Mid-Pines: Donald Ross' Little Black Dress

[Mike Hendren]

Like the ubiquitous "little black dress"  Mid-Pines is timeless, simple, elegant, understated, straight-forward yet somehow mysterious.  

A morning round there Monday, followed by an afternoon visit to the Tufts Archieves and a long look at Donald J. Ross'  detailed ink on linen sketch of Seminole almost made me forget about Tobacco Road the previous day.  

Did you ever wonder if this is as good as it gets?
-Melvin Udall

[Tom Huckaby]

Sounds cool, Mike.  That's a nice way to describe Mid-Pines.

But far more interesting to me is your last line... Given the heaps of praise Tobacco Road gets around here, what makes you want to forget it?

TH

[Mike Hendren]

Tom,

I LOVED Tobacco Road, but it's no Mid-Pines.

BTW, I had nine pars and a birdie at TR and scored better there than at MP.

Mike

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom,

I LOVED Tobacco Road, but it's no Mid-Pines.

Mike

Aha!  Gotcha.  So it's more of a compliment to TR that even after all that great Ross stuff you still couldn't forget it.  

This place has made me way too cynical.

 

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Mike it sounds like a great few days.

[john_stiles]

Mike,

Interesting to see you made the trip to Tufts.

The old Ross sketches and drawings are very interesting. The Tufts Archives (Kristine Januzik & Audrey Moriarty) have done very well with a little help from friends.  

It seems many well informed folks, even THE 'posting' cognoscente at at this site,  have no idea of the wealth of Ross' architectural records that still exist and are housed at Tufts.

Tufts has made a substantial effort in digitizing many of the records, and believe they are now up to the large format golf plans.  { www.tuftsarchives.org   910-295-3642 }

As to Mid Pines,  the 4th is wonderful.   The hole is a short, uphill dogleg right that you can almost drive. Often the closer you get, the more difficult the short pitch to the green.

The stretch of  holes 1-4, and 10-12, along with the 18th are my favorites in Pinehurst area.

Tomorrow,  check your email for a 'fab' drawing.

[Mike Hendren]

John,

Funny, I doubled the 4th after burying my approach in the lip!

Audrey Moriarty was delightful and sends her regards.  She was kind enough to allow me leeway to pour through the files and it was fun to stumble across the master-plan implemented at Beverly, among other items.  I was disappointed to find virtually empty files on Belle Meade and Memphis but am forwarding her the 1940 photographs I have of each of the 18 greens at Memphis for that file.  

The highlight was the Seminole drawing and Ross' drawing of various bunker construction techniques.  Funny, on the plane home I was reading Dan Brown's Angels & Demons and could really relate to the fictional Robert Langdon's review of Galileo's original writings in the Vatican's archives!

I applaud the Donald J. Ross Society's financial support of The Tufts Archives.

Mike

[Craig_Rokke]

At first glance, you could look at Mid Pines or even Pine Needles
and assume it's going to be a lot of the same pine-tree-lined stuff over and over. On the contrary, these courses definitely hold a lot of
interesting subtleties. I liked them both very much.

[rjsimper]

I agree that the 4th is an excellent short par 4, and I also agree with the sentiment of the 18th being one of the best finishers (and most scenic) in the area.

Upon my first play, I felt MP was the best in the area, beating out PN and even #2 in my book due to the fun factor and the intimate routing.  I've since changed my tune, but it's still one of the first I would play upon a return to the Sandhills region.

[Mike Benham]

Bogey-man -

Did you play Pine Needles also?  And if so, comments?

[Mike Hendren]

Mike,

No Pine Needles this time.  I was in town for about 24 hours with only time for TR and MP.  

BTW, I STRONGLY recommend the Pine Crest Inn, frumpy though it may be.  

Interestingly, I briefly visited Pinehurst Resort and my initial impression was that it takes itself a little too seriously.  

Mike

[Brad Tufts]

Mid Pines is one of the best in the area, but my impression of it in relation to those around it has changed slightly.

At first I thought it was better than PN, but have since realized that PN is a greater challenge.  Technology has affected a few of the challenges its holes present (#5, #15 especially), but there are still some gems out there (#4, #10, #12, #14, #16).

If one forced me to play MP the rest of my days, I wouldn't be too disappointed.

[Dale_McCallon]

At Dixie Cup II, Pete Buzcowski (or something in that ball park) said that Mid Pines is a course that you could have fun playing every day.  After playing it, I totally agreed.  

It was just so cool to just walk off one green to the next tee.  Uphill, downhill, great greens--but all very fair.  What more can you ask for?

[Brian Cenci]

I guess I'm not sure how one can like Mid Pines better than Tobacco, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  So, for my opinion, Mid Pines didn't do it for me.  I certainly thought Pine Needles was much much better.  All I kept thinking with Mid Pines was that is was the "scruffy stepchild" of Pine Needles.  When I played it earlier this year some guy actually came up to me in the parking lot and said Mid Pines was the best course in the area, better than even The Duece.  Obviously he draink from a different set of water jugs then I did out there.  It was a good course but to make a statement like that?  For me I'd play Pine Needles 5 times before playing Mid Pines once..  

[rjsimper]

Between PN, MP, and #2, I'd probably (once the #2 novelty factor wore off) break them up 5-3-2  PN, 2, MP, in that order...

[Jim Sweeney]

Sometime I want to play Mid Pines with Hickories. Something about the place seems to call for them, even though Hickories were in the way out when the course was built.

Been there three times now, and never dissapointed.

Pine Needles is better than ever (at least that I've seen) since the renovation.

[M. Shea Sweeney]

Brian-

I know I can understand why I like Mid Pines better than Tobacco Road.

Mid Pines is fun to PLAY golf on. If you want to get a good 4 ball match going I don't seem why you wouldn't want to go play Mid Pines. It has some great classic architecture on it, especially for you Donald Ross lovers. The place just smells of old time golf.

[Steve Pieracci]

What's not to like?  This is a great place to start a match....  



...or end one....

[David_Madison]

A freind and I played MP as part of a golf trip a few years back. Also played TR and some of the others. Had our own name for every course. Mid-Pines was "Happy Golf". Sorta' like sucking on a great big lollipop for four hours - - how could you ever stop smiling?

BTW, TR was "Lunar Golf".

[John Kavanaugh]

Bluto,

Didn't you steal the match from me on the 18th with a magnificent shot..please describe as I'm a little cloudy..

note: Me teeing off the first is my current screen saver..

[Brent Hutto]

Steve P,

I was just about to comment that the first hole at Mid-Pines is nigh perfect and you've posted a great photo of it. I think the green complex in particular is low-key, more difficult than it looks and fits the land beautifully. Then again I'm a sucker for a typical Ross-vintage opening hole with the downhill tee shot and slightly uphill approach to an interesting green and that one's a classic.

The eighteenth hole at my home course is very, very similar to the home hole at Mid-Pines (although ours at Columbia CC is tougher because the green is severely uphill from the fairway) but it lacks the grandeur of the turn-of-the-century hotel and clubhouse. On my first visit to Mid-Pines and Pine Needles I drove up from South Carolina and had a sandwich on the back porch of the clubhouse waiting for some friends to finish their round and play their way up eighteen. I was in love with the course before I ever hit my first shot there an hour later.

Mr. Sweeney makes a great point when he says

Mid Pines is fun to PLAY golf on...

because "PLAY" captures the essence of what I love about Mid-Pines. If you want to contest a 72-hole stroke play event among a bunch good players, then Pine Needles is your course. But for any golfer from the 30-handicapper down to the better than scratch player you can have a fine match any day at Mid-Pines while also having as fine a walk in the park as you could ever wish for. The two times I've been there Mid-Pines has played just a touch faster and "sportier" than its big sister across the street, just the thing for a friendly fourball game.

I have a club-pro friend who's been to the Pinehurst area innumerable times over the years. He'd play in any tournament he has a chance to enter at Pine Needles because it suits his game and it's a world-class championship venue. But he says if he retired to that area tomorrow Mid-Pines is the course he'd play every day for the rest of his life. I'm not sure I feel quite the same way (personally, I just adore Pine Needles) but I know what he's responding to about Mid-Pines.

[Steve Pieracci]

Bluto,

Didn't you steal the match from me on the 18th with a magnificent shot..please describe as I'm a little cloudy..

note: Me teeing off the first is my current screen saver..

John,
Yes, I hit a very nice draw off the tee and followed with a
perfect wedge to 2 feet to that middle pin shown.  The two footer did break a bit if I recall.    

Brent,
I agree.  MP is a fun place to have a match.  Just open enough to give you some confidence off the tee, and sublte enough on the greens to make it interesting.  

One of my other faves is this one shotter with the deep drop off bunker behind the green.  (6th hole? ~ 160 yards if I recall.  I can't find my scorecard ) Yes, I was long left, and way below the hole.  

[Brad Tufts]

If i had 15 rounds to play at PN, #2, MP, and TR......

6 PN
4 #2
3 MP
2 TR

And I like all of them, and would play any over CCNC-Dog, #8, Llama-more, Mid-tation, Little River, and Woodlake-Maples and SPCC (although I do like those last two).

[Mike Hendren]

Steve,

I believe that's the 8th.  

I love it when the golden agers sweep up the back of the green on a downhill one-shot hole.   It really confuses the read, giving the false impression that a) sidehill putts at the back of the green will break toward the front; or b) putts back toward the tee are downhill when they're actually uphill.

For example, does the gentleman in the blue shirt in your photograph appear to be putting uphill or downhill?

Flynn's 8th at The Cascades is the best example I've seen, while the subject is a little more subtle.

Mike

[john_stiles]

Sometime I want to play Mid Pines with Hickories. Something about the place seems to call for them, even though Hickories were in the way out when the course was built.

Jim,

Look at the web site for  www.carolinahickory.com  and also www.hickorygolfers.org

There is the Mid Pines Open,  November 2-5, 2006 for the hickory golfers.

Also, there was a recent event at Mimosa Hills on July 16th, which is appropriately just west of Hickory.