Mid Pines. Don’t know why this hickory favorite hasn’t been mentioned until now. The venue for the Mid Pines Hickory Open in November and this year’s scene of an earlier playing of the Mountain Valley Hickory Open, Mid Pines is a 1921 Ross course of just-right traditional architecture. The Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, just across Midland Road, followed in 1928. Both resorts are managed by the Bell family, of Peggy Kirk Bell fame.
There’s something “comfortable” about arriving at Mid Pines in North Carolina’s Sandhills, with the great putting green below the old Inn and the first tee stretching out toward the far green, the great pines and southern hardwood forest all around. The course may not be as stirring as its famous neighbors to the west in Pinehurst, but as Ross once described it, Mid Pines is the difference between someone who favors and understands Bach and Wagner, and one who is more inclined to Viennese waltzes. The latter is not as demanding or complex, though the subtleties are still there to enjoy.
Local writer and Pinehurst historian Lee Pace described it thus: “Mid Pines was never conceived as a daunting task to the finest players competing under championship conditions… Mid Pines was intended simply as a fun course with adequate challenge for members and guests of a private club and resort.”
Still, the course does have its tournament appeal, let alone for hickory players who find the layout a pure treat. It has hosted three U.S. Women’s Opens – 1996, 2001 and 2007, won by Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, and Cristie Kerr, respectively. Carol Semple Thompson won her fourth consecutive USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship here in 2002.
One writer noted that while Pine Needles favors “bombers,” Mid Pines is the course for “shot makers.” Another applauded its “great artistic integrity.”
Reading casual reviews from various websites, one senses the delight the course offers its many visitors. While the resort’s infrastructure, the old Inn, has occasionally disappointed one reviewer or another for an air conditioning failure or “un-level” floors, no one found fault with the course.
Alan B. Nichols described the course this way in a review (undated) from his website www.golftravelreviews.com:
“The course features some fine par 3s, notably the fairly short 2nd from an elevated tee box to an elevated green and the 230-yard 13th that calls for both power and accuracy to a green bunkered and narrow front to back. The par 5’s are all relatively short, with at least three reachable in two. The straight 10th is the most beautiful, calling for a drive up and over a ridge. Hit it long and you have a chance to reach the green but beware several ball-trapping bunkers. Mid Pines’ par 4’s are largely short but one in particular is as good a par 4 as you will play. It is the 470-yard straight 5th from an elevated tee down hill to landing area from where the hole continues downhill over a hollow to a green on a rise on the other side. This one is a dandy. So is the 400-plus yard 16th, a slight dogleg around the trees.”
I enjoyed the course on two occasions (Mid Pine Hickory Opens) and felt it was a treat to play. The fairways wind through the pines and forests in a pleasant journey toward receptive greens. The greens are all you want from Mr. Ross, not overwrought, but with subtle challenges that are pleasing, not aggravating or unduly testing. I also like the setting of the 18th, the long alley up toward the waiting green framed by the old Inn behind. With all the hickory players wandering about, it presents quite a scene and it is easy to feel somewhat transported in time here.
For course information, tee times and greens fees, visit the website at:
123456
The links presented here are a few of the many websites that offer reviews of the course and of Pine Needles.
123456
123456
123456
123456
JD
Want to share a review of your favorite hickory course? Send it to: jdavis2364@gmail.com