A touch of Tobacco road with trails of an English heath course, cut through corridors of Carolina pines.
If you’ve been counting, you know that the cradle of American golf has also welcomed a new baby. Pinehurst No. 11 is its name. How to describe it is another matter.
Architect Bill Coore, who designed No. 11 with Ben Crenshaw and his main associate, Ryan Farrow, was at Pinehurst Resort Earlier this week, as a group of golf junkies, had a sneak peek of the course, which will be open to the public in March 2027. Coore calls the layout “strangely wonderful”, an apt phrase that has made the rounds in the media. But what are these endearing eccentricities?
Start with the setting. UN No. 11 joins No. 10, completed in 2024, in Pinehurst Sand Mines, a satellite campus 4 kilometers from the mother ship in Pinehurst No. 2 that has its own shop and restaurant, with accommodation in the works. Portions of both courses sit on a former sand mine, where industry has left an otherworldly landscape of piles and ridges of spoil. Although the two layouts are contiguous in places, they make a compelling study in contrasts. Where No. 10 is expansive and muscular, with sprawling fairways and greens tousled, No. 11 is more intimate, its surface to put more quiet even when the land around them goes gloriously wild.
Coore is a friendly man, but he doesn’t always extend a friendly handshake. The par-4 opening hole requires a crisp shot right out of the gate, tumbling from a tee on a sand ridge to a fairway guarded by sand scraps and mounds, then climbing to an elevated green.
The par-4 2nd makes a different kind of statement. Mining backs flank the fairway to the right, blinding your approach if you block or bleed your drive. In its aesthetics and strategic questions, the hole recalls Tobacco Road, Mike Strantz’s fantastic creation a short drive away, where landforms and sight lines conspire to keep you guessing.
Pine trees sprout from many of the mining hills, creating a subtly surreal effect, as if you’ve stumbled into a hidden corner of the planet where nature has maintained its activity long after human beings have left. Purple-tinged centipede grass adorns the grounds, giving the property a moorland appearance. The conifers that frame many fairways add a layer of visual deception, making shots appear narrower than they really are.
An entire trip through the wild mining formations could be a sensory overload. Coore was aware of this, and so he weaved the route in and out of the most humpy and rugged terrain. At the 7th, a short par-4 with an iron-shaped green back, like infinity against a lake, you have been in a country more famous than the Sandhills for several holes. That doesn’t last. Before long, you’re back among the ridges and piles of spoil, which make for compelling cameos as your round draws to a close.
Coore is notoriously allergic to self-promotion. A minimalist throughout, he is inclined towards sober quotations. When he says No. 11 has been “pretty good,” take that as his version of a gushing review.
He acknowledges, however, that the whims of No. 11 may not be for everyone. “I’m not sure you want to build this as the first course at a resort,” he says. “But the good news is, it’s the 11th. If some people find this one not to their taste, they have 10 others here to choose from.”
3 Things I think
Bargain pines: It is difficult to follow the development of golf in the Carolinas. On my recent swing through the region, I also spent time at Whispering Pines, which now belongs to the same group of properties as Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Southern Pines. These are all Ross courses. Whispering Pines was built by Ross’s disciple, Ellis Maples, and like the others before it, it was renovated by Kyle Franz, who made the most of a modest budget. Working from Maples’ design, Franz rebuilt greens with new hole locations and compelling fairways, added and refreshed bunkers, enhanced sight lines and enhanced strategy. The work is impressive. And so is the price. Green fees at Whispering Pines are $75 to $150, depending on the season, an amazing value for a design that is on par with many of the best in the area.
Candyroot sweetens the Charlotte area: My other stop was the first course at Candyroot, a resort-in-the-making that aims to bring high-quality public golf to a Charlotte market that has long been hungry for exactly that. Designer Mike Koprowski, who designed Broomsedge with Kyle Franz, didn’t set out to build a silly sales golf course, and he didn’t. He went with the type of course that pleased him: the style of the United Kingdom, raw and robust on the ground naturally adapted to the game. He and his team did not form a single road and refrained from framing holes, a trait that Koprowski thinks is an American invention. The result is a convincing challenge that asks you to consider all kinds of angles off the tee, the best to take small greens with all kinds of complexity. It’s a firm and fast test, but not the kind that makes you want to give up in frustration. It’s the kind, as Koprowski says, that makes you think, Man, I think I could do better next time. I can’t wait to start again.
How to get a second crack on Candyroot: Getting it going again will require planning. For the first round of preview games at Candyroot, held this week, day passes sold out in 75 minutes. The next batch of reservations will be released on Monday, Nov. 2 at 10 a.m. ET, with tee times available through the Candyroot website from January through March 2027.
