This average golfer has spent the last three weeks here in Pinehurst. The temperatures have been hot, which is normal here for this time of year, but the golfing has been great. The list of courses that we have played recently include Hyland, 7-Lakes, Deercroft, Little River, Whispering Woods, Southern Pines and we will wrap up this trip with Longleaf. I have found all the courses except Little River to be in excellent condition. The courses are well-maintained and as is normal for this area, fun to play as well as challenging.  I have found all the courses except Little River to be in excellent condition.  I have commented about several of these courses in previous blogs so the only two I am going to mention here will be Little River and Southern Pines.  We played Little River back in March and it was in terrible condition as the course was experiencing financial issues.  Having heard that the course was in much better shape, we traveled back to Little River last week.  The course is not in good shape, and I would not recommend playing this course. I think this is the first time I’ve ever said anything negative like this about a course in the Pinehurst area.  The rough is not mowed and we were told that their rough mower was broken, there are weeds in the fairways and the greens are stressed. We were also told that the greens were stressed because of the high temperatures recently, but we don’t see that at other courses in the area. One final note which we found quite unappealing was the pro shop personnel were absolutely horrible. When we asked about the condition of the course, they mentioned that we didn’t have to play there that day if we chose not to. This does not speak well  for this particular golf course as there are many other great courses that they compete with and if they continue in their ways they probably won’t be in the mix for long.  On a brighter note, yesterday we played the Southern Pines course which is a little bit on the expensive side as it compares to other courses in the area, but the course is well-maintained and a real beauty.  One of the highlights of the course is that it is replete with flowering crêpe myrtle trees at this time of year and it really adds to the beauty of the course overall.  This course is a Donald Ross designed course so you can expect the undulating greens.  They actually have five sets of tees, blue, white, gold, red and baby blue.  The slope rating for the blue is 129, white126, gold 121, red 125 and baby blue 105. They obviously have tees to accommodate every golfer.  The yardage for the course is 6354 from the blue, 6126 from the white, 5724 from the gold, 5318 from the red and 4015 from the baby blue. You should find your score better on the front as they have three par threes there and only one on the back.  Overall this is a course that I would absolutely recommend as well as all the others that I have mentioned in this blog post with the lone exception being Little River. As I travel back north at the end of the week, I will as always, look forward to my return trip in September to Pinehurst! I hope you too, get to play golf in the Pinehurst area where you will find some of the best golf in the country. Happy golfing from this average golfer!

Southern Pines

Southern Pines

17th Fairway, Southern Pines