Talamore Golf Resort

Talamore is the Rees Jones design that Golf Digest named among the Top 5 New Courses in America when it opened in 1991, eight miles from the Pinehurst Resort campus in Southern Pines. The recognition was earned by combining sandy Sandhills terrain with Jones's characteristically thoughtful bunkering and green complexes that ask questions from multiple angles. The greens have since been restored to the original 1991 design and expanded by roughly 20 percent in putting surface, which improves both playability and strategic options on approach.

The course plays 6,840 yards from the tips with a slope of 142, a number that reflects bunkering density and green-complex difficulty rather than raw distance. Jones placed bunkers at decision points throughout the routing, creating a clear visual language; you see the trouble, calculate the risk, and pick a line. The approach is less subtle than Donald Ross and less dramatic than Mike Strantz, but it produces honest, engaging golf that holds up across multiple rounds. Conditioning is reliable and pace is reasonable.

The bunkering. Jones is known as the Open Doctor for his U.S. Open setup work, and his hazard placement here will remind you, hole after hole, that the man knew where to put sand.