Recent trip to Pinehurst/Southern Pines

[DaveP043]

Kudos to our leaders for starting a new place to discuss golf travel, as a separate thing from discussions of the courses themselves.  Since I'm recently returned from a long weekend in Southern Pines, I figured I'll start things off with a short summary of our visit.

Eight years ago, we bought a condo at the Talamore Resort, and we try to get down there a couple of times every year.  This year, a long weekend over July 4 fit our schedules, so off we went.  We drove down from northern Virginia on Wednesday, taking about 5 and a half hours in mostly smooth traffic.  Four days of golf, drinks, and food with friends later, we returned on Monday.

Golf:

Thursday, Talamore.  a nice Rees Jones design, pretty challenging, but not in the best condition.  Since this is my "home course" there, it pains me to say that, but Talamore had a failure of its irrigation system in early May, and the turf suffered significant damage.  They're working to repair it, but its still far from perfect.

Friday,  MidSouth, a very solid Arnold Palmer design, this is in the top 5 or 6 courses I've played in the area.  This is the sister course to Talamore, so its my other "home course" there, it was in much better shape.  Unfortunately, the weather was worse, we had a 45 minute delay while a thunderstorm passed through.  The great thing about the Sandhills, the courses drain really well, so we were back out shortly after the monsoon ended and finished our round.

Saturday, playing as guests of our friends, who are members at Pinehurst, we played #2.  I've played here a few times, and I think its a blast, but good and hard.  Fairways are generally wide enough, and the native grasses just off the fairway are often not too bad to hit from.  Greens were firm and moderately fast, which combined with the slopes away from most of them makes every shot into the greens very demanding.  Chipping has to be extremely precise, as the grass is very tightly mown, there's no "cushion" under the ball.  Putting from off the green is commonly the best choice.  Like I said, its a blast.

Sunday, MidPines, another old Donald Ross design.  They had just aerified the entire course, but we knew that when we signed up, and the price reflected it.  I don't think there were 10 other people on the course, so play was as fast as we wanted, and the course is lovely.  When its in shape, its a great test.

Food

Wednesday evening, Etalia in Southern Pines, wood-fired brick oven pizza.  Very crisp yet slightly chewy, a friendly owner, good beer, very nice.

Thursday, the normal pig-pickin at Talamore.  The resort has started doing this every Thursday through most of the year, Carolina barbecue pork and all the fixin's, for all the resort guests.  As owners, we had to pay a whopping $7 per person.

Friday night, Chef Warren's in Southern Pines.  Our favorite restaurant in town, casual fine dining.  The best pecan pie ever, just "the right proportion of nuts to goo."

Saturday, cookout at our Pinehurst friends' house, and watching the Pinehurst Village fireworks.

Sunday, the Sly Fox Gastropub in Southern Pines.  Good burgers, curry, some English pub favorites, and again a great beer selection.

All in all, we had a great time, its no wonder we keep going back.