Tom Doak to Renovate "The Pit" Golf Course in Aberdeen, NC? (Pinehurst #10)

[Golfer20]

Pinehurst Resort released the following teaser video a couple of days ago:

The voice-over is done by Tom Doak and ever since Pinehurst Resort bought "The Pit" in 2011, speculation has been running wild that the Resort would eventually turn it into No. 10.

 

What's Next For Pinehurst And The Pit? | This is the Loop | Golf Digest

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Is the Pit going to become Pinehurst No. 9? Not likely.On Monday, the Pinehurst Resort, which has eight golf courses under its umbrella, bought the shuttered Pit Golf Links in Aberdeen, about five miles South...

 

Matt Ginella weighs in:

Did anyone get a chance to play The Pit before it closed?  Would you be excited to play if a renovation is officially announced? 

[iacas]

26 minutes ago, Golfer20 said:

Did anyone get a chance to play The Pit before it closed?  Would you be excited to play if a renovation is officially announced? 

I played it a long long time ago:

https://thesandtrap.com/b/courses/north_carolina_trio_the_pit_tobacco_road_and_mid-pines

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, Golfer20 said:

Did anyone get a chance to play The Pit before it closed?  Would you be excited to play if a renovation is officially announced? 

I played it a few times over the years.  It was fun, but pretty demanding in parts.  The half-dozen holes weaving through the remaining "hedgerows" of soil had a very interesting look, while being fairly standard golf holes.  If it were to re-open, I'd certainly play it, I'd be curious to see what features a different architect might retain, which would be revised.  

[Golfer20]

It's officially official:

Tom Doak to Design Pinehurst Resort’s 10th Course - Pinehurst Resort

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Pinehurst - as timeless as the game that inspired it. Find out about Tom Doak to Design Pinehurst Resort’s 10th Course here or visit our site to learn more about all we have to offer!

 

[iacas]

[Golfer20]

On 5/8/2023 at 12:53 AM, iacas said:

It's incredible how fast they are coming along.  

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Golfer20 said:

It's incredible how fast they are coming along.  

Sand is easy to move around. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Here's another video, too:

[iacas]

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The future tee shot for the par-4 8th hole on the new course at Pinehurst. Since the day I routed this hole through the old pit works, I had assumed that eventually we would have to pull down the Matterhorn - a big dune left over by a non golf operation - but we kept working around it and the crew all lobbied to keep it, and to my surprise the clients are on board, too.

I don't know about that… It seems like it would feel very out of place. And it is… but it's also 20 or 30+ years old at this point.

[Golfer20]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

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The future tee shot for the par-4 8th hole on the new course at Pinehurst. Since the day I routed this hole through the old pit works, I had assumed that eventually we would have to pull down the Matterhorn - a big dune left over by a non golf operation - but we kept working around it and the crew all lobbied to keep it, and to my surprise the clients are on board, too.

I don't know about that… It seems like it would feel very out of place. And it is… but it's also 20 or 30+ years old at this point.

Yes, it would feel very out of place.  Imagine going to play a Pinehurst numbered course and all of sudden there's this feature that makes it seem like you're playing Tobacco Road! 

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, Golfer20 said:

Yes, it would feel very out of place.  Imagine going to play a Pinehurst numbered course and all of sudden there's this feature that makes it seem like you're playing Tobacco Road! 

Tom was asked about it and said:

I'd rather NOT talk about every detail of every hole of every course we are building, before they are open.  Some of my clients are more hungry for the publicity than others, but I think it is fair to guess that a lot of people will get to Pinehursr in 2024 to form their own opinions, and I'd rather have their honest reactions than try to put words into their mouths!!

I would not have built the hole if I didn't think it was going to remain.  My initial skepticism was for just that reason:  I thought the resort might be too conservative to let the mound stay.  They had expressed the desire for the course to be cool, but they were wary of appearing that they were trying to mimic Tobacco Road, and they didn't really want something that wild.

However, when Bob Denman came out for his second site visit and I found him wandering around the 8th hole, he was genuinely excited about it and asked a lot of questions about how we were going to finish it and about the playability.  And if Mr. Dedman likes it, then Pinehurst likes it.  So the mound made the final cut.

At present, the visibility of the mound distracts attention from the WILD contours of the fairway, which I think will be the unique and possibly controversial feature of the 8th hole.  As Adam testifies, it is definitely not like the other holes out there right now, although I believe that if and when they build a second 18 holes on that property, it will have been a good foreshadowing of what is to come.