (the governing body of golf in the United States) and the R&A (the governing body of golf for the rest of the world and headquartered in St. Andrews, Scotland).

You can view the Walker Cup on the Golf Channel. The event is being contended at The Old Course at St. Andrews so that is a treat to see as a golf fan.

Day 1: Saturday, September 2 starting at 8 am (est) Also, it will be rebroadcasted Saturday night at 9 pm est.

Day 2: Sunday, September 3, starting at 8 am (est) to 2 pm on Golf Channel.

September 22 to 24: The Solheim Cup

The ladies take the stage at Finca Cortesín in Andalucía, Spain. The USA and Europe both have stellar teams so it should be an exiting event. The Solheim cup record is 10 USA and Europe 7 but Europe has won the last two meetings (2019 at Gleneagles in Scotland and 2021 at The Inverness Club in Ohio).

When to watch the coverage live on the Golf Channel

Day 1, Friday: 2 am to 1 pm (est)

Day 2, Saturday: 2 am to 1 pm (est)

Day 3, Sunday: 5 to 11 am (est)

My bet is that there will be replays later in the day if you don’t care about seeing it live.

September 29 to October 1: Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is being contested at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rome, Italy. This will be the 44th event with the USA leading in the series (27-14-2) but Europe has won nine of the last 13 editions of the Ryder Cup. The first 39 years the matches were between the USA and GB&I (Great Britain and Ireland) but in 1979 the GB&I team was expanded to include all of Europe; thus making the matches more competitive.

It is early to confirm but here is the broadcast schedule I found online:

Friday, September 29 – USA Network, 1:30 am to Noon (est)

Saturday, September 30 – USA Network, 1:30 to 3 am (est) and NBC 3 am to Noon (est)

Sunday, October 1 – 5:30 am to 1 PM (est) on NBC

Side Bar: There is also the Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup but they are not televised. You can follow the scoring online at the respective websites for the events.

Major Winners on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour – A Review of Their Play in All Majors in 2023

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We all can remember the winners of the majors but I was curious how a major winner plays in all the majors for a year. It doesn’t feel like we have had a dominant player in majors for a number of years. Will we see another like Tiger, Jack, Annika, or Inbee dominate their tour’s majors?

This year only one player won multiple majors, Lila Vu on the LPGA won the first (Chevron) and last (AIG Women’s Open) major of the 2023 for the ladies. So I was curious how did major winners fare in all majors in a given year.

Below are two charts showing the winners for each major and how they played the other majors.

After a player wins a major we often hear the golf analysts make statements about the golfer being the next “big thing” or will now win multiple majors but the charts shows how hard that is to do in the same year. Lilia Vu has added her name to a very special list. So who else is on the list of multiple major winners in a single year? Here are some recent (within 10 years) stats:

(1) On the PGA tour Jordan, Rory, and Brooks have won multiple majors in a year.

  • 2014, Rory McIlroy: British Open, PGA Championship
  • 2015, Jordan Spieth: Masters, U.S. Open
  • 2018, Brooks Koepka: U.S. Open, PGA Championship

(2) On the LPGA tour Inbee Park, Jin Young Ko and Lila Vu

  • 2013, Inbee Park: Kraft Nabisco Championship (now, Chevron), U.S. Women’s Open, LPGA Championship (Now LPGA/PGA Championship)
  • 2015, Inbee Park: LPGA/PGA Championship, Women’s British Open (Now AIG Women’s Open)
  • 2019, Jin Young Ko: ANA Championship (now Chevron), Evian Championship
  • 2023, Lilia Vu: Chevron and AIG Women’s Open

To see the lists of multiple winners (by year) go to Golfer Compendium which lists multiple major winners in a single year for LPGA since 1946 and multiple major winners in a single year since 1922 for the PGA tour.

Lilia Vu – a New World #1 on the LPGA

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Congratulations to Lilia Vu winning the AIG Women’s British Open by six strokes! An even more impressive feat given she was six back of the leader when she started her round on the weekend. Vu is now a two-time major champion in a single year and the new #1 player in women’s golf. Another way to think of it, Vu has three wins in eight months and two of those wins are majors.

I doubt many had Vu on their radar to win the last major of the season given she has played spotty since her win at Chevron in April but her record on the Epson tour and her top 10s in 2022 on the LPGA tour were clear indicators of her talent.

If you don’t know much about Vu, she is 25 years old, is American (born in California) but her family comes from Vietnam (Grandfather moved family to USA in 1982). She played her college golf at UCLA and was on the winning Curtis Cup team in 2018. She graduated in 2019 and started her rookie year on the LPGA. Her rookie year was a disaster with 7 missed cuts out of 8 tournaments; only making $3,830. She almost quit but her mother encouraged her to stay the course and so she went to the Epson tour in 2020 where her journey to outstanding golf started to take shape.

Lilia Vu was a standout on the Epson tour (feeder tour for LPGA) in 2021 with four wins and 10 top 10 finishes; then transitioned to the LPGA tour in 2022 and she recorded eight top ten finishes.

Vu appeared to be on the way to great things when she won the first major of the year, The Chevron. However, after Vu’s win at Chevron, she missed the cut at the next two majors (The KPMG PGA Championship and the US Women’s Open) and had a T42 at the Evian.

During various press conferences, when asked about her game, She mentioned she was struggling with some back issues; and she also was learning how to juggle demands after winning a major because so much more is expected of winners with the sponsors, etc. For instance, before her win at Chevron she didn’t even have an agent. Now she has an agent to deal with all the requests of her time outside the ropes.

Prior to the win at the AIG Women’s Open, Vu’s world golf rank was 6 (Race to CME rank 7). Vu is now ranked the #1 player in the world (Race to CME rank 1). This season on the LPGA, Vu has 4 top 10 finishes and 3 wins (including two majors). That’s a very impressive 2023.

While being interviewed after winning the AIG Women’s Open Vu said she had felt (at times) like her first two wins in 2023 were a fluke. When asked if she believed in herself after winning the AIG Women’s Open, she said “Yes. And she mentioned that “the only thing that get’s in her way of winning is herself.” The players on the LPGA should watch out for a Vu who now believes in herself.

She is a talented golfer and deserving of her wins. You can read all about Vu on the LPGA website Player Profile