Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club

Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club is the Donald Ross course on Midland Road in Southern Pines that the Kyle Franz restoration transformed into one of the most honest expressions of Ross's work in the Sandhills. The course opened in 1921 on gently rolling terrain through longleaf pines, and for decades it was a solid but under-appreciated member of the Sandhills community. That changed in 2013 when Franz completed the restoration that earned GOLF Magazine's Best U.S. Resort Renovation. Mid Pines sits roughly five miles from the Pinehurst Resort campus and directly across the street from its sister property, Pine Needles.

Franz's work returned the course to Ross's original design intent. Bunkers were reshaped to match archival photographs. Green surrounds were stripped back to reveal the natural contours and collection areas that decades of overseeding had softened. Sightlines were cleared. What you get now plays shorter and less aggressively than No. 2 but communicates the same design philosophy in a more accessible register.

At 6,515 yards with a slope of 127, Mid Pines does not punish wayward shots with the severity of the resort courses. What it does instead is reward precise positioning with noticeably easier approach angles. Place tee shots on the correct side of the fairway and you will find open lines to pin positions. Settle for anywhere in the short grass and you will face approaches over bunkers to tucked pins, turning straightforward pars into scrambling bogeys. The margin between good and adequate is narrower than the slope suggests.

The green complexes are the highlight. They sit at natural grade, rolling with the terrain rather than perched on pedestals. False fronts reject timid approaches. Collection areas gather anything that misses on the low side. But the contours read clearly, the speeds are fair, and the surfaces reward a confident stroke. If you find No. 2's crowned greens frustrating, Mid Pines teaches the same lessons with less punishment.

The par 3s are the course's quiet strength. Each plays to a different length and compass direction, creating wind exposure and shot-shape variety that keeps the one-shot holes interesting across the round.