This course left me feeling similar to how I did the first time I played Tobacco Road.
There were a lot of shots I hit that I felt like should have been ok, only for them to end up back at my feet, in a bunker that sits 10 feet below the surface of the green or in the middle of a bunch of pine trees. If you want to find the places on greens not to hit at Southern Pines Golf Club, I found em. Also, pro tip, don’t leave your rangefinder in the middle of a fairway.
On my two hour drive home from the Southern Pines area I was trying to think of all the things I wanted to say about the course, I tried to think about what advice or thoughts I would give to someone who plans to play it. The one thing that kept coming back to my mind was confidence. Southern Pines is a course that will rip you to shreds if you aren’t feeling confident, especially in your approach shots and around the greens.
I need to mention this is coming from a 17 handicap who doesn’t practice enough. About a week before I came out to Southern Pines, I managed to tweak my swing enough to get the yips with my irons, not even sure how but I did, so my confidence with my irons may have been at an all-time low. To be fair you need confidence to score well at pretty much any golf course, but there is absolutely no room for error at Southern Pines.
The fairways are very generous from the tee box but once you’re in that fairway and staring back up at a green that you can’t tell how much room you have behind the pin and a false front just waiting for you to chunk a shot or play not enough club, it gives you the deceptive feeling that the green is about a 5×5 yard area.
I wrote this and in my mind I’m thinking about hole #4 (look at the third and fourth pictures below), as you can see in the third picture the fairway is very generous, it slopes right to left so it naturally wants to bring you along the left. The fourth picture is my point of view from my lie in the fairway, you can also see in the background the golf cart that’s parked next to the #5 tee box. I was so afraid of going long but also terrified of going short. So what did I do? I hit my shot about 15 yards too short and rolled back off the front of the green. #4 might be one of the more extreme uphill approach shots on the course but it definitely was not the only one. Donald Ross wanted to get in your head and boy did he put mine in a blender.
No matter how frustrated I got, I couldn’t help but look around in amazement at how beautiful the course was. It truly is a unique course that’s 1000% worth the visit. One of the things I loved about the course was its rustic feel, as you’ll notice in a couple of the pictures the handmade signage they use and wooden barrels are used across the course for garbage cans. It’s just subtle things like that, that really hammer home the identity of the course.
Earlier in the day I got to ride around with Cody Self, the Superintendent at Southern Pines. I got to see some of the behind the scenes work of the course and what it takes to maintain a top 100 public golf course in the US. We did our interview (Exploring the Cackalacky’s Ep. 3 coming soon), then went out for breakfast (shoutout Betsy’s Crepes in Southern Pines, 10/10 you need to go) and it was so clear how passionate Cody is about his job. It was something that really reinforced the meaning behind the Exploring the Cackalacky’s series for me. Cody takes a lot of pride in what he does and believes Southern Pines can be a top 50 public course in the US (currently at #72 by Golf Digest). I wholeheartedly believe it and would be surprised if it doesn’t end up there.
Overall, I couldn’t have better things to say about SPGC. Word on the street is they’re looking to upgrade the clubhouse area, it could definitely benefit from an upgrade but the people working there couldn’t be friendlier. The course is awesome, nothing beats a sandhills course in my opinion. Also, make sure you give the Overhills putting course a whirl, no big deal but I sunk the roller coaster putt for hole #3 first try.
If you haven’t played it since the restoration was finished, SPGC needs to be a stop on your next visit to the Pinehurst/Southern Pines area.