Pinehurst No. 2 - Final Round of the Trip

Pinehurst No. 2
Yards: 6307, Par 72, Slope: 70.7/130
Score: 89, Putting Average: 1.94
Miles Walked: 6.6 Miles

Today was the final round of the golf trip and what a fitting way to end it by playing Pinehurst No. 2! I've been interviewing throughout my golf trip and was fortunate enough to find a great company to start my new career. I'm heading up to DC tomorrow and spending some time with family before flying back to SF on Monday. I'll be shipping my car back so I don't have to drive the long trek back to SF :)

I couldn't have asked for a better day of golf. It was one of the best golf experience I've had ever. Great course, great company, and a legendary caddie on a historic course. I arrived at the club house at 7:15am for my 8:30am tee time, just enough time to hit some balls and work on my putting before I headed out. I was paired up with Mr. Bobby Hill, caddie legend from Pinehurst. Bobby has been caddying for 54 year and knows the course like no other. He's also the only person allowed to drive a golf cart anywhere, and I mean anywhere, on the golf course. I guess if you've been here for 54 years, you've earned the right to do that. I asked Bobby who all he's caddied for and he said: President Gerald Ford, Jack Nicklaus & Arnold Palmer on their private match play, Sam Snead, Luke Donald...the list goes on and on. Getting someone like Bobby just make this experience so much more memorable!

At the 8:30am group was myself, Mark and Janet from yesterday, and Bob, a member of the course. Knowing the course will be fairly difficult, Mark and I decided to play the middle tees so we can actually enjoy the round. The first tee was pretty nerve wracking with everyone watching and the caddies trying to figure out if you have game or not. Wham...I hook one in the left waste area. Great, I thought...I really need to calm down here. Now the course was redesigned by Coore & Crenshaw in 2010 to restore the course to it's 1907 design by Donald Ross. Instead of the rough on either side of the fairway, it was restore to waste areas with natural bunker edges and native wire grass. It was a beast to hit out of that and you have to really pick the ball clean off the ground. That made it to be a very long and interesting round. I get to my ball and Bobby hands me a club and said, hit this. Aim just to the right of the pin. All I can say is, "yes, sir." What else are you suppose to say to a legend who know this course so well?

For the next 17 holes, I did exactly what Bobby told me to do. He would look at a hole and say you are 145 yards out, hit this 6 iron. Really? 6 Iron from 145 yards? I usually hit that 165 yards. I'd go up there and hit the ball and it's on the green every time. After the 3rd hole, I just hit what ever he handed me. He was even more amazing on the green, he knew every single turn, break, and bump on the green. On putts I thought for sure it was gonna go right to left Bobby just told me to aim on the left edge on the cup and it would go in every time. The greens were rolling super fast, maybe a 11 or a 12. We landed a few balls on the green and it would just roll off. We could not even find a divot on the green. Colin, the other caddie told us that they are not punching the greens until after the US Open in 2014 so the greens are gonna get faster. Should be an interesting Open to watch...

Now it was the one liners that he said that was just priceless. I've been hitting my drives really well and he would say, "Josh, nice drive, too bad you can't putt." That was just too funny...I had to just take it and laugh because it was true. Mark would be hear Bobby's comments and be in the back rolling on the ground laughing at his remarks. We estimated Bobby had caddied over 300,000 holes at Pinehurst over his 54 year career. As Mark and I walked off the tees, we can only chuckle at experiencing the caddie legend of Pinehurst, Mr. Bobby Hill.

Here are the pics from today. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

5th Hole, rated the 2nd hardest hole in the US

9th hole, false front. the ball trickles down to the rough if it's not hit right

#15, Nicklaus calls this trying to land a ball on a VW Bug. Obviously, I rolled off.

Me and Bobby Hill

Mark and Janet

Pinehurst #6 & #7

Miles Driven: 6165



After 5 awesome days at Myrtle Beach, I headed to the last destination of this road trip, Pinehurst, NC. Seeing that I'll be heading back to California soon, I wanted to do something special to end the trip and there is no better place than Pinehurst. There is just so much history at this place with all the different US Opens and famous designers that has made their mark here. In fact, the 2014 US Open will be played at Pinehurst No.2!

Pinehurst Resort consist of 8 different golf courses designed by the likes of Rees Jones (#7), Tom Fazio (#6), and of course Donald Ross (#2.) The resort was founded in 1895 when the Holly Inn (where I'm staying at) was build. I can definitely tell the age of the building by the layout and warmness of the Inn. The Carolina was built in 1901 as the main hotel to accommodate the growing number of resort guests. The package I booked included golf, breakfast, and two fine dinners at the fine dining restaurants. Not a bad deal!

I started my experience yesterday at Pinehurst with a 7:51am tee time on Pinehurst #6. I got there about 1hr early to hit balls after not sleeping the night before do to sheer excitement of this week. Since I'll be playing 3 rounds at Pinehurst, I wanted to walk at least two of the rounds. So I carried my bag (no push carts allowed) and walked #6. I was out as a single since trucking along with my bag and had a 3-some in carts behind me. These guys were in a rush to catch a flight so I let them play through. Good thing since I don't like to be pushed, especially when I'm playing a 3.5hr round. Well, I scored my personal best of 83 at Pinehurst #6. All I wanted since I played last week was to break 90 at Pinehurst and I did it. Goal Accomplished!

Today, I decided to take a cart since I'll be walking again tomorrow. I arrived at the Pinehurst #7, a Rees Jones (Robert Trent Jone's Son) designed course from 1986. This course is much different from #6 with all the doglegs and elevation changes. Many of the holes were designed with a elevated tee box tempting the player to bomb the drives. However, the approach shots had elevated greens so club selection was key since it plays longer than it actually is. We played from the white tees today at 6324 yards but the starter says it really plays closer to about 6700 from the whites. I was paired with a couple from Boston, Mark and Janet and the funny thing is we are paired up again tomorrow at Pinehurst #2. There were great playing partners and I'm looking to finish my final round of my trip with a such a fun couple.

Here are the pics from Pinehurst #6 and #7. I'll give a report of Pinehurst #2 tomorrow.

Myrtle Beach, SC

Mile Driven: 5892

After I got back from NYC, I drove straight to Myrtle Beach for the Memorial Day weekend. What I didn't realize was it was also bikers weekend during the time I was there. I saw literally hundreds of tripped out crotch rockets and exotic car everywhere. I guess it was blind luck that I didn't hit one of them by the way there are riding. I still don't understand why people don't wear helmets when they ride. In California, you need a helmet just to ride a bicycle!

I checked into a two bedroom apartment in Myrtle Beach and it was nice to be able to cook my own meals for a change. Haven't really done that in a while and eating out all the time does get a bit tiring. The extra space was definitely a nice alternative from the hotel rooms I've been staying at.

I had originally planned to play 2 rounds while I was in Myrtle Beach: TPC Myrtle Beach and Caledonia Golf and Fish Club. Both of these courses are in Golf Digest Top 100 Public Courses. On my visit to Caledonia, I was paired up with Tim and John, two coworkers from Tennessee producing Uranium for the US Govt...they joke that they glow in the dark. Given the Ricky Fowler clothing Tim was wearing, I wasn't sure it was the clothes or it that was actually true (that one's for you John, you can make fun of Tim for that one for me.) They were kind enough to invite me back to their place after the round and have dinner with play Cornhole in the backyard while throwing back a few cold beers. Gosh, how I miss southern hospitality! We had so much fun that we decided to play True Blue Plantation Course the next morning.

I think I'm finally finding my golf game with the 3 rounds I played in Myrtle Beach. I shot TPC Myrtle (85), Caledonia (84), and True Blue (90.) Two record lows for me on two Top 100 Courses!! My drives and approach shots were good and my short game and putting is finally coming together. Not bad at one of the golf meccas in the US. The courses were just in absolute perfect condition with the lush fairways and glass like greens. There were even turkeys and alligators on the courses (a bit unnerving seeing a 8ft gator before you tee off.)

Anyway, here are the pictures from Myrtle Beach. Hope you enjoy these. My next stop is PINEHURST!!!!!!!!