Photos and stats for every hole at Pinehurst No. 2

Pinehurst No. 2, the famed North Carolina layout designed by Donald Ross and most recently restored by the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will host its fourth U.S. Open on June 13-16. 

Renown for its turtle-backed greens, Pinehurst No. 2 has proved to be a worthy Open site. The past winners were Payne Stewart (1999), Michael Campbell (2005) and Martin Kaymer (2014, the same year the course also hosted the U.S. Women’s Open, won by Michelle Wie). 

The course is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 1 public-access course in North Carolina and the No. 3 resort course in the U.S., and it’s a perennial top-20 classic course in the U.S.

Coore and Crenshaw’s restoration in 2011 took No. 2 back in time to the intent of the dry, sandy and bouncy layout originally laid down by Ross that opened in 1907. Forty acres of irrigated turf that had served as rough were removed, and the number of irrigation heads was reduced from 1,200 to 450. All this has resulted in approximately a 50-percent reduction in water usage on the course while better honoring the layout’s history, both of which have been goals for the USGA at Pinehurst and beyond.

Fairways are now lined by native sandy and scrubby areas dotted with wiregrass plants instead of tall, thick rough that consumed so much water. Even with the reduction of so much turf, the fairways were made 50-percent wider, but now balls can roll and roll until they reach trouble, putting a greater demand on shot control.

New for this year’s Open is the introduction of ultradwarf Bermuda grass greens, a heat-tolerant grass that can thrive in North Carolina with less water. The greens in the 2014 U.S. Open were bent grass, a northern strain that could become stressed in a Southern summer. The new greens – introduced by longtime Pinehurst director of golf course management Bob Farren and course superintendent John Jeffreys – should keep No. 2 even firmer and bouncier in this year’s Open.

Pinehurst No. 2 will play to 7,543 yards with a par of 70 for this year’s Open. The resort course normally plays to a par of 72, but two of what are normally par 5s will play as par 4s in the Open.

Below, feast your eyes on each hole at Pinehurst No. 2, courtesy of the USGA’s John Mummert. Included with each photo are the key stats, plus how the…