Tobacco Road

Time was, when I heard someone talk about Tobacco Road, I would think of the 1964 song of that name. The song was a hit in 1964, and was performed by a one-hit-wonder band called the Nashville Teens. They were from Great Britain...go figure.

Henceforth, when I hear someone talk about Tobacco Road, I'll have something new to think about. A couple weeks ago, after we returned from the Hilton Head trip, I went back to the south to play golf with a group of a dozen guys. We planned for a lot of golf, beginning with 36 holes on Tobacco Road on Saturday.

I did a little research on the course before we left, and I was surprised to learn that Golf Digest ranks it as the 10th toughest course in the United States. And we were going to play it twice in one day.

The view from the first tee is intimidating, to say the least. There are two large mounds framing the fairway, and as fate would have it, they are right around 200 yards from the tee. That puts them in a perfect place to catch errant drives. Even if you hit the ball 280, the mounds are still in play because of their height. And if you hit one of the mounds, your ball is not going to come out unless you are very lucky. And if you have such luck, you will probably be rewarded by the opportunity to hit a shot out of a bunker from which man is not meant to escape. And that's all on your tee shot from number one.

The course has many blind shots, there are large waste areas, and there are at least three different types of sand in the bunkers. There might be more, but I only saw three types from the 8 bunkers I was in. And hitting out of a deep greenside bunker to a slick green that is running away from you and is probably 50 feet above your head is no picnic.

We played 5 rounds on 4 courses over 3 days in the Pinehurst area. Some of the guys had never been there, so we stopped by the Clubhouse at Pinehurst National so they could buy something to take home. I was there last year, having played 3 of the Pinehurst courses, but I didn't have my camera with me on that trip. So this year, at least I got a shot (with my iPhone) of the Payne Stewart statue near the 18th green of Pinehurst #2, where he won the U.S. Open not long before he died.

The last course we played was The Carolina, designed by Arnold Palmer, and known for the many elephants that are buried under the greens. I'd been struggling with my game over the weekend, which is understandable, given that golf just can't be played in Ohio over the winter. Things started coming together on Monday. On the first par 3, my 7-iron was tracking nicely, and the ball actually hit the stick on the way down. My playing partners thought it went in the hole and popped back out, but my eyes aren't sharp enough to tell. You can see the ball mark and the final position of the ball in the picture below. I made the putt, for the first of 3 birdies I had in that round.

It was a great golf trip, and I'd happily go with this group again. But in the meantime, I'm waiting for spring and some good old Ohio golf.