Best of 2023

Below is a collection of holes to highlight from calendar year of 2023.

Some overall thoughts:

Quality of land is vital, as is interest in and around greens. Courses with a stretch of great holes is rare. (5-6 holes in a row) Par 5s are difficult to design, making each of the three shots matter or (two for some players), is rare. Subtle greens are often better than greens that are shaped with severe slopes. Dramatic greens are better when supplemented in the round of golf by quieter greens.

Best course that was new to me: Yeaman’s Hall/ Pinehurst No. 2

Best new build: Old Barnwell

Places I’d want to play every day: Mid-Pines GC

Best setting: Black Mountain

Best one shotter: Pinehurst No. 2, Hole 9

Best two shotter: Old Barnwell 10

Best short two shotter: Sedge Valley 12

Best long hole: Dormie Club 17

Dream 18 -2023-

1. Mid-Pines

2. Old Barnwell

3. Pinehurst No. 2

4. The Lido

5. Pinehurst No 2.

6. The Loop- (Counter Clockwise)

7. Southern Pines

8. Park Mammoth

9. Dormie Club

10. Old Barnwell

11. Tobacco Road

12. Sedge Valley

13. Stotin Brae

14. Pinehurst No. 10

15. Lido

16. Dormie Club

17. The Lido

18. Yeaman’s Hall

Holes that somehow didn’t fit into dream 18, but are of high merit:

Mid Pines: 2, 4, 12, 17

Old Barnwell 17, 14

The Loop (counter clockwise) 4,16

Lido: the whole course

Southern Pines: 3, 4, 6, 8, 11 (basically the whole front nine)

Park Mammoth: 1, 9

Dormie Club: 4, 7, 17

Sedge Valley: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 17

Stotin Brae: 2, 14

Pinehurst No. 2: 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18

Yeaman’s Hall: 8, 10