Much has been made of Coore & Crenshaw's work on Pinehurst No.2 within this Discussion Group, all of it complimentary. My brother John sagely suggests that, 'Perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid is that, to someone who has not seen it before, the course does not look as though it just underwent significant work.' Ace player David Eger wrote to me 90 days ago and I am sharing it here with his permission:
Played No. 2 last Friday. Excellent ...distinguished look from tees thanks to some new bunkers (#4, 7, 9, 14 & 16) and the elimination of a few such as the one on the right of #10. Fairways are wider because there's no grass "rough." The narrow fairways diminished the course for the '99 & '05 U.S. Opens. Greens were resodded with A1 & A4 combination after C & C lowered each green two inches after removing thatch. Some slight green contour changes reduced/removed where bunker sand build up had raised too much (#2, 7, 17, etc.). New back right section on #15 green gives that green a needed additional hole location. New tees on #'s 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14) make it perfect for the '14 Men's Open. I commend Dedman and the Resort for the courage to do it.
I moved from Sydney to Southern Pines in June, 2000 and from then until March, 2011, I only played No. 2 four times. Since re-opening, I have been around it the same number of times because the course has roared back to its glory days. Telling to me is just how handsome its new GolfClubAtlas.com profile looks. Previously, No.2 was a sea of green, impossible to photograph, and though people understood that the greens made the course special/unique, they frequently had difficulty remembering individual holes right after playing the course. That's no longer true. Skim through the photos and you'll see a string of distinctive holes with none reminding you of the other.
Some of its holes (the first, second, third, fifth, thirteenth, fourteenth and sixteenth) might make my Pat Ward Thomas version of a world eighteen list. Just as interesting are its worst holes, whatever they may be. Pick three. What would they be? Certainly NOT the eleventh and twelfth where Ross got so much out of so little. Maybe the fourth, seventh, and fifteenth? If so, think of how much better those three are than the worst three at Dornoch or Pebble or Portrush or virtually any course with the possible exceptions of Oakmont, NGLA, Merion and Pine Valley.
Crowned greens make No.2 a brute competitor under the Morrissett hole by hole match play format. How to describe them? The best way I know how involves my dining room table. Like yours and like the putting surfaces at No.2, its top is several feet above the surrounding ground. Recently, I had two large pizzas on it whose wafting aroma sent my puppy into an agitated state. Before anyone sat down, she got a running start, leaped on a chair at the table's side and then proudly bounded on top. What fleeting glory she must have felt as she was so close to victory (!) but her momentum was a bit much and she slid through the spacing between the two pizzas and off the other side. No pizzas or dog were hurt. That's the crowned greens at Pinehurst! Start missing them to the sides and/or in the wrong places based on the day's hole location and you will be coming back at a relatively narrow target with no guarantee of staying on top. This is especially true when they are at peak firmness which they certainly will be for a two week stretch in June, 2014. Thanks to these greens, the course provides an engaging test without having to be tricked up, which may make it the ultimate U.S. Open venue. Congressional (rolling topography, thick rough, narrow fairways, traditional parkland greens) and No. 2 (more modest undulations, plethora of short grass, interesting playing angles, crowned greens) couldn't be more different as host to the same event.
Yet, these most famous of all American greens (with the possible exception of Augusta National's) didn't even take shape until they were grassed by Ross in 1935 when No. 2 was already in its fourth decade of existence. Look at the 1920s aerial photograph below looking down the 1st and 2nd playing corridors. Gone are the small sand greens but back is the sandy terrain that was so ably restored by Coore & Crenshaw.
Pinehurst drips with history. One of my favorite photographs is this one of Jones giving an exhibition during the grand re-opening of No. 2 in 1935 after Ross's extensive work. Ross himself is seen peering intently to the left and up from Jones.
That was a great day in the course's history as was March 4th 2011 when No.2 re-opened for play. See what you think!
Cheers,