Tobacco Road Golf Club

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Tobacco Road Golf Club, described as "Pine Valley on steroids" and "golf's rock and roll thrill ride", is certainly unique, to say the least. Carving his way through an old sand quarry, Mike Strantz created one of the most celebrated and talked about courses in the world. Consistently Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford NC rated amongst the nation's best, Tobacco Road Golf Club 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 Golf Club was rated as high as second in slope in the Carolinas to the famed Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.

Located in the heart of the North Carolina Sandhills, Tobacco Road is a course of such uncommon beauty, it will capture your imagination and thrill you with its creativity. Most feel that rewarding accomplishments are seldom easily gained but pulled off with the odds seemingly against you. “We do not guarantee your best round the first trip at The Road, but we are certain you will remember the ride! Prepare yourself for a battle like no other.”

Golfers in search of new hideaways, while playing in the Pinehurst area, might stumble onto Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford, N.C., a half-hour to the northeast. Routed through the mined-out spoils of a former sandpit, Tobacco Road is secluded both in location and presentation.

Mike Strantz, who designed, among others, Royal New Kent in Virginia and True Blue in South Carolina, practiced hole-in-the-wall architecture at Tobacco Road Golf Club. His basic strategy is blind-off-the-tee, then blind-into-the-green. He has the typical Sandhills pinching fairways down to single-file paths. He has some greens curving around tall dunes and others recessed into the face of the earth. Eroded scars of sand and hidden bunkers abound on this course.

Tobacco Road is just plain hard. Hard to walk, hard to club, and hard on your ego. It tests not just stance and swing, but also imagination and visualization. There are no let-up holes at Tobacco Road, not a single spot Tobacco Road Golf Club's 16th Hole where you might stop and catch your breath. Make sure you bring every club and shot in your bag, and your imagination, because you’re going to need them.

It's not for everyone. If you like your golf straightforward, with every hazard, target and option laid before you like a connect-the-dots book, steer clear of Tobacco Road. But if you love the hit-and-rush-to-the-hilltop style of golf course found in the old country, you’ll feel right at home, but be forewarned: Tobacco Road could prove to be habit-forming.

This course is not a typical links-style, but it leans more to a links feel than a traditional style course. The fairways are generous, some as wide as ninety-nine yards, and the greens are also ample. The quote "Its bark is more intimidating than its bite" aptly describes this course that contains some blind and restricted tee shots. A staff consensus is that the course does not have a signature hole, rather it is in essence a "signature golf course."

Mike Strantz's design at Tobacco Road is exhilarating, infuriating and bewildering -- but never dull. This immensely entertaining test of patience and self-belief might just be the most underrated course in America. It not only tests your imagination, vision and shot making ability, it tests your heart.

If you prefer A-to-Z target golf, this ain't for you, with blind shots and greens with more bumps and false fronts than a Hollywood starlet. If you relish courses that are a head-scratching joy to play, you won't find anything better.

Thanks to the many blind shots that start on the first tee and end with the approach to No. 18, things tend to move slowly here. But the rangers are visible and polite. Plus, you can use the extra time to figure out the target line.

Apart from weekends in spring, Tobacco Road Golf Club can be played year-round for less than $100. If you can find anything else this much fun for that price, then it's probably not legal. And once you get the first couple of rounds out of the way, and familiarize yourself with the road, you’ll find that you can’t stop thinking about it or planning your next trip to “The Road”.

Set Up Your Golf Getaway or Vacation Package Today, and Come Play Tobacco Road Golf Club With Us. It's A Great Way to Network with Business Associates or Just get away with friends or family.

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