I was fortunate enough to get a last minute invite from a PGA Professional friend of mine who works in Baltimore to play the East Course yesterday. I wasn't able to see the course prior to the recent work, but the course was fantastic yesterday.
The greens were very firm and healthy, were running very true and fairly quick. The bunkers also looked great. In my opinion, which doesn't mean much, a few more trees could be taken down (especially a couple of pines that still come into play on a hole or two), but overall, the course provided some great views. Perhaps a little more texture with fescue could be added too, but what fescue is already there looked fantastic.
Boy did it play long. We played from 6,600+ yards and it played every bit of 6,800+ yards. This was mostly due to elevation changes rather than watering. Regardless, it was a tremendously fun course to play, even with the constant challenge. I felt the mix of holes was great...there weren't a lot of really long "beat you up" type holes back-to-back-to-back, and the "easier" holes still presented a strong challenge and really made us think about how to play our shots.
I played Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon for the first time at the end of May this year, and to compare it for architectural reasons (Tillinghast, Foster), I honestly can't say which I prefer...both are very strong. I'll have to let that marinate for a bit and decide later (not like it matters).
The gentlemen we played with wanted to take golf cars, which is unfortunate because I prefer to walk, but our forecaddie, Jerome, was excellent. He was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, polite and had a great sense of humor. He even told us that his grandfather is in the Caddie Hall of Fame at Pinehurst! If you ever play there and have the option to request a caddie by name, I would highly recommend Jerome.
Below are a few photos that I snapped from yesterday, untouched by Photoshop, so they're not perfect.
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