Golf Scrapbook Blog (The Next Ones)

June 2024 – Two themes are emerging from my 2024 golf season – Utah golf and playing brand new courses. While the Utah courses I’ve played so far are not blog worthy (but with some St. George courses that will likely be coming later), the brand-spanking new courses I’ve played are indeed blog worthy (here, Apogee, Fields Ranch, and Black Desert Resort coming later). All of those courses I’m betting will be high fliers in upcoming rankings with #10 possibly ending up the highest ranked of all four. The goal according to the folks there is that this will ultimately be up in the top 10! This is a lofty goal but IMO this is in my top 100 already though I am kind of betting on the come. As the pic above indicates the clubhouse is a few years away still – right now there’s a trailer, food truck and outdoor patio to greet you and no vodka or other booze for morning screwies or bloodies (be warned). The conditioning is fabulous considering it only opened two months before I played it (April 2024). And, the other courses coming are a pipe dream still.

As you see above, #10 is the first Pinehurst course with its own distinct logo. It’s located about 10-15 minutes away from the main Pinehurst resort courses on a huge plot of land that you can read about here. It is and will be a walking-only course so the purists will love it and it is tough – maybe rivalling #2 for the hardest of the Pinehurst courses. I went with 12 guys that are part of my buddy Scott’s annual Pinehurst trip gang from Northeastern PA – more Ski’s and Cyk’s than you can shake a stick at (team Poland was well represented). The group ranged in ability from single digit golfers to bogey+ golfers and the consensus was #10 is now the second favorite course in the area of just about the entire group except one or two guys who had to think whether they liked it better than No. 2. High praise indeed.

As noted, 10 is tough. We played greens here which only measure 5,800 yards but is rated/sloped at 68.2/129. It’s a par 70 and the middle set of holes are a long, super tough collection of various par threes, fours and fives. The par-three 14th played 220 from the greens! OK about the green tee thing. A lot of the groups I play with would never play a course under 6,000 yards. That’s the pussy-Mendoza line for most. The knuckleheads I usually play with would push us back to the whites which measure 6,439 and rate/slope 71.5/137. My own course in Philly – which is considered one of the toughest around – rates/slopes 71.9/139 and I will tell you #10 was as tough from the greens as Commonwealth is from the member tees (6,400+/-) regardless of slope. I am glad we didn’t push back as the torture, walking and NC-late-June heat would have made for an exhausting round with my score approaching the slope. As is, I was in the mid-90’s.

So I have been to the Pinehurst area about a half dozen times now. Like Scott’s group, I know a bunch who come here year-after-year. I love playing different courses every year (hence the blog thing) so I’m not a guy who typically plays the same area again and again. Though if I was, this would certainly be the area to camp out in. Of the Pinehurst courses I’ve played, I would rank them as No. 2, No. 10, No. 8, No. 4 (played in 2017 before the recent re-do), No. 9, then No. 7. You can read about #2 here and the rest of Pinehurst courses here. Oh and played Forest Creek’s courses here which are great and reviewed them here. If I come back with these guys I would get my buddy David (or Thousand Greens) to get on Dormie club or CC of North Carolina. On this trip we played Nicklaus’ course, No. 9. Good but slightly below 8. We played #7 again and played #2 just after the US Open and I had the DeChambeau (sp?) shot from the 18th bunker but didn’t sink the par (a nice juicy double). They were playing the North/South when we played and the caddies said the greens were rolling FASTER than the Open with tricky pin locations. Hard, hard, hard. Here’s a pic with the US Open stands still up.

I couldn’t find a map/routing of the course so just captured the video overview with no holes mapped. Also there is no routing of the holes on the map in my photos so can’t really help with labelling the golf holes. It’s on my Wingman and if you look at Google you can see remnants of the old “Pit” golf course on the property next to CC of North Carolina.

Here’s the whole gang at the Donald Ross statue – they took down the Payne Stewart statue for the Open and North/South.

Sorry best I can do on the map. Will update once we get an on-line map available for me to poach.

Here’s the first. 351 from the greens. A tough 400 from the whites. Slight dogleg right.

Two. A short par three.

Three is a par five – one of only two on the course. 492 from the greens so no joke. Took a seven.

Again I’m gonna have trouble labeling these. But I think I missed four (which was my first par of the day from 300 yards) and this is 5 which was a 350-yarder and a bogey.

I believe this is six and if so the number one handicap hole. I took a bogey.

If this is seven it’s a par three but would only be 100 from the greens so not sure. I may stop trying to label because it’s getting hard.

Just enjoy the damn photos.

Pretty sure this is 8 and the next photo is the approach. Shorty at just 270 from the greens then the course turns tough.

Approach on 8 from my buddy’s ball. I three-putt bogeyed.

I think # 9 which is a tough par four measuring 431 from the greens. Bogeyed for an average 45 on the front. The back would be a nut busting 50! That’s 15 to the right where I would put two in the water.

Somewhere in that tree is an eagle’s nest. Look for it on 10.

Ten? Don’t hold me to any of these labels.

Eleven, a 147-yard par three from the greens.

Oh I lied earlier, there’s actually three par-5’s and this is the last of them (12 and 450 yards yet another double).

I think they are gonna let this shit grow out which will make this an even more intimidating drive.

Here’s the 220-yard par-three 14th. I hit the best shot but didn’t come back enough and ended up in the crap to the left and tough chip, followed by a skull across the green then an awesome out but two putt fucking six. Ugh.