Andy:

I was in the same boat as you earlier this year.  I was looking for a nice golf vacation for not much $$$.  I drove to Pinehurst with a foursome in Mid-March '04.  My package was ~$325/golfer for 4 days/3 nights (Hampton Inn), and arrived on a Thursday and departed on a Sunday.  My itinerary was as follows:

Thursday - Legacy
Friday - Tobacco Road (36 holes)
Saturday - Mid-South

Weather was in the upper 50's to low 60's.  

Our first round was at Legacy where the conditions were sub-par for that time of the year, plus they had a 3 hour frost delay that morning (obviously, not their fault).  My foursome thought we were in for a long 4 days after that round, until we arrived the following day at Tobacco Road...

TR was in outstanding shape.  Fairways and greens were, well, "green" and very playable.  We found the same great conditions the following day at Mid-South.  The pro at Mid-South had commented that TR is "usually the first course in the area to come around after the winter, and we're [Mid-South] right there as well".  Mid-South was a fun course, and treated us like we were members for the day (like TR).  The other great part about Mid-South was that it receives very little play.  We had no one in front of us or behind us for our Saturday, 9:00 am tee time!

Polling my foursome, three of us like Tobacco Road the best, while the other one preferred Mid-South.  We all agreed to skip Legacy if we were there again in mid-March.  Like others in this thread had mentioned, be sure and play TR more than once.

I would skip the resort courses, as they are not worth the $$$ that early in the season.  When we were there in March, we went over to take a look at #2 and the conditions appeared to be equal, if not worse than the Legacy.

We booked our golf package through Tobacco Road Golf & Travel, which is affiliated with the course (www.tobaccoroadtravel.com).  They were very helpful, and had answers to all of our questions (including course aeration schedules, etc.).  I would highly recommend giving them a call.  

Quote from: Pete Buczkowski on December 01, 2004, 12:24:01 PM

10 Finley 1-up (most hate the 10th at Finley but I think its innovative, and 10 at Duke has nothing going for it)

Yes, Pete, iron off the tee and wood approach on a par 4 is genius!  The hole bites.  

Finley has some good holes, in fact, the course turned out better than I was expecting, but give me Duke anyday.  Heck, the Duke coeds jogging around the periphery of the course give it the edge right there!    

Get Carolina girls to jog around Finley, and I'm there!

Actually, my one time around the new Finley, we (J Doyle and I) played right in front of the UNC Women's golf team, and they have some hotties (the best player at the time was not).  We (actually just me) asked them (the first group, a twosome) to join us, but they were qualifying for a match.

Scott,

Two things...one, how can we say the ball is going like crazy and we need to pull it back...and then say that forcing a long iron into the green is bad.  And, by the way, you can hit driver, if you SHAPE it...or hit it low...the ground will help a fade.  And, if you can hit an iron off the tee (220 to bunker), you don't need a wood in, b/c you'll have less than 200.  So, there are options here...play it safe and have a long iron or wood into the green, like the old days...or try to hit a fade on the driver, and have a short iron in...honestly, how can that be soooo bad?  Please tell me - what does Duke 10 have going for it?  Nothing on the tee shot but a narrow fairway, mid to short iron to a moderately interesting green with no real trouble around it.  

And yes, the trail at Duke does give it points...but come on...even Doherty said they have the ugliest cheerleaders in the ACC...

The cross country trail at Finley goes by holes 14-17...

Pete

Quote from: Pete Buczkowski on December 01, 2004, 06:09:40 PM

Quote from: Brian_Gracely on December 01, 2004, 12:27:43 PM

Pete,

Finley #18 does not beat any hole on the planet.  It's TERRIBLE!!  

Brian,

I'd be interested in why you think its soooo terrible.  You have to think off the tee...your club selection should depend on the pin location.  If the pin is in front, watch out.  Miss short to a back left pin, you're dead.  Hit driver and don't roll down the entire slope - really tough shot b/c of your slight L->R stance.  

In all my rounds there it was the one hole I did not birdie.

Pete

17 is a good hole, alot of fun.  18 is just a way to get from the 17th green to the parking lot over a flat piece of land with a bump for the green.  

First off I will argue that the land is not flat there.  If you hit your drive even with the fairway bunker, the ball is significantly below your feet.  If you hit it past the bunker, you can't see the green; its blind and at least 20 feet above you, all you see are two bunkers.  So how is that flat?

Second the green is quite intriguing...the front left is completely false, so if you hit it on line for a back pin, you will fall into the chipping area and require a really tough shot for recovery.  Try getting it close to the front right pin, or back left, or putting to a front center pin...its not just a bump.  And how do you get an easy approach if you just bang away at driver?  Maybe you just played it half in the dark b/c you were practice putting on 17 so long.  

Thanks all for the advice.  
I have already played, and loved, Tobacco Road and Southern Pines/Elks.
Hyland Hills sounds like a very good first day course, and we are considering Pine Needles as the one budget-buster.
For those in the know, would you add Legacy or Talamore or Mid South or none of the above?  From my experience, a Palmer course runs the risk of, like Chinese food, leaving me hungry right after I've eaten.

If you like the early 90s version of Rees Jones courses then Talamore is the play.

Andy,
Whispering Woods, mentioned earlier, is a very nice layout and affordable. It has some severe terrain and pitched/fast greens. Twenty five minutes south on RT. 1 will bring you to Richmond Pines. It's nine by Ross, nine by Gene Hamm and the two are nearly seamless. On one occasion two of us played 54 holes at RP and were back in Southern Pines for dinner.
I've never made a tee time, never had to wait and never had a slow round at either course.  

Both were under $30.00 last time I was there.

A course that gets almost no talk in the area that I remember thinking was pretty decent (this was 10 years ago) was Seven Lakes.  I remember much of the routing, but little in details.