The 12th at Mid Pines

[Chris Buie]

This would be one of my favorite holes.  It appears to be rather innocuous but for me it's one of the more distinctive and well designed holes in the area.
I love the look from this tee - wide open.  For me having a lot of room to play with on the tee shot is a lot more fun than having to thread a needle with the driver down some narrow corridor.   However, even though you are given ample space to drive, it matters a great deal where you place your tee shot.



There is freedom with the tee shot but there is considerable strategy as well.  With a very tight driving space, if you miss it sometimes even just a little, you are either dead or just chopping out of the woods and playing a recovery game.  Here if you miss it you are properly penalized but still in the game and given a chance to redeem yourself.



The optimal angle to come at this singular Ross green is from fairway left.  However, to get there your tee shot must tangle with the wire grass and mounds (right behind the photographer).  So there is a bit of risk to gain the best angle.  Even if you obtain the best angle it's still a challenge from the left side of the fairway, and an even stronger one from the middle.  For me the 12th shows that you don't have to have a hole with mammoth yardage to give the skilled golfer something that will give him a proper test.



Fairway right leaves you with a very challenging approach.  Although this photo is taken closer than where your drive would end up - you get the idea.  The main feature of this hole is the narrowness and angle of the green.  It is easily one of the narrowest greens Ross ever did - a mere sliver actually.  Sort of an hourglass figure that if I remember correctly is 16 feet wide at one point.   The tight width of this green makes a shot out of the semi-deep right bunker difficult to keep on the green.  



Over?  Well, you know what so many Ross greens are like when you hit it over.  Even a highly skilled short game will find it extremely hard to get it up and down from behind this green.  So bunkers left and right, a no-man's land over the green - obviously front center or even just front is the best target.  If you go for the pin (um, hole location) when it is in the back you have to be exact with it.



Well, as always, that is just my take on it.  I'm sure some will disagree.  That is fine and in fact I'd enjoy hearing other takes - but let's keep it congenial.

[Mac Plumart]

Chris...first off, great thread!

Secondly, you point out exactly why I like Ross so much.  I call it subtle brilliance.

So, I look at your first picture of the tee box.  It look basic, easy and no problem.  I would say a vast majority of the time I would be right smack dab in the middle of that fairway with a bias towards the right side of it.  It seems wide open with very little trouble to get into and I fade my tee shot usually.  So there I would sit.

Then on my approach, I would most likely shoot for the pin.  Given the position I would most likely be in, I would have to carry that front right bunker.  33% chance I make the green, 33% I end up in the bunker, 33% chance I end up long, and a 1% chance something weird happens.  So, the odds are I am not on the green and like you say if I am long I am in bad shape.

So, I probably walk off that hole making bogey (or maybe worse) but I will be confounded for the next few times I play it before I realize that I need to keep the ball on the left side of the fairway and use that run up shot to hold the green.

Subtle little things like this make his courses a blast to play...but I've found that some golfers never "get" it and think he (and his courses) are boring.  Even in this hole, there is nothing spectacular in terms of eye candy...so some would think, uh the hole is okay I guess...when really the hole is subtely excellent.

[Jim Sweeney]

A great example of how the game has changed over the years. Athough a tough shot from the high side of the fairway (forget it if you are in the right rough) it is still playable. with a wedge or less.

We played a round there a few years ago with hickories. The best chance to reach in two is the left fairway or intermediate rough with some sort of a mid lofted club..From the right side there is one play- to the left front,  just short, and that is not an easy assignment. A bump and run from there and one has a chance for a regulation figure. Anything lo the right in or near the bunker is kaput.

Mid Pines is a great course for hickories as Mrs. Bell and Family have preserved the very best of the golden age character of the course.

I agree;  a great strategic challenge.

[Mike Cirba]

Chris,

Excellent job.   Thanks for bringing back memories of a joyful little course and a clever hole.

[Chris Buie]

I saw a good golfer (6 handicap) make a 7 on this hole - without hitting a bad shot.  The guy hits his drive center right - pretty far.  The flag is in the back of the green - naturally he goes right for it without really thinking about it.  His wedge approach finds the top of the right bunker.  It wasn't a bad shot - just a hair short.  His bunker shot isn't too bad either - but it just rolls over the back.  After expressing himself with a variety of colorful words he tries to flop it from the bottom of that diabolical hill in the back.  Again, just a hair short.  The look on his face when the ball was rolling back to him.  That's one of your true Pinehurst area moments right there.  Anyway, he finally gets it on and 2 putts.  7.  Triple-bogey.  All because he didn't do what the 12th hole was asking him to do.  He had the shots - he just didn't have the right strategy. 
I saw several similar things happen on #2 during the US Opens  I could not believe how many pros picked the wrong strategy on #2.  They tucked many of the pins right next to some of the more notorious roll off areas - and these guys would just try to loft their approaches right in there tight - only to find themselves with these extremely difficult recovery shots.  Remember the film clip of John Daly playing hockey behind the 8th green?   
For me, strategy is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the game.  A lot if not most of the courses I see these days have no real strategy.  Just hit it in the fairway and hit it as close to the flag as you can. That's about it. That is not impressive architecture. I like to see options with degrees of reward and penalization.  Not if you miss the shot you are just dead.  I mean, that's ok sometimes but it is not very clever.  Penalize them but give the player a chance to redeem themselves.  Whenever I consider which holes actually impress me with their design, this is definitely one of the holes my mind usually goes back to.  There are holes out there with options, but this would be one of the more sublime ones.

[Mac Plumart]

Chris...

I couldn't agree more.

A lot of courses simply test your ball striking ability, not your strategic thinking...I think a lot of PGA courses are like that. 

I've also heard a lot of people say things like good architecture will reward well struck shots and punish poorly struck shots...I disagree with that.  Good architecture should allow a player to play a course and never be asked to hit a shot they don't have in their bag.  They might drop a stroke here or there do to lack of "shots in their bag", but the course should give them options to work with and choose from. 

Perhaps it could be phrased as risk/reward options.  I like seeing the option to challenge a hole for birdie, but risk double bogey.  The same for the par/bogey combo or an easy bogey option. 

Having said that, can't you putt the ball all the way on a few holes at St. Andrews...now I am sure you will drop a lot of shots...but you can choose that strategy if you want to.

Per the hole you highlight and Ross in general, I love his subtle nuances and innocent looking holes that are really masterful works of strategic mindgames.  Great architect!!

[Richard Hetzel]

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend at Mid Pines/Pine Needles a few years ago. Personally, I liked the front 9 at MP slightly more than the back 9.

#12 was as fair a hole as one could hope for there I bet.

[Sean_A]

Chris

Yes, the 12th is certainly one of the best holes at Mid Pines.  It is also a great example of why recovery in golf is so important.  Left of left, in the trees leaves a chance for a great recovery because there are no low branches, but right - the fat part of the corridor - is a no hoper unless the hole is up front.  I honestly hit one of the ebst shots I ever will here from the trees.  A huge choppy roundhouse hook - I mean it was a 40 yard hook - onto the green from the trees.  I missed the birdie, but I will never forget that shot.  Ross was far more clever a designer than the lovers of Flynn, Tillie and Raynor give him credit for.  In a very real sense, I still think of Ross as the one best archie carrying the minimalism of the UK to the US.  There is always a certain, steady, plodding progress about Ross courses which reminds me greatly of Colt.  JUst as I think of Colt courses for heathlands, I think of Ross for parklands.  I wish we had guys today building in the Ross style because it is timeless.

Ciao

[Brent Hutto]

Sean,

Was that the day we played at Mid-Pines? I think I remember that shot. IIRC I was in the sandy junk over on that side as well, prime spectator position for your big ol' hook. Too bad you weren't my partner.

It is a very solid hole, design-wise.

[Sean_A]

Sean,

Was that the day we played at Mid-Pines? I think I remember that shot. IIRC I was in the sandy junk over on that side as well, prime spectator position for your big ol' hook. Too bad you weren't my partner.

It is a very solid hole, design-wise.

Brent

Yes, you were partnered with Mr Wilson against Doug and myself.  I can still recall Doug's blank reply after listening to my response to his "what ya gonna do?  Jeepers, that was a dreadful slap hook which got me in those trees just past the sandyscrub waste in the first place.

Ciao

[Chris Buie]

The photo below is for you Sean.  Now you can relive your magical shot (and the looks on your opponents faces) whenever you like.  
You can see the 12th is a little more downhill than you think.  And notice how well the hole fits into the land.  Ross did have a keen eye for that, didn't he?
Very few shots end up where this photo is taken which is why I didn't include it before.  It would be great to have a view of this green from some height, but I think I would have to have a few more drinks at the turn than usual before I would hazard a climb up a tree for that. Maybe we can goad Morrissett into that next time - for the sake of the website, of course.  
Speaking of GCA's dubious leader, here is what another friend said when I sent him the link to this page:

Gentlemen,
 
I have a rather love/hate relationship with #12 at Mid-Pines.  First, I love the fact that by the 12th hole Ran Morrissett is usually in his pocket on three of the last six holes, so payday is looming near.  But then as I look out at the course, I realize that due to the economy, we are the only ones playing the Needles or Mid-Pines and any realized winnings from Ran go straight to the bottom line.  Oh well, thanks for your great comments!!!!
 
-Kirk Bell

[Roger Wolfe]

Secondly, you point out exactly why I like Ross so much.  I call it subtle brilliance.

A few years ago, when I was just beginning my Ross indoctrination I played it just like you described yet my opponent, much shorter and a much higher handicap than me at the time, played it an entirely different way... and I learned my lesson.

So, I look at your first picture of the tee box.  It look basic, easy and no problem.  I would say a vast majority of the time I would be right smack dab in the middle of that fairway with a bias towards the right side of it.  It seems wide open with very little trouble to get into and I fade my tee shot usually.  So there I would sit.

He hit driver, aiming between the two tree lines with hopes that he would reach the dogleg or at least get on the right side of the fairway so the trees on the left were not blocking his approach.  His rope hook finished just on the edge of the pine needles at the corner of the dog leg on the left side of the fairway. I was in the middle of the fairway after hitting a straight 3 wood.

Then on my approach, I would most likely shoot for the pin.  Given the position I would most likely be in, I would have to carry that front right bunker.  33% chance I make the green, 33% I end up in the bunker, 33% chance I end up long, and a 1% chance something weird happens.  So, the odds are I am not on the green and like you say if I am long I am in bad shape.

I went at the pin with an iron, came up short and wound up in the bunker.  He went at it with a 3 wood, expertly "ticking" off the trees to the left.  The ball then cut sharply, landed 10 yards off the front of the green moving at a 45 degree angle to the fairway line, bounced up onto the putting surface, rolled thirty feet and wound up 2 feet from the pin.  His net "2" crushed my "5" and we still laugh to this day.  I thought it was a freak occurence, but he has done it me several times on several different Ross courses.  Now that my skills have deteriorated I enjoy doing the same thing to others that I learned from him.

So, I probably walk off that hole making bogey (or maybe worse) but I will be confounded for the next few times I play it before I realize that I need to keep the ball on the left side of the fairway and use that run up shot to hold the green.

Subtle little things like this make his courses a blast to play...but I've found that some golfers never "get" it and think he (and his courses) are boring.  Even in this hole, there is nothing spectacular in terms of eye candy...so some would think, uh the hole is okay I guess...when really the hole is subtely excellent.

This is so true about Ross.  His courses are manageable for a high handicapper player, but tough for a low handicapper to "go low."  The more I play them, the more I love them.  On your typical Nicklaus course his drive would land in a 100 yard long waste bunker wrapped around the dogleg and there is no doubt his approach would be buried in the face of a 30 yard bunker extending across the entire left side and front of the green. Ross is truly unappreciated and a joy to play from your 30's well into your 60's.