The updated profile on Southern Pines GC is now posted. Here is the link:
Southern Pines Golf Club – Golf Club AtlasSPGC has served as my home course for the past 22 years. I am a total homer and have always adored it. Before Kyle Franz’s 2020/2021 work, it enjoyed great bones but its architectural features were lacking. That’s okay, back then at a $65 green fee, it was one of the best bargains in the Southeast. I was introduced to the course in 1997 by a friend (Ted Sturges) and it was a big reason why I elected to move to Southern Pines three years later from Australia. Ever since, I have invested the vast majority of my local playing time here.
Trying to be objective about your home course is well-nigh impossible. I am not even going to pretend to be anything other than biased. Friends now own it and friends restored it and heck, it is even where I proposed to my now wife one snowy January day. I take pride in showing it off, made even better when you see a first-timer quickly become bewitched under its spell. For instance, Travis Takto, a GCAer in Chapel Hill, drove down three weeks ago and must have said OMG ~ten times over the 12 holes we played. It was a postcard perfect late afternoon and the long shadows made the course appear especially handsome. Travis gushed and I naturally thought, “Well, here is a good man with a keen eye! ” I even let him buy me a beer afterwards.
😊
The course re-opened last September to rave reviews. As Kyle notes at the end of the profile, “
People have appreciated that we didn't just do tic tac toe and copycat, paint by numbers stuff. We strived to be innovative, adding some fun features while always being respectful of Mr. Ross." There is so much to admire, cool things like the now drivable Cape 11
th hole and the grass mound in front of the 13
th green.
Happily, some people have groused that the greens are ‘too wild.’ Generally, my experience is that’s a good thing. Having played Pinehurst No. 2, Oakland Hills and Brookside (Canton) at the same time these were being built, I am not sure what people expect on a Donald Ross course.
Kyle Franz’s inspiration for SPGC’s greens were black and white photos from Pinehurst No. 2 when Ross grassed them. I find nothing discordant between Kyle’s work and such pictures. In fact, just the opposite: the greens to me are the highlight of the project. True, when the greens were being constructed, a few of them like 2, 4 and 6 looked severe but … I was wrong. I say that have played them ~50 times since and have gained a better appreciation of how to tackle them. Is that part of being a homer, that you get to wrestle with the questions posed again and again and ultimately decide on the merits of something through numerous rounds? Studying and playing these greens has been a most enjoyable learning curve, one that is still on going.
To be fair, before coming for a game, please know that today’s presentation of SPGC is short of the standards set at its sister resort courses, Mid Pines and Pine Needles (which hosts a rather big event this week!). The sand in the bunkers has been slow to compact and you can draw poor lies, even fried eggs. The Elks organization owned it for decades and it is going to take time for Green Keeper Cody Self to work his magic and have it present like Pine Needles will this week. So be it.
Though obviously impossible, I do wish that the old course and the old green fee of $65 could co-exist side by side with the restored one with its higher green fee as affordable golf is what this country sorely needs. Still, even with today’s green fee during peak season at $195, I can argue that it represents as good a value now as it did five years ago, that’s how stellar an opinion I have of the work that Franz and team accomplished. Also, understand that this is not a completed project. Things remains on the drawing board, including tee work and of course, the perpetual refinement on the course’s presentation.
On a personal note, it was a blast to live one mile from this project. My wife and I walked our dogs each morning there and could witness what was unfolding. We are morning people and seeing the energy on display pre-7am was inspiring. Late afternoon, I would return with clubs and the same people were still chugging away, much dirtier but still happy to talk about the day’s accomplishments. Much to Kyle’s credit, he assembled a talented, passionate team. It seemed like everyone was always having fun, and that - somehow - is displayed in the final offering. If you are an architecture dork, there is no greater gift than to spend time at a course while work is unfolding. I chronicled some of what I saw on Instagram, fyi.
Anyway, the greater Pinehurst/Southern Pines has always been a microcosm for the good and bad things happening in American golf. If you look at all the great work that has occurred in this region this century (both new construction and restoration work), you will feel heartened by the direction of golf in this country. And if you meet the people driving the work, you will be even more chuffed! In fact, a friend who is a member wants to start the Shrink the Game movement as our quiet afternoon rounds are in peril from the onslaught of golfers flocking here. It is a great problem to have.