North Carolina, United States
"Pine Valley on steroids" is how Tobacco Road Golf Club is billed. Cut through an old sand quarry, it’s certainly a unique Mike Strantz creation.
Tobacco Road Golf Club
"Pine Valley on steroids" is how Tobacco Road Golf Club is billed. Cut through an old sand quarry, it’s certainly a unique Mike Strantz creation.
5
Golf on Steroids! Golf on Acid! If Tobbaco Road was a nightclub it would be the energetic Pacha in Ibiza! And having read reviews of those who have opined before, one could be led to thinking it is all contrived and larger than life but yet there are strong architectural bones to his design, utilsing old school design concepts from the UK, often lost in what has become a modern game striving for length, which can lead to bland, long, repetitive golf.
Mike Strantz decided he wanted different. And he delivers.
The Golf Club was built on land tended by the weather-worn hands of tobacco farmers, later shaped and moved through mining and sand excavation before finally being crafted and molded by the imagination and revolutionary eye of Mike Strantz.
My take on people who decide they do not like it, whilst they will blame what they perceive as over the top, contrived hole designs, the reality is that they have probably over estimated their golfing ability and have been found wanting on the thick rough covered hillocks, the vast waste areas or the tricky bunkers. Strantz asks and almost encourages the player to take on these heroic shots, but know your limitations is my recommendation, pick the right tee for your ability and forget about the scorecard and go and have the most fun you'll possibly have on a golf course.
The design is not as 'out there' as people would have you to believe, there are strong architectural elements throughout, hole designs that have features more in keeping with old style UK courses - blind tee shots, blind approaches, huge sand dunes, hidden greens etc. as well hole designs that could feature on any course. This course is so memorable- Im sat here 3 months after playing and each hole is as vivid as when I played them.
Standout memories:
- the towering dunes and narrow opening to the fairway off the opening tee shot. Attention grabbed from the off
- the huge 'dune' with bunkers in it on the 2nd hole. The spilt fairway off the tee offers longer hitters the chance to go left on this dog leg par 4, whilst the fairway to the right helps the shorter hitters. However you are then faced with a 160 yard blind shot over the dune. Make sure you strike it well and accurate or you may end up not finding your ball
- the 5th, a driveable dog leg left par 4, where the big hitters will be lulled into going for the green across 270 yards of waste land. The more sensible option is to play up the fairway and trust your short game, although the approach from this angle means a narrow green - the green complexes are at times wild. Bold large bunkering and waste areas surround so many, with so much interest on the putting surface once you've managed to land on it
- stunning par 3s all asking different questions of the golfer. My favourites were:
- the 7th, a 178 yard beauty, playing down hill to an offset green that has multiple tiers to it meaning you could find the green and still 3 putt!
- the 14th, a delightful downhill one shotter with pond right and the green tucked uo against it. Bunkers left protect someone looking for a bail out
- the 17th, a superb downhiller with the green tucked behind a huge waste area- the par 4 9th, my favourite hole.on the course. A hole that narrows and with a green sat some 20 feet above you, long and thin, with dramatic bunkering on the fall away side of the green
- the huge waste area that entirely lines the 10th, a par 4 of 441 yards- the par 5 11th that skirts the quarry and asks the big hitter to go for it, whilstvthe sensible play is to use all 3 shots and rely on your game on this tricky green
- the 13th par 5. Absolute beauty that narrows as you move through this dog leg right hole. The green entrance is very narrow between 2 bunker filled 'dunes' into a bowl like green that would not be out of keeping on a British links course
- a bewildering green location on 15 ( its only bewildering once)- an absolute steroid filled 16th. A dog leg left with the green tucked out of sight upto the right 30 feet above you.
- the 200 yard carry require across the quarry on the 18th and a narrow entrance to the green that is surrounded by run off areas
What a wild ride but oh what fun. The weather was brilliant sunshine, only 5°C but I would have happily gone round straight away again. Mike Strantz delivered a truly wonderful, unique in the modern world, design that will delight if you follow my simple advice. And for those that don't fall in love with it, or even hate it "don't judge a book by its cover," judge not the course on the first round. View it as merely the first chapter. The more you play it, the more likely it is you can't turn the page (i.e. plan your next visit) fast enough!
Andy Cocker
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Round Information
Date Played
November 28, 2025
Round Time
3 hours, 45 minutes
Standout Holes
#8, #13, #16
Amount Paid
$220
Rating Breakdown
Strategy
Facilities & Amenities
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