Forest Creek Golf Club, NC (North & South Courses)
April 2022 – Forest Creek is a private club in/near Pinehurst that features two Tom Fazio courses: the North and the South. Putting aside the history and acclaim of #2, these are bar none my favorite courses in the area and Golf Digest agrees, putting North at #11 and South at #17 in their 2021-22 rankings. In fact, North made it to the previous Top 200 – coming in at 197th – but missed this year. Pinehurst #4 jumped into the Top 200 but I put it behind both North and South (but haven’t played it since its latest redo). I discuss #4 and other Pinehurst area courses here.
I played with my buddies Don and Joey Marbles and his group of friends from the Philly area. We stayed at the Dog Den which I talk about in my Pinehurst #2 review. Our host David got to play with us throughout the weekend and graciously hosted us at his club.
While the golf mags and course critics all rank North the better of the two clubs, our group actually leaned toward South. Of the nines, a few on the back on North were probably the most memorable but we all thought that 1 through 18 on South offered more “wow” factor throughout, had a lot more interesting features, and even seemed to be in better condition with bent instead of Bermuda greens (that could be the other way around). The clubhouse was what you would expect from a top-end Southern club and the men’s locker room was housed separately in a converted barn – really swank! We had beautiful weather when we played and as I had been pretty busy at work, it was nice to play a few rounds after nearly a two-month break.
Let’s talk music on the golf course. So FC had conflicting messages on the carts. Three of the carts we had for our two-day rounds had a NO MUSIC bullet on the card but one cart on South had that MUSIC IS OK BUT MUST BE PLAYED SOFTLY. Well the first round we had music, but the second day I wasn’t with David and was getting the hairy eyeball from the member behind us so turned it off. So I’m in my mid-50’s and love music on the course. Joey’s friends were a little older and they had music on, too (of course none of my usual shit). I know anyone younger than me loves music on the course. I agree you shouldn’t be blaring Mudvayne on full blast wheeling around the golf course but having nice tunes playing has become the norm and the clubs might as well embrace it.
Who’s Mudvayne you ask? Well when we went back to the Dog Den we started playing YouTube videos and I think I finally rattled the group with my music selection. After the obligatory Primus Winona’s Big Brown Beaver, I played this little beaut.
Joey said he had nightmares. Nick finally came in and grabbed the remote from us. I just guess they’re not everyone’s cup of caustic acid.
To the South course. So I played pretty meh. I really have to figure out my irons as I just was all over the place with them and have been for a while. I took a generous 91, including a couple of non-gimmees when my group had net pars or better for our match. We played the Creek tees which are a combo of the Intermediates and Longs and played to just over 6,400 yards.
The North course featured a lot of blind drives, where the South was much more open and in front of you. I don’t mind blind shots but as you’ll see, it does make for a nicer pic when everything is in front of you. One on South was a dog leg right but you had to get it way out there to beat the dog leg or trap. I kept it just left of the trap. Drilled an 8-iron in and two putt for a rare opening-hole par.
If I do have one complaint at Forest Creek, it seemed every par three was the same length from the tees we played both days – 170 yards. That’s trying to kill a six or take a little off a five for me. Either the over or under swing causes the balls to fly left or right so I struggled on the threes. As you’ll see on the photos below, South wanders through the property with nice undulations and the big ass homes are all pretty well off the course so you never feel too claustrophobic.
Of all holes, nine on South is my favorite. You have a creek right and a pond right in front of the green with the clubhouse porch looking down on your approach. It’s not a long hole and the drive should get you to within a 9 or so but you have to get to a narrow green over the pond with an audience.
The 17th is another favorite and the course features a par-three hog hole to break ties and settle bets.
I’ll come back and write-up a review of the North and post photos. It’s odd, sometimes my Apple-12 phone saves images as .heic files which I can see in OneDrive or on the phone but WordPress doesn’t accept them and I have to re-save as jpegs or whatnot. Didn’t feel like doing it so I will update with the North when I’m in the mood and save those photos. For now here are the South photos and a course I highly recommend you try and get on next time you’re down here.
Oh and found a great new restaurant to try. Vito’s. Just outside the Village. Ask him to show you his wine cellar. Great casual Italian.
UPDATE: I added the North course. I think I sell North short above. This is a really great course. We just thought South was a bit (and I mean a small bit) nicer. North had more of a Pinehurst #2 scrubbiness about it. As mentioned, there were a number of blind shots. We played the Intermediates here which made it shorter than the Creeks at South. I started off horribly but did much better on the back. The fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth all surround the biggest water feature on the property and are the nicest combo of holes on the course.
South Course
North Course
Golf Scrapbook 