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ABERDEEN, N.C. - If you're building the eleventh golf course at a property, it has got to be different. Or, as architect Bill Coore says, "weirdly wonderful."
Mission accomplished.
Pinehurst No. 11, the second (alongside No. 10) of two 18-holers on the Pinehurst Sandmines site six miles south of the resort proper, dares to break some conventions of contemporary golf course architecture. With a bag of cheekier tricks than usual from its genteel creators, it also occasionally grates against some of the established expectations about Pinehurst Resort golf courses. But by managing to stop short of outright rebellion against what makes Pinehurst one of the world's great stewards of the game, it introduces a welcome new spice to the mix.
Summoning novelty without gimmick is No. 11's main successes; the golf course subverts expectations and norms in ways both large and small. Architects Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw's routing initially unfolds rather conventionally, albeit with a stern-handshake one-two punch of par 4s. But the front nine proceeds in a counterclockwise loop along the northern half of the site with characteristic grace.
Things get kinky from there. The back nine doubles back and folds in on itself not once but three times, with a couple of healthy green-to-next-tee walks that leave the golfer slightly disoriented. Layering psychological challenges on top of on-the-ground golf features is part of what made Pete Dye one of the game's great architects; it is no surprise that Coore comes from the Dye design tree.
The just-off-kilter routing of Pinehurst No. 11 pairs perfectly with the unique features of the site. A significant portion of this side of the Sandmines, which once housed most of the long-defunct Pit Golf Links, is dotted with systems of decades-old spoil mounds that rise abruptly to the point of being near-conical, many of them with peaks eight to 12 feet high. Skinny pines shoot out of the tops of some of them while larger, denser stands of trees fill the less disrupted areas.
Because Coore & Crenshaw and lead associate Ryan Farrow wanted to preserve and incorporate these mounds into the design, the initial clearing stage of construction had to be unusually meticulous due to the sense that anything they erased from the site early on would be functionally impossible to restore later on. Once away from the clubhouse, the course feels quite intimate throughout.
This more judicious approach results in one of the more demanding first-shot golf courses built in the 2020s. There is often ample space to play, but especially in the woodsy interior portion of the property, landing areas juke and slide laterally, making picking the correct target off the tee tricky. Low lost-ball likelihood being a hallmark of Pinehurst's most heralded courses, the degree of danger at No. 11 is noteworthy, even slightly rebellious. The landing areas are undulating and generally convex, often yielding uneven approach-shot lies. At times, there is hidden space to contain certain misses. At others, the apparent safe side proves the diabolical one. First-timers should lean on caddies or a detailed yardage book to help them navigate. They will do well to sharpen their skills out of pine straw before arrival. Playing too long a set of tees will sink the spirits of middle and higher handicappers who send errant drives into dense thickets.
These cautions aside, Pinehurst No. 11 is a feast for the eyes, with the spoils coming into play on no fewer than a baker's dozen holes. On the holes that dive into the densest clusters - the par-4 second and the majority of the back nine - they lend an almost eerie quality on a quiet day. The manner in which the mounds shroud and pinch entrances to greens like the 10th, 13th and 14th almost makes the golfer feel he has ventured into ceremonial places reserved for darker punishments than the frustration of his latest three-putt.
Speaking of putting, as a slight sop to the tuned-up tee-to-green difficulty, the surfaces at No. 11 are among the milder ones Coore & Crenshaw have created, although there are still times when sneaky tilts and pesky internal contours complicate what at first seems like a solid approach. A fairway-cut ridge separates the green of the sensational short par-4 7th into left and right lobes in a nod to the architects' penchant for including one horseshoe-shaped surface on their courses. A sharp ridge long and left of the 10th green begins as sand-underlaid pine straw but mellows as it is gradually tied into the putting surface itself, separating it into distinct sections. Some concave gathering slopes will help contain certain slight misses, but overall, like the fairways, the greens exhibit a modest convexity, nudging marginal shots towards or over the edge of a larger falloff.
At 80 and 74 years of age, respectively, Coore & Crenshaw have steadily cultivated a team of talented associates who have served as on-the-ground architects throughout new golf course builds and significant renovation projects. At Pinehurst No. 11, that job fell to Ryan Farrow, who has become one of C&C's trusted capos. Immediately before tackling the Pinehurst No. 11 job, Farrow ran things on the ground 250 miles south at Anson Point Golf Club, which opened inside the gates of the Palmetto Bluff community in early 2026 and has immediately become one of the best golf courses in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Between Anson Point's close-to-the-ground subtlety and Pinehurst No. 11's moments of audacity, it is clear that Farrow is one of the most talented associates in the business. Buy stock now.
In time, I expect No. 11 to come to be regarded as one of the toughest courses across the Pinehurst Resort system - possibly the most feared outside of Pinehurst No. 2. Some golfers will dismiss it as too brutal; others will take its challenges as a call to come back. I find myself caught between these thoughts, leaning more towards the latter as the sting of a poor round fades. As someone who believes some recent new golf courses have gotten so wide and accommodating that they end up pandering to golfers instead of coaxing them to hone their skills, I applaud the down-scaling of the corridors at No. 11. At the same time, I found myself wondering if certain corridors could do with perhaps two to four extra yards of width, accomplished either by slight expansion of short grass or the peeling-back of a couple of layers of scraggly pines to permit a skosh more recovery options from pine straw or flat sandy roughs. The tight entrances to the mound-swaddled par-5 greens at 10 and 14 made me feel like laying up there is virtually always the best option. Observing early play will guide Coore & Crenshaw, Farrow and Pinehurst's world-class agronomy team as to what future tweaks, if any, might be prudent.
The big question that will arise as soon as more golfers get a chance to play the course is, Which do you like better - Pinehurst No. 10 or Pinehurst No. 11? I tend to tackle course-vs.-course comparisons by thinking about how I would split 10 rounds between them. For my game and taste, at the present moment I am inclined to lean towards six rounds for No. 10 and four rounds for No. 11. Ultimately it comes down to the demands of No. 11 off the tee for me. I love the aesthetics of the course and the aforementioned 7th might be the best short par 4 at the entire resort, but I find the macro-contour sweep of No. 10 and its elbow-room off the tee to be a little more in line with someplace I would play multiple times. But if management ends up finding some small areas to tamp down on lost-ball potential, I will be inclined to shift towards a 5-5 even split in my thinking. Regardless of my or anyone else's specific takes, Pinehurst No. 11 is a stunning addition to one of America's great golf scenes.
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