Rees Jones built it for Golf Digest's Top 5 in 1991. The restored greens still hold up.
Rees Jones designed Talamore in 1991, and Golf Digest named it among the Top 5 New Courses in America at opening. The recognition was earned by a layout that combined the sandy Sandhills terrain with Jones's characteristically thoughtful bunkering and green complexes that asked questions from multiple angles. The course has since been updated, with greens restored to the original 1991 design and expanded by roughly 20 percent in putting surface area, improving both playability and strategic options on approach shots.
The course plays at 6,840 yards from the tips with a slope of 142, a number that reflects the bunkering density and green-complex difficulty rather than raw distance. Jones placed bunkers at decision points throughout the routing, creating a clear visual language: the golfer can see the trouble, calculate the risk, and choose a line. The approach is less subtle than Ross and less dramatic than Strantz, but it produces honest, engaging golf that holds up across multiple rounds.
Talamore's location at 48 Talamore Drive in Southern Pines places it roughly eight miles from the Pinehurst Resort campus. The resort operates villa-style accommodations with two and three-bedroom units featuring full kitchens, which makes it a practical base for groups of four or more who prefer self-catering and the independence that comes with it. Packages combining lodging and golf at both Talamore and Legacy Golf Links offer meaningful savings over booking each element separately.
Green fees run approximately $189, which positions Talamore below the premium independent courses and well below the effective per-round cost of resort packages. For golfers building a Sandhills itinerary that mixes resort courses with off-campus rounds, Talamore provides a quality design at a moderate price point. The conditioning is reliable, the pace of play is reasonable, and the Rees Jones bunkering will remind you, hole after hole, that the man knew how to place sand in exactly the spot where you were planning to land.
Located at 48 Talamore Dr, Southern Pines, NC. Public access. Villa-style accommodations on-site. Packages available with Legacy Golf Links. Green fees approximately $189. Greens restored to original 1991 design with 20% larger putting surfaces.
The bunkering. Rees Jones is known as "The Open Doctor" for his U.S. Open setup work, and his approach to hazard placement at Talamore reflects that precision. The bunkers define each hole's strategic options clearly, and the restored greens receive approach shots fairly while punishing the wrong angle.
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