[LucF]

Hi all,

I will be playing No 2 on March 1st.
I would like to know what sort of course conditions I should expect, what to look out for and how best to spend the 2-3 hours I will have to practice before my round.

I will have a caddy. I'm a 7.5 and always play from the tips, whatever the yardage.

Will the greens be hard or soft?
What speed are the greens now?
Are fairways green or yellow?
Are fairways hard or soft?
What sort of sand are the bunkers filled with?
Are the back tees set, i.e. will I be able to play it at 7300 yards?

I want to prepare the best I can.

Thanks in advance,

[mwt9747]

I played a tournament around this time last year on pinehurst #8. Similar conditions i'm guessing. Im not sure if they greens were firm and fast last year when i played because it was a big college tournament or because thats how the greens are this time of year. So im guessing 2's greens will be moderately firm and a decent speed. I'm gonna go ahead and guess the fairways are yellow unless they overseeded in the fall. Im not a hundred percent sure on any of that information but those are my best guess based on last year. And also when i played #2 with a caddy they didn't have the tees all the way back. But we played every hole as far back as you can. Just ask the caddy if you can they dont mind. Good luck and enjoy the greens, quite the experience.

[spinningwedge]

The course will be green, the greens will be fast but will hold a well struck shot- depends what sort of weather we have in the run up to your visit.

As I'm sure you know, tee to green the course is fairly straightforward -it's very unusual to lose a ball there- the action is on the greens.

My advice for preparation would be to spend the time chipping. The greens look big but are so severely sloped that in fact the pinnable area is small, creating greens within greens.

Use your head when you play the course and don't let it intimidate you!

[Baxpin]

LucF, on Feb 23 2009, 08:44 PM, said:

Hi all,

I will be playing No 2 on March 1st.
I would like to know what sort of course conditions I should expect, what to look out for and how best to spend the 2-3 hours I will have to practice before my round.

I will have a caddy. I'm a 7.5 and always play from the tips, whatever the yardage.

Will the greens be hard or soft?
What speed are the greens now?
Are fairways green or yellow?
Are fairways hard or soft?
What sort of sand are the bunkers filled with?
Are the back tees set, i.e. will I be able to play it at 7300 yards?

I want to prepare the best I can.

Thanks in advance,

I just played there 2 weeks ago, and it was in good shape. The greens were firm, and rolling good & speedy, but I gotta warn you, they punched the greens on Feb 20th (at least that was the plan when I was scheduling my trip). The fairways weren't all that firm, the overseed isn't full-blown (patchy, but not in a bad way) and all the rough is dormant bermuda, so shots hit into the rough don't punish you all that much. You can play the blue tees, but the US Open tees were closed, so no 7300. If they had them open, everyone would play from back there and all the sudden a round would take 6 hours. Besides, from tee to green the course isn't especially demanding. However, the course WILL expose your short game for better or worse, and you will hit every club in your bag. It is difficult to do sometimes, but for most of the holes forget about the pin location and try to hit the middle of the green.

If you can, get there as early as possible. Pinehurst has THE best practice facility I've ever stepped foot on. For a range rat like myself, I was in heaven and I could spend an entire weekend just practicing. Before you tee off, try to use the putting green next to the first tee...it's the best indicator of how the greens on #2 will roll, although there isn't a huge difference in the main putting green. If you really want to prepare yourself for the trip in the coming days, forget about hitting range balls, and work your short game as much as you can.

Have fun! It will be a great experience.

[LucF]

Wow. Thanks alot for all the useful information. I will definitely spend time chipping. It's the one thing I can't practice adequately up here in Québec during winter.

Is there any place at Pinehurst where I can practice pitches (25-100 yards) on a green similar to the ones I'll find on the course?

[mwt9747]

right behind the driving range.. probably up to 100 yards and some bunker shots.

[Baxpin]

LucF, on Feb 23 2009, 09:34 PM, said:

Wow. Thanks alot for all the useful information. I will definitely spend time chipping. It's the one thing I can't practice adequately up here in Québec during winter.

Is there any place at Pinehurst where I can practice pitches (25-100 yards) on a green similar to the ones I'll find on the course?

Won't be a problem. Seriously, the practice area is BIG and NICE. It supports 7 courses, so it has to be. This picture only shows about half the chipping and putting areas.

Edit: the pic doesn't do it justice.

Attached File(s)

•  practice.jpg (48.12K)
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[LucF]

So I did play Pinehurst No. 2 on March 1st and what a day it was. Temperature was 36 F with winds strong enough to blow my hat away before I tied it down, and rain for some of the front and all the back. Everybody had canceled their tee times but there was no way I was going to forego my chance to play No. 2, so I was literally alone with my caddy on No. 2 for the whole round. We finished the round in 2.5 hours, which the starter thought was probably a course record.

Although the wind, rain and cold were making full shots much tougher than usual, the wet greens were easier to hold.

Played great (for me). Shot 85 from the whites, with a birdie on par 5 8th, which is so short from the whites (457) that even in the cold I reached it in 2.

What a course. The green complexes are simply the most challenging beasts I've seen. Well worth the money. My caddy was great. His name is Brian Huff. Even with the really awful weather he kept an upbeat attitude, never complained and didn't talk too much. I warmly recommend him. Tell him you were recommended by the crazy Canadian he played with alone on the course in freezing rain. I'm sure he'll never forget that round.

What a magnificently designed and difficult course. I'll be back for sure, hopefully in better weather conditions.

Thanks again to all for the help prior to playing.

[spinningwedge]

Thanks for the follow up dude, glad you enjoyed your round. 85 is a pretty good score there first time out, in those conditions.

[freddiec]

Wow LucF, sounds like you had an awesome time! Good for you. Someday I'd like to get there.

[Beenerpro]

LucF, on Mar 6 2009, 04:57 PM, said:

Played great (for me). Shot 85 from the whites, with a birdie on par 5 8th, which is so short from the whites (457) that even in the cold I reached it in 2.

LucF,
Good score for your first go round at #2. It is truly one of the hardest but fairest tests of golf I have ever experienced. I have played it dozens of times and never tire of it. What I love about #2 is that it is a tough test but yet only has one water hazard on the course that really doesn't come into play (#16). It is all about the greens. I don't know if you realize, but during the Tour Championship and the US Open, hole #8 and #16 are played as par fours. So, LucF, that's a nice par you made on #8. Hope you get back to Pinehurst. I highly recommend course #4, #7 and #8 if you haven't played them yet.
Regards,
Beener

[LucF]

Beenerpro,

Thanks for the comments. Can't wait to get my feet back on No 2 again, this time to play it from the tips. You're right of course, about holes 8 and 16, which is why the par is 70 for tournaments at 7335 yards vs. the normal setup of par 72 at 6767 yards from the blue tees (the tournament tee boxes where not set up when I was there). To make things easier because of the temperature, I even played from the whites at 6298.

No. 2 is proof that water hazards are just one of the multiple features that architects can use to design a golf course. Ross has done quite well on No. 2 without them.

I definitely will be back to play to play some of the other courses. Thanks for the recommendations.

[cwgolfman]

Bought a house in the village of Pinehurst in Dec 2007. We joined Pinehurst CC and are retiring there in July of 2009. I play number 2 whenever I can but also if you are there for a few days, dont miss numbers 4-7-or 8. Number 4 is my second favorite--the greens are almost as tough as number 2. When I play number 2, I play the blue tees--and on some holes you look back at the golds and it is just unbelievable how far back they are. I also agree that it is my favorite area to practice in. I could stay there for days and chip and putt. Hope you get back soon!!