Played Pinehurst #2 for the second time since the renovation/restoration/whatever you want to call it. Many photos have been seen before, but I figured more can't hurt. And a lot that I have seen has been more of the marketing or construction ilk, not necessarily what you see when you play a round.
The first hole now pinches at around 270 from the back tees, making a fairway wood a possible play. Previously it was a mindless driver to SW range.
Second hole is an intimidating tee shot now
Same with the third - the previously unremarkable tee shot now offers a bit more pucker
The fourth hole is the first place where you see the difficulty they are having with making the sandy areas all play sandy. Much of this was rough before, but now it's more like grassless dirtpan. It's on its way, but it ain't sandy waste area yet. The same is true of many other areas on the course, notably on the 5th and 8th holes.
5th hole will always be world-class
6th hole
7th tee shot used to be an odd mounded mess. Now it's a semi-blind educated guess.
8th hole - as mentioned earlier, the left side here was previously rough and is now kind of a dried mud/dirtpan lie. They need to get some sand over there to make it consistent with the goal.
9th hole - probably the best postcard hole they have - the hole plays no differently than it used to, but the aesthetics are far better.
10th hole - the biggest change here is the addition of the bunker at the 185 mark, which doesn't make a ton of sense to me since it only punishes the shorter hitters or the lesser players. Nonetheless, it DOES play some visual games with you and makes this lay up shot a very tough one.
11th hole - one of the toughest on the course, and more visually intimidating than before now.
12th - Continuing the theme of more intimidating tee shots, the 12th has a lot more going on in the landing area than before. 270 won't get you in trouble unless you go right (which you would have no good reason to do anyway
13th - this and the next are the two most changed holes with respect to the native area - and in this case the sand is truly sand. I guess it's because they pulled out turf and ground rather than just turning off the sprinklers. Either way, the 13th is a much more pronounced left to right dogleg, and the fantastic bunker on the inside corner pinches at just the right spot - about 240 off the tee, daring you to challenge it for a good look at the green.
14 - same sand area right that used to be a big grass field with a few bunkers.
15 - not much different to look at here - still a tough green to hit with a mid or long iron
16 - A little more native looking up the left side here, Mainly has the effect of drawing your attention to something other than the lake
17 - Another looker...
18 also looks markedly different from the tee. Again, like 13 it gives more of an impression of the actual shape of the hole - almost a double dogleg - that was not as evident before the redo.
