Pinehurst Spring Trip

Mr. Fairway just returned from his second annual spring golf trip to Pinehurst, N.C. where he and his buddies, John, Steve and Robert played 72 holes over three days. The weather was spectacular – sunshine every day with temperatures in the low 80s – and the golf was wonderful. Although we did not stay at the fabled Pinehurst Resort or play any of its courses, there is no shortage of affordable, world class golf courses to choose from in the sandhills region of the Tar Heel State.

Our group made arrangements with Tin Cup Golf and Travel http://www.tincupgolf.com/index.html . If you are considering a golf trip to Pinehurst, I recommend you touch base with the nice folks at Tin Cup. The total cost came to $480 per person, which included greens fees, carts, breakfast, and a well-appointed two-bedroom, two-bath condo on one of the Pinehurst Resort courses.

We left Northern Virginia at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning and had a 1 p.m. tee time at the Mid-Pines Inn & Golf Club. Mid-Pines is a classic Donald Ross design featuring small undulating greens and narrow fairways. Mid-Pines, which has hosted the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, is lovely course and a nice test. The $10 lunch buffet was a bargain and I loved looking at the black and white photos of golfers and tournaments from the 1930s and ‘40s in the clubhouse.

On Saturday, we played 36-holes at the Foxfire Resort, which has two 18-hole courses. I gained an appreciation for the difficulty of hitting off pine straw, which is unavoidable if you play golf anywhere around Pinehurst. Pine straw is particularly challenging for medium length pitch shots where you have to make sure to strike the ball first lest your wedge digs under the pine needles and the ball moves only 10 feet. Our group suffered sunburn on Saturday, an avoidable circumstance when you are outside all day with eight legs that resemble out of bounds stakes.

We saved the best for last on Sunday morning when we played the Magnolia course at Pinewild Country Club. Pinewild’s greens are huge – easily a one-or-two club difference from front to back pin locations. A recent renovation stretched the course to 7,446 yards from the championship tees, which we wisely did not play. Pinewild has been a qualifying site for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur qualifying.

We have two restaurant recommendations: Shuckers Oyster Bar in Southern Pines for delicious, inexpensive seafood and The JFR Barn, also in Southern Pines, for steaks. We ate eggs and pancakes every morning at the Track Café, a quaint little restaurant on the grounds of a local harness track.

Hitting range balls while wondering whatever happened to Rod Curl.