I don’t have to tell you the Duke/UNC rivalry is maybe the biggest in sports, college or professional.  I’ve been to Packers-Bears, Notre Dame-USC, Cubs-Cardinals,  and they all looked like a Girl Scout cookie sale next to this madness…but more on that in a minute.

I was on this trip, then off, then on, off, and finally, thankfully on.  I was  third alternate and that might be pushing it.  My stock rose and fell as the days approached but that’s OK…I made the cut in the end.  After all, how many Majors have been won by someone “just hangin’ around?”  And this was a Major.

Now regular followers of  B.I.G. know what a  lucky cuss I am when it comes to playing golf and hanging at good spots…no doubt about that.  And I know it’s luck, not deserved.  But what I am about to describe to you, at The Pinehurst Resort and surroundings,  may go down as the Best 24 Hours In Golf…and I’ll be brief in fear that when you read about this I might lose you forever.

It started with dinner at The Magnolia Inn, a creeky old tavern in the Village of Pinehurst with two great pals…a couple hours on the porch outside the recently ruined, I meant renovated, Ryder Cup Lounge and off to bed.  Then the fun began.

Next morning it was biscuits and gravy followed by golf on course  #4, Tom Fazio’s terrific rewind of a D. Ross underachiever. 

We met at 5:00 and motored north for an hour or so to Durham, NC, home to the Duke Blue Devils, Coach K, about 100 banners hanging from the rafters, and last but not least The Cameron Crazies.  These  are the students and they are all painted blue…and I mean they are ALL painted blue.  They never sit or stop chanting in one very loud voice from before tip off until the end of the game. 

Some of it is a little unseemly, like when they repeat the announcers introduction of a Tarheels player with a “you suck,” but the rest is just good college mayhem.

PA Announcer:  “Welcome 5-11 guard, from Clinton Maryland, number five…Tyyyyyyyy Lawson”

Cameron Crazies:  ”Ty Lawson, you suck!!!”  Guess you don’t really need to hear the rest of the roster.

Our fourth was none other than author Jim Dodson (I won’t call him golf writer because his subjects are much more diverse than that) which was a true treat for me.  I’ve read almost all his books on golf from Final Rounds, to Hogan (best Hogan biography by a lot in my humble opinion), to his latest,  A Son of  The Game…this is a good one that I’ll post more about when I’m finished.  You’re going to want this book either as a Dad, for your Dad, or just if you really like good golf writing.  It comes out just before Father’s Day, trust me.

It’s 80 degrees and 90% humidity in the arena…everyone looks like they’ve had a shower at the end of the night.  Krzyzewski on one bench, Roy Williams on the other, not 20 feet from each other…an unholy place…and something I’ll never forget.

Then the trip turned back to golf on B.I.G. personal fave, and home of the Best Par Four to Ruin a Round Early, the #2 course at Pinehurst.  The last time I  was here was at a very high quality road trip to the 2008 US Amateur, watching eventual champion Danny Lee treat the Deuce with the utmost disrespect…birdieing half the holes and showing enough fear to fill a small grape. 

Along for the walk were great friends and customers Jeff Fiorini and Wright Chandler from GolfPride.  We had a match under a sky that North Carolina fans would say proves God’s loyalty to the Heels…just as blue as it could be.

After my good partner and I lost the first two holes to the Grip Boys it looked bad…actually it looked a little like a handicap miscalculation…but we won the third and no one was more than one-up until we lost the match and 10 bucks on 18…money well spent to say the least.

Our caddies were great as usual and included Hall of Famer Eddie Mac, who spends the same amount of time talking about the  latest poetry he’s reading as he does 10-footers for bogey.  He likes to hear what you think the putt will do before he expresses his opinion and even has his own unique way of doing this. 

“What say you knave?” is a typical Eddie Mac question…now I ask you who says knave?

That’s it for now and maybe forever for the reason listed above…I hope this happens to you some day, I really do…now what say you knave?

Pete McDaniel, Willie McRae, Eddie McKenzie

On Thursday night I was in Charlotte for a unique presentation to say the least.  Long time Golf Digest editor and Tiger Woods collaboroator  Pete McDaniel was there to ask questions of two Hall of Fame caddies from Pinehurst Resort.

The idea was sparked by EVP Marketing, we just call him “E”, Tom Pashley to keep the Model A tradition of the caddie alive in a Brickyard 500 world.  Good for him. 

Walking anywhere is not just more fun and the only way one can call golf exercise,  but more importantly the way the game was designed.  Old Tom, Donald Ross, McKenzie…they never planned on you necking your drive 211 in the air and racing to your ball like DE used to get to turn two…no, they meant you to neck your drive 211 and saunter up to your ball with enough time to think about how you were going to mess up your second.

There are of course countless places where walking the course adds everything to the experience, but nowhere more so than the short grass at Pinehurst #2 .  Not to sound like an ad but you literally can hit it into Hogan’s divot…and if you have the right looper, he can show you where that is exactly.

That right looper was there Thursday.  Wille McRae slung his first leather Wilson Staff over his skinny shoulder at age 10 in 1943.   Here are a few highlights of his 65-year career…and by the way he’s not retired.

• He estimates he caddied for Donald Ross 10 times
• He estimates he caddied for Pinehurst founding family member Richard Tufts 100 times
• He shot 67 on #2 as a teenager with 8 clubs…think about that one the next time you lace up your G-Shox and flail away with your 460  cc at a nuclear powered Pro V
• He caddied in the ’51 Ryder Cup at Pinehurst in a four-ball match.  In his group were Ben Hogan and Jimmy Demaret.  According to Wille, Hogan said two things on the way to a sporty little 32-34.  “Have a nice round” and “Have a nice day”  was the sum total.  I wish you were there to hear Willie tell it

He’s had literally thousands of loops over his long life and says that  there were only 10 he wouldn’t want to caddie for again…”and they were all from New York City.”  I think he pulled this one out for a crowd with a lot more y’alls than yous guys, but it was funny just the same.

When he reminds us one reason to take a caddie is “you can ask a golf cart which way a putt breaks all day long and he won’t tell you” it just reminds me of why I  hate the mechanical mule so much…other than to allow the old-timer the chance to still make doubles on the course he loves, carts should be as illegal as grand theft auto…my opinion only.

Eddie “Eddie Mac” McKenzie is a toddler compared  to his friend.  He’s only been reading putts at the Deuce for 20 years.  Before that who knows, but I think in the great tradition of the Super-Looper, he rode his bike to a dark bar looking for a decent buzz and a little  companionship…this may be totally false but after all this is my BLOG and I had to let my fact checker go because of the economy…plus Eddie doesn’t own a computer so he’ll never see it anyway. 

He’s a man of letters.  Over the course of two hours we talked mostly about writers and books.  I took notes…he didn’t.

He knows jazz, wine, food, and literature…but most of all he knows the ball will break in the opposite way that it looks…and you would save more than a few Nassaus if you do as he says.

In the end golf has so many good things going for it.  Two of those I was lucky enough to spend a couple hours with last week in Eddie Mac and Wille McRae…I can only hope I listened more than I talked.

In the final Danny Lee, via Korea, via New Zealand, made thirteen birdies in 32 holes on Pinehurst #2…let that sink in for a second.

After 25 holes his opponent, Drew Kittleson from Florida State, was only 2 down…let that sink in for a second. 

In the final round they matched birdies on 1,8, and 13.  On the par four 7th Kittleson made two…Lee made 3 to lose the honor…amazing stuff.

I’ll have to read the paper to see about the PGA Tour event…never switched the channel.

One of the truly great fall trips has to be Pinehurst, both the resort and the area.

We’ll start with your home base…in this case the Carolina Hotel. The Carolina is the hotel at Pinehurst Resort…the structure you think of when you hear “Home of American Golf”. It is without a doubt our St. Andrews, our beginning…and the best part? It’s open to anyone with a little room on their Visa card.

The actions of James W. Tufts, founder of Pinehurst, are only remarkable in our era.

In his day, the sort of risk, vision, and just plain onions to open a health resort in the middle of nowhere was much more common. It’s the way that generation rolled. Today we would need lawyers, researchers with feasibility studies, consultants of every brand.

All J.T. needed was a few thousand bucks and a dream.

Tufts was one of three heroes, and perhaps the most important, to early golf in America.

The second (and I personally love the irony) was a nobody golf pro from the north of Scotland who saw the sandhills as a place to plant what would become his masterpiece…and that’s saying something since by the end of his life there were 500 courses attached to the name “Ross”.

The third hero of Pinehurst, and therefore to golf ,was Robert Dedman, Sr. By the 70′s most everything old was being knocked down for the sake of progress. The progress that took place in Pinehurst was the building of hundreds of homes and condos which could be fixed easily…with the help of a few dozen bulldozers.

Mr. Dedman saw Miss America, a crucial part of our history, in a polyester dress and fake pearls around her neck…and he fixed it. The cynic will say it was about profit…I prefer to think it was respect. He also saved The Homestead so enough said?

On to your trip…

First of course is the golf. These, in order, are the courses to play while in the area. As always, I would encourage you to spend the money for caddies…there are some beauties in the area as you would guess. For the accomodations, we’ve already established you are staying at The Carolina.

1. Pinehurst #2- home of the ’99 and ’05 U.S. Opens but more importantly the place where Hogan finally broke through and Arnie and E. Harvie Ward battled in the 50′s.

2. Pine Needles- go for a day trip just a few miles down Midland Rd. to the Bell family farm. Another Donald Ross classic, a course you might come off thinking is the best in town…you would be right until you played the Deuce a few more times…then you would see the light.

3. Pinehurst #8- A Fazio which, in my humble opinion, is perhaps his best…or at least Top 2 with Wade Hampton being pretty sporty as well…also, home of the Big Pine Incident.

4. The Elks Club a.k.a. Southern Pines G.C.- Another Ross that would never be called a classic but for the fact it’s where the local color hangs out…a true swinging screen door place which as all BIG readers know is an automatic 4-star to me. I take my kids there when we are in town for Thanksgiving…it’s just one of those things.

5. Pinehurst #4- Fazio again. A really fine golf course and site of next year’s U. S. Amateur.

6. Forest Creek GC- as always I’ll include a private club in the trip just in case you can wiggle access. This is a beauty, 36 holes of who else, Fazio, but awesome in it’s understated southern charm.

Where to eat? The breakfast at the Carolina is second only to The Homestead as The Best In Golf…and if they had the home-made doughnuts it would be a tie. Lunch of course is the least important meal on a golf trip so grab what you can. For dinner, a jacket and tie at the hotel is a great experience…or a burger in the bar at Pine Needles is pretty stout also.

But make sure one night to amble over to the Pine Crest Inn in the Village. Scotty or Carl will whip up a good martini for you followed by one of the best fillets in golf…an alternative, but only on certain nights, is the turkey dinner with all the trimmings…cranberries, stuffing, the works.

Neville’s Bar in downtown Southern Pines is unique for a few cold ones as long as you agree with Neville that Frank Sinatra was the greatest person ever, living or dead…you’ll see what I mean.

Fall is for football, pigs on the cooker, and Jack & Ginger Ale…but mostly fall is for golf…trust me you won’t spend a better 3 or 4 days than the trip listed above. Go do it…it’s The Best In Golf.

On my last post under “what I would pay for ” I would add being at The Holly on opening night…and it would be #1 on the list. Indoor plumbing, electric lights, and hot running water made this place the Four Seasons on steroids in it’s day.

And the best part is it still is…all across the world buildings, neighborhoods, and downtowns are being built to look old…we are going back to a simpler time in America…the only difference is at The Holly Inn it’s real. From check-in you are in 1895…head to the Tavern for some good conversation…if you happen to hate Duke it helps.

If you are with the boys stay at The Carolina for the quick access to the biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon…oh and that bowl of strawberries, cantaloupe, and honeydew you never eat… but if you are with your wife stay at The Holly…don’t forget to sit in the lobby and read the paper with your coffee…no not USA Today…get the Times. It’s all part of the deal.

Part III The Royal Palms

So “The Best Par 4 Most Likely to Ruin a Good Round Just When You Thought You Were a Player” has been nominated and elected…Congratulations.