Goosebumps.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of walking up to the first tee at Pinehurst No. 2.
I think the best way to encapsulate what it feels like to tee off from one of the oldest and most historic golf courses in the world is like a first date. Nervous butterflies creep in and your heart starts racing.
I could have been 98 percent excited and two percent scared or maybe it was 98 percent scared and two percent excited. That’s what made it so great. Shoutout Armageddon!
Before I get too into my own head, we are greeted by the starter and a trainee. Now, we’ve all heard the spiel from starters a million times. This is different.
This starter performs his act every 15 minutes and his job is to set the stage for the best five hours of you’re life on a golf course. And oh boy did this guy knock it out of the park.
He mentioned No. 2 being the prized and favorite design of Donald Ross and it was his baby. He even lived right off the green on the third hole. Not bad at all.
What the starter said that really jumped out to me was any golfer worth their salt in the history of the game has walked these fairways. So take it in.
Okay, then. The tone was most definitely set.
As I stood over the ball on the first tee I can proudly say I had one swing thought.
PLEASE MAKE CONTACT
And I did. Little late with my hands or maybe my hips were a little quick (
). I ended up pushing it “just off” the fairway into the waste area.
A punch out, a wedge and two putts later we were off with a bogey.
My favorite hole was all 18. Not a single letdown throughout the entire loop. What really stood out was how their was no transition between fairway to tee boxes.
On the back nine we made the short walk from the 12th green to the 13th tee and I thought this is awesome. I was also hoping the group behind us didn’t tug their approach shots because we’d be goners.
It was a fun walk and the greens were the most challenging part. Also, the most intriguing. Lots of slope and undulations. You’ve heard the phrase aim for the center of the green and that applies here. Anywhere off the green is nightmare fuel with chips, flops or putts that could run right back to your feet.
The course is full of history and has hosted major championships. The US Open is going to be played at No. 2 in 2024. You have two years to get down there and play it!
It’s truly a magical experience and one I’m glad I got to check out my golf bucket list.
For what’s it worth the Rueben at the clubhouse was out of this world and my favorite lunch of the whole trip.
I’ll leave you with this. I had my single greatest moment on a golf course on the 18th hole.
After topping a drive (whoops!) and lacing a 3 hybrid, I hit a wedge to just short of the green. I chipped it to about 15 feet below the hole.
As I walked around my putt, I kept looking anxiously at the people on the clubhouse patio having drinks and enjoying their lunch.
Let’s give them a show.
I hit the purest putt of my life and the left to right breaker fell right in the heart of the cup. A spattering of applause rang out and I gave them a wave as I walked to grab my ball out of the hole.
“How cool was that,” one of my playing partners said.
Pretty freaking cool.
FORE!