The Deuce: Tips & Tricks
By Lee Pace
So, you were among the 5.9 million viewers watching Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy battle it out in the final round of the 2024 U.S.
Open on Pinehurst No. 2. You might have been in the throngs of slightly more than 220,000 spectators who descended on the historical golf resort in the North Carolina Sandhills the third week in June for its fourth U.S. Open.
And now you want to play “The Deuce,” as it’s known around the Village of Pinehurst.
You have one option if you’re not a member of Pinehurst Country Club — book a package at Pinehurst Resort to stay in one of the resort’s half dozen hotels, inns and villas and secure your slot on No. 2 and any of the resort’s other nine courses, including the Tom Doak-designed No. 10 that opened in April.
Now you have that coveted tee time on No. 2, opened as 18 holes in 1907 under the design acumen of Donald Ross and tweaked until he arrived at his final routing in 1935. You sidle up to the Starter’s Hut beside the first tee, the structure designed and built to mirror the same building on the Old Course at St. Andrews. What do you need to know?
Here’s some advice from a cadre of caddies and insiders.
The course is renowned for its inverted-saucer shaped greens, nearly all of them higher in the middle of the putting surface and gradually sliding off around the edges. That’s one reason Jeff Clay, a caddie since 2018, directs his golfers to always aim to the center of the green.
“This is not a pin-seeking golf course, but a very defensive, conservative strategy course,” Clay says. “If you decide to chase pins or play aggressively and you don’t pull the shot off, you will pay a dear price.”
“Another challenge is playing off pine straw. The biggest thing is you’ve got to get your feet down on the dirt. If you try to hit it and you’re standing on pine needles, you’re going to slide and lose your footing. Get a good foundation.”
Trinchitella and Clay agree that using the putter from off the greens is the safest play.
“I always suggest the two ‘C’ words, which means your most comfortable and confident club,” Clay says. “Don’t come here and try to invent new shots with new clubs, stick to what you like and you do best. If you are familiar and confident with chipping off very tight lies, OK. Otherwise, let’s putt.”
The greens on No. 2 were converted to Champion Bermuda grass in the summer of 2014. There is an art to learning to read the nuances of the grain (i.e., the direction in which the blades lay) and how it will affect the roll of the ball.
Clay likes to take his golfers to the putting green beside the first tee before the round and talk about the grain.
“Anyone who has not played much golf south of the Mason-Dixon line or who only has played on bent or poa annua grass, has no clue how dominant the grain is here,” he says. “I talk to them about how to read a green so they’ll understand better when we get out on the course, and I give them a read they might otherwise have not seen themselves.”
Lee Pace is a freelance golf writer who has written about Sandhills area golf for four decades and is the author of club histories about Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Forest Creek.
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