Pinehurst #2, Courses for Players of All Abilities, and Chipping Areas

[Ken_Cotner]

Do I win the award for longest title?

After going through a couple threads about which courses are “playableâ€? for all ability levels yet “challengingâ€? for the better player; and Tom Kite’s comment about the excess proliferation of chipping areas as older courses are renovated (or re-whatevered); I thought I would share my experience at Pinehurst #2 a few weeks ago.  Obviously it’s been written about a lot, including Ran’s course profile on this website, so I’ll try to find something new to say.

Despite the wettest winter and spring on record, and hard rain the few days before, the course was plenty dry and firm due to the sandy soil.  What a natural advantage, especially compared to the bog Charlotte has been.  The handicaps in our foursome were 0, 8, 11, and 20-ish, and we played from the 6,700+ yard tees.

Rather than a course “review�, here are some random impressions from the day:

·   Despite plenty of, um, variability in how well everyone hit it, nobody came remotely close to losing a ball.
·   The scratch player shot 78; the high handicapper shot 92 comfortably.  The course ABSOLUTELY allows everyone to have fun and get around reasonably well.
·   The routing is superb – holes going every direction; flowing seamlessly into one another.  What a pleasant walk.  Best spot:  behind the 3rd green, looking down on the gorgeous par-5 fourth going away, and the fearsome 5th coming back.
·   Terrific angles; clear advantage to finding the correct side of the fairway.
·   Fantastic, but playable greens.  It has all the chipping interest one reads about, but the green speeds were reasonable and we had little or no back-and-forth chipping experiences.
·   I wonder if “chipping areasâ€? might be on the verge of becoming a cliché, but they really work at #2.
·   False fronts (and sides and backs) galore.  I found them on 9 (a very slightly thin 6-iron which hit in the back third of the green, rolled to the back edge, and trundled 20 yards behind the green) and 13 (7-iron hung on the edge of the false front until I had walked halfway to the green, then fell back down the fairway).
·   Most fun shots – big flop shot on the aforementioned #9 up and over a bunker, to a downhill green with no room.  18 – after a good drive into a strong wind, hugging the fairway bunker on the right, I hit a low 3-iron which ran through the green and into the back of a chipping area almost in the pro shop, behind and to the right of the green.  Hole on the front right, big bunker directly in the way, and no way I can pull the flop off twice in one round.  I putted the ball up the hill and to the right of the bunker, some 60-70 feet away from the hole.  The slope by the bunker turned it left, then a tier in the green turned it further left, and it stopped 5 feet away.

I came away thinking that #2 may be the Old Course of America.  â€˜Course I haven’t played many of our seaside courses, nor the Nebraska gems, but Pinehurst sure shares many of St. Andrews’ characteristics.

Respectfully submitted,
Ken

[Michael Moore]

Ken, you need to remove the "Swedish Character Pack" from your operating system!

[Ken_Cotner]

Michael,

Can you email me at kcotner@sterling-capital.com?  Is something extra coming through on my posts?

Thanks,
Ken

[BCrosby]

Ken -

Good review.

P2 is in that small group of great courses where the learning curve is still parabolic after four or five rounds. In that regard your comparison of P2 to TOC is on the mark.

Is there another course that has such a benign face and such a vicious heart?

Bob

[ian]

BCrosby,

I had the same experience you wrote about. The high handicap is comfortable, while the really strong player is pushed to the limit. It is the perfect design for all levels of play. It may not be as pretty as some of the famous layouts, but it is a much better piece of architecture than most.

I liked the ideas so much, that I based my first course on the same design charactoristics and strategies as found out there. I would never claim the course is at that level, but the most common comment is that it is fun to play. Isn't that more important than any other quality? Pinehurst, to me, is just flat out fun to play.

Gald you enjoyed you experience as much as I did,

Ian

[Tom_Doak]

Ken,

I agree totally about Pinehurst #2, but I also agree with Tom Kite's point that chipping areas are getting inserted into many courses which didn't have them before, and it doesn't always work so well.

Pinehurst's bermuda fairways on sand work very well for chipping or putting from off the green.  The fescue at Pacific Dunes and Sand Hills works just as well as it does in St. Andrews -- I've putted from forty yards off the green on all three.  Texas Tech's tight TifSport bermuda works pretty well for the Texas wedge, but the soils aren't as ideal.  However, bentgrass/poa annua chipping areas on northern courses are very expensive and tricky to keep in "putt-conducive" condition.

I'd love to hear some comments about this from superintendents ... what it takes to keep chipping areas in great shape, including the associated costs.

[John Foley]

Ken,

Great post. When I went around #2 last fall,  I felt that after a few holes I was somewhat underwhelemed. As I got into the round it was very appairent that it was much more than the initial feelings. By the time I hit 13 & 14 I was truly amazed. Definetly a course for all levels.

I think the most fun on that course is missing the 9th green and try to get your next shot close to the pin. Try missing wide right and get to the back left pin.

Tom,

Is it mainly an agronomy/maintenance issue vs a design issue on why some shipping area's don't work well? ? Sure seperating them is very difficult, but wouldn't integrating the closely mown surfaces on most holes take away the SW as the only option shot we find way too often?

[Tom_Doak]

John,

If you'd seen much of my work at all, you would know that I like chipping areas and use them a lot.  However, the agronomy is much tougher in some areas than others, and my feeling is that often the surface doesn't really allow a running shot, so they're just adding to maintenance without providing much benefit.

Also, to me chipping areas represent one style of design, and while I like them, like Mr. Kite I am starting to get tired of seeing the USGA introduce them into every old golf course.  Pitches and flop shots are part of the game, too, and it ought to be okay for some courses to stress these over chipping.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Chipping areas are higher maintenance then a normal 1" to 2" greens surrounds. Besides the obvious increase in mowing they usually require more fertility and top dressing if putting is to be a viable option. Often one of the most difficult tasks is to mow them since they are almost always steep and close cut mowers aren't usually great slope mowers. I really dislike chipping areas that end up with a catch basin at the bottom. Always wet and full of divots since all the balls end up in the same place.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Don, You have gotten a makeover. It seems the west Texas air is good for your complextion.

[ian]

Tom,

Flamboyant bunkers are more maintenance too, so what, good design elements are worth the money and generate the money required to maintain them.

As for Kite's comment, I agree with both of you, adding an elememnt that wasn't there just to say they added more variety is an effort to save face when its there set-up that creates the one dimensional golf.