Tobacco Road Golf Club, NC
Ten years ago this summer, a billboard went up on U.S. Route 1 south of Sanford, N.C., proclaiming the arrival of something totally different. “Tobacco Road: A Whole New Playing Field,” blared the ad. For those of us used to turning right just beyond the sign to go to Pinehurst, word of architect Mike Strantz’s latest creation was reason enough to have a peek.
Tobacco Road Golf Clubs is described as “Pine Valley on steroids” and “golf’s rock and roll thrill ride”. Mike Strantz created one of the most celebrated and talked about courses in the world. Consistently rated amongst the nation’s best, Tobacco Road is the one course that leaves you and your golfing friends begging for more. The scene is so breath-taking you will want to bring along your camera to forever capture the greatness of “The Road”. Playing at a length of 6500 yards from the Ripper tees, Tobacco Road was rated as high as second in slope in the Carolinas to the famed Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
The look and feel of the place would prove unlike anything ever seen in golf. If the asphalt plant at the entrance wasn’t enough, there was the rustic cabin behind a green to the right and an overblown shed that looked like a halfway house until you realized it was, in fact, the clubhouse.
But that’s nothing compared to the view from the first tee. Here, the player looks out upon a 558-yard par 5 that weaves and bobs through massive dunes that narrowly pinch the fairway landing area. Most courses shun blind shots entirely. By the looks of things, Tobacco Road had three on the first hole. It’s a good indication of the ensuing walk on the wild side.
The overall effect is stunning and also hysterically funny. You can toss the book out on all sorts of routing rules – you know, the ones that preach an easy opening tee shot or visible landing areas or well-defined options. In military parlance, the opening tee shot passes through a narrow “defile,” or choke point. When you break through to the other side, you have entered a netherworld of distracting beauty, psychological distortion and cruel teasing. We always knew golf could be hard or demanding, but who knew that a single round could be such an emotional roller-coaster of imagery, texture and sensuality? It’s the golf course you love and hate on alternating shots. And the golf course that made you think everything else in its generation was two-dimensional and black and white.
