Ten for The Deuce

What do Bill Campbell in 1950, Tom Watson in 1973, Payne Stewart in 1999 and Michelle Wie in 2014 have in common? All made birdie-2s on the par-three 17th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 in winning important championships or setting a still-standing course record — the North & South Amateur for Campbell, the U.S. Open for Stewart, the U.S. Women’s Open for Wie, and a course-record 62 for Watson in the former World Open on the PGA Tour.

Only they were too early for a Deuce Coin.

Deuce Coin?

That’s the commemorative coin that golfers who make a two on any hole of Pinehurst No. 2 receive when they take their scorecard to the bartender at The Deuce, the popular restaurant and bar at Pinehurst Resort overlooking the 18th green of the world-famous course.

The Deuce is approaching its 10-year anniversary of changing the landscape on the east side of the Pinehurst Resort clubhouse and has earned its spot as a great F&B venue with close proximity to a world-famous golf course.

The veranda fills on nice-weather afternoons as golfers finish their rounds, slake their thirsts and watch their buddies finish their rounds or place bets on whether some random 15-handicapper from Wisconsin can two-putt from 35 feet.

“It’s changed a lot since The Deuce opened,” says longtime Pinehurst caddie Thomas Trinchitella. “You get a nice clap for a good shot on 18. People enjoy watching golfers come up 18. They make a lot of bets. You hear cheering and good-natured booing depending on what happens.”

What it didn’t have as the 2014 U.S. Open concluded was a convenient venue for golfers coming off the No. 2 course to enjoy a post-round libation and the attendant scorecard parsing and bet settling. There was a portable “veranda bar,” or golfers could walk from the locker room down two corridors to the 91st Hole, which was mostly a grab-and-go station in the center of the clubhouse with a view of the practice putting green.

“It was kind of the missing puzzle piece,” says Pashley. “We did not have a fitting end to a round of golf on one of the world’s finest golf courses. It seemed like an odd omission.”

The drinks menu is creative and expansive — from Pinehurst 1895 Lager to margaritas made with cucumber-jalapeno agave to an old-fashioned cocktail flavored with orange and black cherry syrup — and accented with a piece of bacon cured daily in the kitchen with maple syrup and brown sugar. The Deuce Mule is a blend of vodka, ginger beer with a splash of cranberry juice served in a copper mule mug.

The décor is spot-on with sepia-toned photos of Donald Ross and his pencil-notated hole drawings. There are vintage postcards and scorecards and photos ranging from historical to contemporary, including, of course, the “Payne Pose” of Payne Stewart reacting to his winning putt in the 1999 U.S. Open. There’s a view out a series of picture windows onto the home hole of No. 2, and every visual of the name Deuce has the capital-D fashioned to resemble the numeral 2.

“I’ve been here eight years, and when I first started, we gave out a few coins a week,” says bartender Stephen Coleman. “Now we give out a couple every day. The level of golfer has gotten better over the years. Making a two on one of our par-3s, that’s no easy feat.”

It adds up to an experience that draws the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and his caddie when they were in Pinehurst early in 2024 — just months before he won the U.S. Open.

“No one noticed them or bothered them, they were wearing jeans and hoodies,” says Coleman. “They just had burgers and a couple of drinks and watched the golf on TV. They had fun hanging out. That’s what The Deuce is all about.

“Everyone calls it the Disney World of golf. A lot of people say that. Everyone is so into golf it’s hard to have a bad time.”