Imagine building 26 golf courses at the height of the golf development bubble, with nine figures in public pension money — in an effort that now loses money year after year. Welcome to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
In theory, 12-hole designs should be cheaper to play, build, and maintain. But in the staid industry of golf course development, there’s been no rush to test the theory. The minds behind Sweetens Cove are ready to change that.
Tobacco Road Golf Club, near Pinehurst, N.C., is a paradox: a wild adventure among manmade features, through rugged conditions laced with sand and brush.
In a summer caught somewhere between a pandemic and life as usual, a return trip to Pinehurst brought the chance to live — rightly or wrongly — as though things were back to normal.
Even by golf’s standards, golf course architecture badly underrepresented Black people. That failure endangers the game’s viability for Black and white players alike.
“We knew we’re never going to do this again — to kind of go off the grid for 50 days and play golf and be on our own at this beautiful resort that is typically bustling with people.“
“People think that print media is declining, but we can tell you from this side that people do still pay attention; we’ve got the physical results of that here.”
“Two tires off the cart path: why can’t all four tires be on the cart path? Any course in America, the edges of the cart path are always worn out. Nobody can keep all four tires on the cart path.”
Pine Needles feels like a step back in time, but four U.S. Women’s Opens in 25 years prove that it still offers all the challenges that the modern golfer can handle.
Pinehurst’s tremendous golf courses lure the visitor into 36-hole days, but the real fun around Pinehurst lies in the area’s small pleasures, like a late night of crushing inadvisable 5-irons at Donald Ross’ 100-year-old fireplace.
Pinehurst No. 2 is golf’s equivalent of Level 20 on “Dr. Mario” — it moves quickly, and it brings certain doom, but in the end you limp away convinced that all you need is one more chance.