I recently wandered into the world of Piggly Wiggly and Pinehurst. While there, I played three rounds of golf and slept comfortably, thanks to an incredibly priced package from Maples Golf Packages and the ever-affable Jennifer Maples, daughter of the first course's architect.

Day 1: The Pit
The first stop on the tour was the Dan Maples-designed "The Pit." Built in an old sand pit and around a 40-acre lake in 1985, The Pit was described by one golfer as "purgatory at its best." Perhaps the golfer was speaking solely of the greens, which are devilishly small in places and hellishly sloped to boot.

The course itself features a number of interesting, stand-out holes, including the 60-90° dogleg right par-4 11th, the 150-yard par-3 12th, and the 350-yard par-4 13th, a paradoxical "amen corner" in purgatory. Each features a tee shot over water, and the 11th asks for a second shot over water as well.

The course was in adequate condition, though the greens weren't mowed to the fringe, and the dormant grass laid lower than the growing fluff around the edges of the greens. Balls putted from off the greens leapt into the air when they hit the fluff, removing a valid shot from the bag of players just missing the green. The dormant grass around the greens was a bit patchy and moist as well, removing the run-up shot from the repertoire. But hey, it's February in North Carolina. No real complaints here.

The greens themselves deserve a few complaints. Some of them are incredibly small and others feature places from which it's quite literally impossible to hole a putt. From no less than five feet above one hole, I gently nudged a ball. It hit the hole, popped in the air, and continued down the hill before finally coming to rest twenty feet away. Slopes that severe are fine on roller coasters, not on putting greens. Some greens feature as little as two or three valid pin positions and occupy less square footage than my bedroom.

The general course design does what it can to overcome the small, sloped greens. Large trees protect portions of the course, forcing players to shape their shots (typically a draw) to get to the pin positions behind them. The eighth is a wonderfully tight but short par 5 that I nearly eagled. It's followed by the difficult, uhpill 9th. The closing hole, a par 5, offers tremendous risk-reward opportunities if players position the ball properly off the tee. I'd have reached the green were it not so damp. Instead, I settled for a par after a wayward bounce on my short 30-yard approach.

"Purgatory at its best?" Perhaps… but eventually you leave the green and head to the next tee, where the simple shape of the land catches your eye, the required shot is presented to you, and you're asked to overcome the challenge. The Pit may be a bit silly on the dance floor, but you'll at least find yourself asking "what's the next tune?" on the tee boxes.

The 11th at the Pit. Players hit anything from a 4I to a driver before veering sharply to the right to approach a bunkered green over the water on the edge of the picture.

Day 2: Tobacco Road
I awoke on the second day of my trip to a frost delay. No worries, though: the cabin at Tobacco Road features a roaring fire and, a chess board, and a good stack of reading material. After shotgunning the 7:30 to 10:00am groups, I got out at 10:15.

"The Road," as it's affectionately known, deserves to be seen once. See it again and you're either a glutton for punishment or you missed a few pictures the first time around. Tobacco Road is all circus and very little golf. With about fourteen blind shots per hole (sarcasm, get it?), playing The Road is more about luck than it is about good shotmaking. Greens with five-foot tall 40° slopes await behind mounds and fairways remain 90% hidden behind mounds, piles, and dunes.

The fairways are as wide as can be - I think I missed only one all day. The 11th is a nice par 5 with a gaping bunker that few will challenge on their second shot. Those that fall short will find themselves 35 yards below the green with little chance of escape.

The course features not a single bunker, but a hundred or so waste bunkers will snare dramatically wayward teeshots and misjudged approaches. If you want to get out of trouble here, you'd better be able to pick the ball cleanly. Shrubs and brush engulf balls that don't clear mounds or miss the 80-yard-wide fairways. The Road is target golf, folks, and it's not a particularly difficult challenge if you're capable of connecting the dots.

Lots of golfers like Tobacco Road, and it's consistently rated highly among dead-tree publications as a top public golf course. However, to me, The Road ain't golf. It's hit-and-hunt. It's 5½-hour rounds. It's slow - but dramatic and picturesque - play. It's gimmicks, it's circus. It's worth a trip just to see it (and take some pictures), but those looking for a test of golf over a test of luck will want to try another course the second time around.

The 14th at Tobacco Road. The green is only 10-20 yards wide but measures 50 yards in length. The water right shouldn't be in play, but with the pin position you see here, it often is.

Day 3: Mid-Pines
Day three was the most enjoyable of the trip, as I played the oldest un-altered Donald Ross design in the country, Mid-Pines. Sister course to the exciting Pine Needles, which will host its second US Women's Open in 2007, Mid-Pines is everything Tobacco Road is not: challenging but fair greens, non-blind shots, challenges laid bare before you, and a true test of golf.

Mid-Pines is not long, but true to Donald Ross's nature you've got to put the ball in the right place to score well. Each shot features its own element of risk/reward depending on the location of the pin and the famous Ross hills, dales, and swales around the green. Don't forget the Ross bunkers - they're abundant as well.

I hit my hybrid or my 3-wood off the tee several times, including at a short par 5 which saw me hit hybrid, 6I, and PW to 15 feet before draining the birdie putt. Had I taken more club off the tee, I'd have been faced with a severe downhill lie. My playing partners took no less than 7 on the hole. The proper position set up the play on that hole and many others.

Those same playing partners, who didn't appear to appreciate a good Ross design, said "seen a thousand courses like this before" en route to their 90+s. The course is a tad blasé in spots, I'll admit. It lulls you before lulling you more, but that's when you make mistakes. Ross's designs dole out proportional punishments, and players missing one of the moderately wide fairways find themselves in pine straw or having to play around tall trees and bunkers protecting the angles into the greens.

The crowned greens themselves, many of which feature false fronts, are deceptive in their contours. Subtle breaks hide in the shadows, masked by the swales at the edges of the upside-down saucer greens. Putting Ross greens well - and pitching and chipping to them - is as much an art form as you're likely to find on a golf course.

Unfortunately, Mid-Pines wasn't in the greatest condition. The greens were lovely, but the fairways were a bit spotty. It's still a value and one people should play if for no other reason than the historical significance, but give it a go in a warmer month.

Headin' Home
I believe in a good test of golf: a course that asks you to hit a shot, rewards you if you do it, and punishes you appropriately if you fail. I don't believe in blind shots or circus-slanted greens. Tobacco Road is a circus course and The Pit could flatten and enlarge a few greens and be better for it. Mid-Pines could stand to be lengthened a bit to add some teeth.

All told, I was simply happy to be hitting a golf ball off of something other than a mat at my indoor golf dome. Residents of the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania don't get too many opportunities to do that in February. Regardless of the time of year or the location, a small white ball piercing an azure sky is golf at its finest, regardless of the surroundings.

But if you care even a little about the surroundings, North Carolina is certainly full of nice ones.

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