Best Golf Courses in North Carolina: Pinehurst and Beyond
North Carolina contains some of the most historically important and architecturally celebrated golf in the United States. Pinehurst No. 2 alone — Donald Ross's masterpiece in the Sandhills — would justify the state's position near the top of any American golf destination ranking. The surrounding Pinehurst area adds seven more quality Ross designs plus a growing constellation of newer courses. Beyond Pinehurst, the state's mountains, coast, and university corridor provide golf experiences as varied as the terrain.
Pinehurst No. 2: The American Links
Donald Ross designed Pinehurst No. 2 in the Sandhills of north-central North Carolina starting in 1907 and continued refining it until his death in 1948. The course is built on sandy, well-drained soil with native wiregrass and long-leaf pine framing fairways that produce the kind of firm and fast conditions most American courses never approach. Ross's crowned greens — convex rather than receptive, designed to shed approach shots that do not find the correct section — are the most distinctive putting surfaces in American golf and the design element most studied by subsequent architects.
The 2014 U.S. Open brought the course to a generation of golfers who had watched previous U.S. Opens there but never experienced the restored Ross conditions. Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore's 2011 restoration removed decades of cart-era additions and returned the course to the sandy, native-grass character Ross intended. Martin Kaymer's winning total at the 2014 Open was 9-under, suggesting that the restored conditions provided the kind of challenging but fair examination that U.S. Opens at Pinehurst historically produce.
The Pinehurst Resort owns all nine numbered courses and provides green fee access to No. 2 through resort hotel packages. Advance booking well ahead is required for peak season tee times.
Tobacco Road Golf Club: The American Moonscape
Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford, designed by Mike Strantz and opened in 1998, is one of the most eccentric golf courses in the United States. Built on former tobacco farmland with severe earthmoving that created dramatic mounding, blind shots, and psychological pressure that many golfers find overwhelming and others find exhilarating, Tobacco Road divides opinion with unusual sharpness: it is either one of the most interesting designs in the country or an exercise in design excess, depending entirely on your architectural preferences.
The canvas art available for Tobacco Road's 18th hole captures the course's visual character — the severe contouring, the dramatic sky, the wire-grass rough — in a way that conveys what makes the course unforgettable even to golfers who found it maddening. For the North Carolina golfer who has experienced Tobacco Road, it is a piece of personal golf history on a wall.
Mid Pines and Pine Needles: The Ross Siblings
Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines, another Donald Ross design from 1921, is one of the most accessible and beloved courses in the Pinehurst area. The course plays through mature longleaf pine forests with the same sandy soil character as No. 2 but at green fee prices that are a fraction of the resort's flagship course. Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club across the road is another Ross design that has hosted three U.S. Women's Opens and provides a different character in the same Sandhills landscape.
The Courses of the Research Triangle
The Research Triangle area around Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill supports a healthy private and semi-private golf ecosystem anchored by Prestonwood Country Club, Hope Valley Country Club, and the Duke University Golf Club (the home course of the Duke men's and women's golf teams, the latter under coach Dan Brooks). These courses serve a community that includes a high percentage of golf-educated residents from the university and research sectors and maintain standards accordingly.
Mountain Golf: Asheville and the Blue Ridge
Western North Carolina around Asheville provides mountain golf in Blue Ridge terrain that produces natural elevation changes, mountain views, and cooler temperatures that offer relief from summer heat while providing genuinely interesting course design. Grove Park Inn's course in Asheville is the most celebrated resort option. The Cliffs Communities development around Lake Lure and Chimney Rock operates several quality private clubs in mountain terrain that attract serious golfers looking for an alternative to Sandhills golf.
FAQs About Golf in North Carolina
Is Pinehurst No. 2 open to the public? Yes, Pinehurst No. 2 is accessible through the Pinehurst Resort with advance booking and hotel package requirements during peak season.
What is the best golf course in North Carolina? Pinehurst No. 2 is the critical consensus choice. Tobacco Road is the most distinctive and divisive design in the state. Mid Pines is the best value in the Sandhills cluster.
When is the best time to golf in North Carolina? April through May and September through October offer the best combination of comfortable weather and optimal course conditions in the Sandhills. Mountain golf is excellent in summer when coastal and Sandhills temperatures are at their highest.