Mike Strantz was one of the real artistic young architects out there.  His tutelage under Tom Fazio gave him a real penchant for dramatic design.  He built courses with enormous visual appeal and drama with so many memorable holes that the term “Signature Hole” seems to be frivolous when looking at one of his designs.  His approach to designing golf courses was to walk the ground with his pastels and his sketch pad and draw the holes as he envisioned them.  In spite of the nouveau look of his courses, he had a very old school philosophy about shot values and strategic design.

(Click here to read a wonderful interview with the designer Mike Strantz)

This course is like Royal New Kent on steroids-the challenges are daunting-often layered on top of each other for extra effect-very much in the Irish tradition of a good mix of strategic and quirky holes.  You will not walk off this course with anything less than awe for the vision and effort it took to create it.  If you keep your wits about you it becomes apparent that every hole has a safe way to play and scoring well here is a matter of carefully choosing which challenges to take on and which to ignore.

Opening Hole Par 5     (KyleHarris.com)

The par five first hole is a perfect example of this-he presents you with a series of pumped up challenges you just need to ignore.  There is a conservative three shot sequence that needs to be heeded or else you can start off your day with a very bad number.  All the par 5’s are three shot holes to all except the testosterone junkies.  The vast waste areas on these holes bait you to go for what appears reachable in two.

Stunning #7 Par 4

The overall yardage is not overwelming but the 71 par makes that a bit of an understatement.  The par 3’s are all very short so there is extra yardage available to the four pars and he uses it.  Landing and layup areas throughout the course are much more generous than they appear to the eye-he has used the waste areas and adjacent mounding to mask the true depth of these areas.  You will continually be saying to yourself after your reach your ball- “wow, there is much more to shoot at than it looked from back there”.  Good design.

Intimidating Par 5 #13

There are quirky holes out here-especially the three pars.  Many will call these holes tricked up or unfair but neither of those terms has a place in the Irish golf realm from whence they come.  You simply have to pick a target on the short holes and don’t let the extraneous visual elements get into your head. These are really the holes to stack your card with pars so be disciplined and play for the fat of the these greens.

What a finish #18 Par 4

As with most courses across the pond, this is a course you have to play without scoring expectation.  Play a match with your friends and forget the medal score.  You can win some money and maybe, just maybe, still be pleasantly surprised when you tally your score at the end how well you fared.

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Sanford, North Carolina

Architect: Mike Strantz (1998)

Tees    Yardage  Par    Rating    Slope
Disc      6304       71      70.8      142
Plow      5886      71       68.6      132

If you would like a printable PDF of this posting including yardage book quality hole-by-hole descriptions of how to play the course click the moegolf logo below.

This is a real Donald Ross gem built in 1926 as the sister to Mid-Pines that opened about 5 years earlier.  This part of the resort has a casual feel, 74 rooms in chalet style lodges.  The course was renovated in 2004 in preparation for the third U.S. Women’s Open in 2007.  The work was done by a Ross aficionado John Fought and he restored it back to the specifications of the original Ross design.  So you are playing a true Donald Ross experience here.

Tranquil Signature Hole Par 3 #3

Play from the Ross tees, this is where the women played their championship, it is very playable but challenging as well.  The course is routed through the pine trees that clearly define every hole and play into the strategy of positioning of your tee balls.   The course has a good deal of up and down so you will be recalibrating irons all day.  All the driving areas are generous so the big dog should eat until he is plump.  It’s only shortcoming is that it’s par fives lack length, but the finesse aspect of the par fours and threes make up for this.  The par fours in the middle of each nine will get your attention.

Challenging Par 3 5th Hole

Green complexes are very Ross-esque-they require sound forethought before hitting your approaches and pitches.  The major design feature is that all greens are exceedingly accessible.  The course is not over bunkered at all.  Typical hole has two maybe three greenside bunkers but all have some direct access along the front.  The greens have some of the crowning you see on #2, many pitching areas and swales off the sides and back, and a unique design feature I call “saucering”.  Most of the greens have a six foot collar that surrounds the green and actually feeds balls back onto the putting surface rather than throwing them off.  This is neat and presents some interesting pitching options around the greens.

Quite a finish Par 4 18 Hole

Women’s Open was here in 1996, 2001, and 2007-the quality of the winners lets you know how good of a track this is.  Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, and Cristie Kerr won here respectively.  For Kerr it was probably here breakout moment as a professional-her career jumped to another level after that win.  This is a top flight venue that is worth the price of admission and more.

(All photos from http://www.pineneedles-midpines.com)

PInehurst, North Carolina

Architect: Donald Ross (1928)

Tees         Par    Yards     Rating    Slope
Ross         71     6436      70.6        126
Regular    71     6985      68.5        120

If you would like a printable PDF of this posting including yardage book quality hole-by-hole descriptions of how to play the course click the moegolf logo below.