Pinehurst Dec 2 2018 Weekend

[shoulderproblem]

Hi Guys -

I live in Cary, have my golf buddies from the midwest coming over this weekend. Weather looks really good. 60-70s.. We are play unc finley on Sat afternoon. They want to play 4-5 rounds in Pinehurst area courses on Sun-Mon and maybe Tue morning. Any recommendations ? We are low to mid handicappers.  I have played Talamore and Tobacco road a while ago. Dont remember much of Talamore. Tobacco road off course i do.

Any recommendation ? Pine Needles, Mid Pines, Mid South, Dormie Club, Talamore, Tobacco Road, anything else ?

Pinehurst Resort courses is not in scope due to cost. Also we may stay at a hotel or resort.

 

Thanks RG

[Pretzel]

We played Talamore and Mid South during the Newport Cup, and Mid South is definitely one of my favorite courses I've played!

[DaveP043]

I just got back from my yearly Thanksgiving trek to Pinehurst.  We played Talamore, MidSouth, MidPines, and Pinehurst #1.  All are in really nice shape, even with the really wet week before we got there.  I think your list is pretty good.  The one course I'd drop from that list, if you need to drop one, is Talamore.  If you want to to add one, although you could consider Pinehurst #8.  I know that many trip packagers can book you there.  

I own a condo at Talamore, and I suggest that you at least look at staying there.  They can book all of the courses you're considering, and the units are all pretty nice.  @klineka was in Pinehurst recently too, and I believe he stayed at a nearby hotel, perhaps he can help with some of the lodging decisions he made.

[klineka]

21 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

  @klineka was in Pinehurst recently too, and I believe he stayed at a nearby hotel, perhaps he can help with some of the lodging decisions he made.

Yep, a buddy and I were there Nov 15-18th.

 

Now that I have had more time to reflect, I highly recommend Dormie Club. It is an awesome course and I didn't quite appreciate the course design/architecture when I was playing it as much as I do now that I am looking back on it. It is a must play in my opinion.

We really enjoyed Mid South and Talamore as well. I am in the minority here, but I think I preferred Talamore slightly over Mid South mainly because Talamore is easier and more out in front of you, just waiting to be attacked, where Mid South requires a little more planning and different clubs off the tee on a few holes. (Also doesnt help that I missed 9 putts inside 12 feet at Mid South)

I booked my courses through Talamore Golf Resort, you can go online and configure your rounds and prices and book your rounds through them even if you dont book lodging through them. Once I knew which rounds I wanted and had a quote number, I called and paid for it, then I received vouchers via email that I just gave to each course when we arrived, it was very easy/seamless from a reservation/course check in perspective.

As far as food/drinks, if you are into local breweries, Southern Pines Brewing Company was a unique little place that had some good beers and a food truck out front (you can also bring your own food in there too), and both Etalia (wood fired pizza) and CharBar No. 7 (GastroPub/Sports bar) were really solid choices for food and drinks.

For lodging, we stayed at the Best Western Pinehurst Inn. It was really affordable, came with a free breakfast (typical hotel style, waffles, biscuits and gravy, fruit, pastries, juice, etc.) I think they are in the process of remodeling the rooms, the room we got had not been remodeled yet so it was a little dated, but it was clean and since we weren't in the room that much and wanted to put more of our budget towards the golf courses, it really didn't bother us. The hotel was right across the street from a Buffalo Wild Wings which we went to one night, and was about 10 minutes from Talamore/Mid South, and about 15-20 minutes from Dormie Club.

Let us know which courses you choose and how you played!

Here is a more detailed write up of the 3 courses we played and our overall experience.

 

[Pretzel]

3 hours ago, klineka said:

Etalia (wood fired pizza)

We all ate there as well, and at least to me it was some great pizza. Not quite as good as the mountain pie pizzas we have here up in Colorado, but definitely towards the upper end of standard pizzas I've had.

What's interested is that what you disliked about Mid South is what made me like it more. It was an interesting design that really gave you some options off the tee, meaning you had to decide if you wanted to take the riskier shot with a driver that put you in position A for your approach shot, or if you wanted to go with a safer tee shot and settle for a much longer approach shot. Hole #2 especially was quite a bit of fun, since I know several of us at the Newport Cup gave going for the green off the tee a shot (if I remember correctly, @phillyk got his to the bank next to the green, but it embedded in the soft ground).

On other holes it wasn't quite as dramatic, you just had to choose whether you thought you could get it up and over the trees with a driver, if you thought you could play a curving shot to match the shape of the fairway, or if you'd rather play it safe by just getting up to the dog leg. I never reached Hole #9 in 2 (hit a pair of terrible shots attempting it), but it was a hole design that practically begged you to try with the green so far below your feet and with it being as wide of a green as it was (Hole #9 and #18 share an extra large green complex between the both of them). The range facilities were also top notch over at Mid South, it's a place where I would love to play a lot of golf.

[klineka]

29 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

What's interested is that what you disliked about Mid South is what made me like it more. It was an interesting design that really gave you some options off the tee, meaning you had to decide if you wanted to take the riskier shot with a driver that put you in position A for your approach shot, or if you wanted to go with a safer tee shot and settle for a much longer approach shot. Hole #2 especially was quite a bit of fun, since I know several of us at the Newport Cup gave going for the green off the tee a shot (if I remember correctly, @phillyk got his to the bank next to the green, but it embedded in the soft ground).

Hole #2 was fun, I just bit off as much of the dog leg as I could based on my driving distance, still only had like 100 yds left.

Two holes that I didnt particularly care for happened to be back to back, #14 and #15.

I didnt really understand or care for the waste bunker area that intersected the fairway on 14, forcing me to lay up as my only option. (I still hit driver, but it was a choked down 75% swing because I was more confident hitting that over a 3 wood or 3 iron)

And then 15 with the severely sloped fairway/elevation changes and a blind approach shot felt out of place compared to most of the other holes which had relatively flat fairways and not much contouring. 

[shoulderproblem]

Hey Guys ! 

Quick update, working with Talamore resorts on the 4 rounds and villa. Sun and Mon. Got Mid Pines and Pine needles confirmed for Monday morning and afternoon tee times. Sunday have Dormie Club for the afternoon. Given the good weather and short time, not able to get Mid South or Talamore for the Sun morning. They suggested LongLeaf. Looked it up and was not impressed. 

Morning tee time is available at PineWild -Mangnolia is that a good course ? Makes it a little more expensive. Is that a good bet ? 

Thanks

RG

[DaveP043]

40 minutes ago, shoulderproblem said:

Hey Guys ! 

Quick update, working with Talamore resorts on the 4 rounds and villa. Sun and Mon. Got Mid Pines and Pine needles confirmed for Monday morning and afternoon tee times. Sunday have Dormie Club for the afternoon. Given the good weather and short time, not able to get Mid South or Talamore for the Sun morning. They suggested LongLeaf. Looked it up and was not impressed. 

Morning tee time is available at PineWild -Mangnolia is that a good course ? Makes it a little more expensive. Is that a good bet ? 

Thanks

RG

I'm not a fan of Longleaf, although I did hear that they replaced their greens recently and is in good shape.  Both courses at are Pinewild is pretty nice, not amazing design-wise but a good challenge and always in good shape when I've played.  Its also a bit more of a private club feeling.  If you can get it on a weekend morning, I'd say go ahead.

Who are you dealing with at Talamore?

[shoulderproblem]

Hi Dave - Thanks for all the inputs.

Miguel Garcia@Talamore Resorts worked on the quotes and confirmations.

Went with Pinewild -Magnolia for Sun Morning. 

1.UNC Finley - Sat PM

2.Pinewild Magnolia -Sun AM

3.Dormie Club -Sun PM

4.Pine Needles -Mon AM

5. Mid Pines -Mon PM

I have never played back to back 54 holes and for that matter even 36 holes. I am less prepared for this than my buddies ! Let us see how it goes. 

Thanks

RG

 

[DaveP043]

1 minute ago, shoulderproblem said:

Hi Dave - Thanks for all the inputs.

Miguel Garcia@Talamore Resorts worked on the quotes and confirmations.

Went with Pinewild -Magnolia for Sun Morning. 

1.UNC Finley - Sat PM

2.Pinewild Magnolia -Sun AM

3.Dormie Club -Sun PM

4.Pine Needles -Mon AM

5. Mid Pines -Mon PM

I have never played back to back 54 holes and for that matter even 36 holes. I am less prepared for this than my buddies ! Let us see how it goes. 

Thanks

RG

 

Miguel is a good guy, glad he could help you.  Have a great time!

Pinewild will actually work out reasonably well, its on the same side of town as as Dormie Club.  You'll still be hustling to get in 36 holes with the diminished daylight hours.  @klineka gave you some good suggestions for restaurants, but I'll add a couple more.  We like the Sly Fox in Southern Pines for British-style gastropub food.  A new one is Pinehurst Brewing, which would be pretty much on your way back to Talamore after Sunday golf at Dormie.  We had some good beer and really tasty ribs while we were down.  

[phillyk]

2 hours ago, Pretzel said:

 

What's interested is that what you disliked about Mid South is what made me like it more. It was an interesting design that really gave you some options off the tee, meaning you had to decide if you wanted to take the riskier shot with a driver that put you in position A for your approach shot, or if you wanted to go with a safer tee shot and settle for a much longer approach shot. Hole #2 especially was quite a bit of fun, since I know several of us at the Newport Cup gave going for the green off the tee a shot (if I remember correctly, @phillyk got his to the bank next to the green, but it embedded in the soft ground).

Yeah, I like mid-south for it’s options off the tee too but it does require being able to hit the ball pretty far to hit across some of the doglegs. That second tee shot was scary because I had to aim at the homes on the right and slightly curve around a tree. A super low drive and Im paying for broken windows. I did catch that shot slightly low on the face but i managed to clear (kinda) water anyway. 

55 minutes ago, shoulderproblem said:

Hi Dave - Thanks for all the inputs.

Miguel Garcia@Talamore Resorts worked on the quotes and confirmations.

Went with Pinewild -Magnolia for Sun Morning. 

1.UNC Finley - Sat PM

2.Pinewild Magnolia -Sun AM

3.Dormie Club -Sun PM

4.Pine Needles -Mon AM

5. Mid Pines -Mon PM

I have never played back to back 54 holes and for that matter even 36 holes. I am less prepared for this than my buddies ! Let us see how it goes. 

Thanks

RG

 

Have fun out there! 

[DaveP043]

On 11/29/2018 at 1:47 PM, shoulderproblem said:

Hi Dave - Thanks for all the inputs.

Miguel Garcia@Talamore Resorts worked on the quotes and confirmations.

Went with Pinewild -Magnolia for Sun Morning. 

1.UNC Finley - Sat PM

2.Pinewild Magnolia -Sun AM

3.Dormie Club -Sun PM

4.Pine Needles -Mon AM

5. Mid Pines -Mon PM

I have never played back to back 54 holes and for that matter even 36 holes. I am less prepared for this than my buddies ! Let us see how it goes. 

Thanks

RG

 

By now I hope you're back home, and rested up from your golf marathon.  How did it all work out?

[shoulderproblem]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

By now I hope you're back home, and rested up from your golf marathon.  How did it all work out?

Hi Dave,

Apologies for not updating all on the trip. It went very well. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend. It was in the 70s and 60s. My buddies were awestruck by the Pinehurst courses, the tall pines, beautiful old courses and enjoyed it thoroughly and want to come back for more next year. We played 5 rounds - UNC Finley, Pinewild -Magnolia and Holly, Mid-Pines and Pine Needles. 

We played Pinewild -Magnolia on Sunday morning and Pinewild -Holly in the afternoon. Had to cancel out Dormie since they said no carts due to all the wet weather earlier. Talamore alerted us about it and credited back the green fees. We paid $50 pp to pay Holly. Pinewild -Magnolia is a great course with wide fairways and huge greens. We practically had the courses to ourselves. Fairways were a little wet due to all the rain. But we ddint mind. The least favorite was Pinewild-Holly, somehow didnt like the layout very much, except the holes around the lake were nice. That stretch reminded me of Greensboro National. Playing cart path only golf we could not complete the back nine. 

Monday we played Mid Pines in the morning. It was a beautiful sight in the morning. Every hole looked like a picture postcard. We could not figure the greens until the back nine. Lot of cursing DR ! Also playing around the green is tricky, thinking back should have putted more from off the green. We then went across to Pine Needles for the afternoon tee time. The course was in great shape. The fairways were greener than the others and well drained i think. It is a very engaging golf course. Always kept it interesting and played fair. I actually played my best 9 of the weekend in the back. We picked up lunch at Pine needles club. Sandwiches were expensive but very good. 

We started the weekend earlier on Saturday afternoon at UNC Finley. It is a monster of a course. My buddies loved it. It was too long for me. 

The Talamore Villa was great. Clean and quiet. Overlooking the golf course. Due to our early and back to back tee times we did not enjoy it very much. We picked up wood fired Pizza and wings one night from Etalia restaurant. It was good. I have never tasted better wings !  

Overall a great outing ! Playing back some of the holes in my head still. Thanks for all the recommendations here. Definitely planning to go back with my buddies. Pine Needles, Mid Pines and Pinewild-Magnolia will still be on top of the list to play. 

Will post some more pictures later.

Thanks 

RG