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

Savannah, GA

Miles Driven: 5604



After my trip to Alabama, I drove to Savannah, GA to do some historic sightseeing. As I was driving in, I was happy I made the decision to keep going after I hit New Orleans. I think I would have regretted it if I turned back and went back to California. Now I can really say I did a real "cross-country" roadtrip.

Savannah was always one of the cities that interested me since it had so much historic value dating back to both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. I guess this fascination came from watching movies like "Gone With the Wind." The city itself was pretty well preserved since General Sherman spared it (for the most part) from this scorched earth policy in his March to the Sea campaign in the Civil War. Many of the older, historic buildings were preserved and the architecture of the buildings were amazing.

The street of the historic district was filled with live oaks with spanish moss growing on them. There were squares and parks every few block to commemorate founders and historic figures of the city with people giving walking tours and musicians playing. Cool little bars, pubs, and taverns are around every corner made it a pretty fun place to come visit. There was also an open container law so you can take your drink to go. I would have compare Savannah to a much cleaner and tamed version of New Orleans.

Since I was only in Savannah for 2 nights, I wanted to make sure I at least played one course here. I booked a 7:40am tee time at the Club at Savannah Harbor on the second day so I can walk the course before it got too hot and have time to do some more sightseeing in the afternoon. The course is a site of the Champions Tour and designed by Robert Cupp and Sam Snead. The course is laid out as a links style course in the middle of a marsh. Not too many trees and REALLY fast greens (probably a 12 on the greens.) Great fun course to play at. I was paired up with a member and he told me he pays $1800 for the year for club membership and he can come out to play anytime. Man, I wish we had that in SF! After my round I went back to the hotel to shower up, take a nap, and did a historic bus tour of Savannah. Rode around the city and stopped at the city market area, got a peach sangria, and headed to Paula Deen's restaurant. I do love my southern foods but it doesn't love me back since I think I've gained some weight eating all the fried chicken, mac & cheese, grits, etc.

Here are the pics from Savannah. Enjoy!