Tobacco Road Golf Club

Awesome experience! Each shot contained some form of visual intimidation. After a few holes, you understood that beyond the intimidation was a fairly forgiving area to receive the ball. Shoot out to Mike Bailey from Golf Advisor, who was added to our group. We enjoyed every minute!

I'm hoping to get back to this course one day and enjoy playing it again, with the knowledge gained after having seen it for the very intimidating first time.

Perhaps not the course for a beginner. Pete Dye and Six Flags all rolled into one really cool golfing experience.

This is one of those courses that you will absolutely love or absolutely hate. The course itself is like nothing you will have ever played...it's hard on the eye and challenges your ability to hit the yardage you need. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it. We played five courses in the area and this was the favorite. Not a course for a beginners.

This course is very challenging and difficult. I found that is was also one of the most unique courses I think you could ever play. It is certainly the most unique course I have ever played by a long shot. We played with a local who played 3 times a week. Thank god we had his local knowledge to help us navigate the courses many treacherous potential dangers. Even knowing what they were we still found many of them! The course plays slow because most people are first time players and understandably it is hard that way.

Awesome day. Showed up at 1 to an empty golf course. Hit some balls and played in 3 hours. Never waited. Incredible layout. If you hit driver well you can score. The yardage book was helpful and we rode up to look at some greens before hitting shots. It paid off and we loved the course. Greens were a touch slow and they had punched a few weeks ago. Staff was excellent. Would go back every chance I could.

Course has excellent fairways and greens. Waste areas were extremely hard to play out of with all the rain that they recently had. The back 9 gets rather frustrating with the layout, hard to tell where/how far to hit even with the yardage books. You're forced to tee off with a bunch of shorter clubs which wasn't much fun. Cost was $100 but plays more like a $70 course. Would recommend playing it once but don't think I would go back.

What a course. We got lucky to play with a guy who works there. He guided us through the course. Most people say this course is very hard and it can be. I think it is fair and forgiving if you have decent distance control coming into the greens. Green speeds were great too. It is a must play Course conditions were perfect

As with the first time we played this course it really lived up to expectations once again when it comes to condition and of course the layout. Sadly our round was pretty much ruined by the pace of play, it took three hours to play the front nine and then sadly we had to walk off the course after 14 holes. We allotted five hours for this round just to be safe so we would have plenty of time to get to the airport in Raleigh for our flight home but as it turned out five hours was not going to be enough. On the 14th hole we were already approaching the five hour mark and there was no relief in sight as there were three groups On the short par four when we got there. I'm sure if you go and you don't get stuck like we did you'll enjoy your round there's this really is one of the most intriguing golf courses in the country but to see ranger sitting in the woods talking to each other while we were all backed up surely did not help the way we felt as we drove off the course. I'd still recommend this course to anyone who hasn't played it and I just hope you don't get stuck like we did

Mike Strantz broke every unwritten rule of course architecture when he did this one. There are blind shots all over the course, huge huge huge bunkers and waste areas. Every single hole is fun and has you wondering what will come next. I will go out of my way to make it back here as often as possible.

I love this golf course. However, I doubt I will want to play here again. The round was 5 hours and 40 minutes.

It was 2.5 hours on the front, and an incredible 3 hours and 10 minutes on the back. We waited on every single shot, on every single hole. It was horrible. Some of the holes are incredibly interesting. Greens were in good shape for February. We had players in front of us, that refused to pick up. Looking for balls every hole. Rangers were no help. They were pleasant enough, but they are limited on what they can do to pick up the pace. It was not a good experience.

I have played Tobacco Road about a dozen times and have always found the course to be in great condition regardless of the time of year. This is a love it or hate it kind of course. I love it. I play this course every time I am in Pinehurst. It never gets old! Target golf. You must pick the right tee box or else you will be in for a really long day. The first time I played The Road, I just was amazed at the first hole. It is the toughest first tee shot I have played. Better warm up at the range.

Top 3 courses of all time for me. If you don't like hitting out of sand then this is not your GC. No OB or bunkers. All considered waste area. Lots of "obstacles". Will definitely be back. Just a cool course.

This course was on my bucket list since moving to the Sandhills of NC. Even though we are in the middle of winter the course was in great shape. The layout is visually stunning. The pictures are excellent but seeing in person is Amazing. The landing areas are very generous and leave short irons into large very sloped and mounded greens. Almost Aced #6 with a front pin after the ball rolled back about 15 feet. The lift, clean and place no rake bunkers are a refreshing way to play golf. I could go on and on but I'll leave the rest for your own experience. Make the trip you won't regret it!

This was easily the funnest round of golf I've ever played. This is a must play if you are in the area, just because it is so out of the ordinary. Everyone say's, you're either going to really love it, or you will really hate it. There is no in between. Well, I am one of the ones that loved it. I thought the greens rolled incredibly well and even though at times the landing area from the tee looks small, it's actually quite generous. You better have some confidence and more than a few shots in the bag, because this course will demand plenty of both. I found myself on many tee boxes just going, "Wow".

Blind shots even on hole one are frustrating but once you know where to go you will be rewarded if you hit a solid shot. Staff has always been friendly. Club house is unique. Apples on course are great. Distance is deceiving as the course plays longer than what the card shows. Choose the tee you play from off the slope rating not the yardage. I have played here at least 8 times and have enjoyed every round. If your playing in the Pinehurst Sandhills area this course is worth the visit.

As I've stated in reviews of other Mike Strantz courses, he is a very polarizing course designer. And Tobacco Road is the most controversial of his efforts. I get why people don't like it. If you are not in command of your golf ball, this can make for a long day on this course. But I'm a fan of Strantz courses, particularly this one. I am accustomed to target golf from frequently playing the RTJ Golf Trail at home in Alabama, so this style doesn't bother me. If you like to think your way around the course and not blindly pull driver out of your bag on every par 4 or 5, then you can have fun here, but more importantly excel. Playing some of the holes, it dawned on me that this might be what it would be like to play golf on Mars. Some examples: the tee shot on the first, which requires you to fit it between two mounds that pinch the fairway; the ninth with its blowout green side bunker (see attached photo); the third shot to the par-5 13th (see attached photo), which may be the most imaginative green complex I've ever encountered. The green is built into what resembles a crater. It is a very disarming visual, really because you cannot see the flag from the fairway. There is a thin ridge that divides the green horizontally, so shots finding any part of the green will feed to the center of each respective half. Lost in all of the discussion of whether or not this is circus golf, is the strength of the course's collection of par 3s and par 5s. Be creative. The most direct route to the hole on approach may not be the best route. This course requires some imagination. With the complex green undulations, it also requires some resolve. Just know this going in: at some point in your round this course is going to make you look silly. Just embrace the next shot, the next hole. If you do that you can have fun. And you should. This is not the type of course a golfer from any part of the country will experience very often.

Really challenging course that is in great shape. My primary criticism was that there was nothing on the score card or tee markers that showed the layout of the holes, and I literally had to guess on some tees where to hit it. But when I got home, I found that the agent who set up the round had included a course guide to each hole that I missed. This course is NOT for beginners, or those that hate to lose a golf ball. But when you hit a proper shot, and get a birdie, the feeling of accomplishment is so good. I'll go back.

This course is well worth your time to play if your in the area, the layout is fantastic the course is in great shape and very well maintained. Staff is very friendly and helpful to help make the experience one to remember also look in the wooden bucket on the 16th tee box awesome surprise and just what you need after the first 15 holes! Will recommend this to all my golf buddies if there coming to the area.

Our first time to play TR. An extremely challenging course built in an old sand quarry with numerous forced carries, waste areas, elevation changes, undulating greens and blind shots. TR has a course layout app and an excellent yardage book but best to play with someone who has played the course several times. You had better hit your shots straight and know how far you hit each club. TR is probably one of the best courses I've ever played. You'll use every club in the bag and be mentally exhausted at the end. Great fun and I can hardly wait to play TR again.

Excellent golf course with an awesome and very challenging layout. Just played here on 8/12. The greens and fairways were in great shape. You won't finish this course in 4 hours if you can't keep the ball in the fairway!

16 of us played this course as part of a 3-day, 4-round, 2 night packaged deal with Tobacco Road Travel so the price was extremely good!

Note: there's a reason that most courses in the NC Sandhills are cheaper to play in August: It was very hot and there were lots of little gnats and things flying around!!! My only complaint was that they didn't keep the water coolers on the course filled during the Friday afternoon we played. Also, there wasn't a beverage cart or ranger with water either.