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?

For a variety of reasons it’s not on the short list of avid golfers looking for a high quality vacation but it should be. This week we played Pine Needles during the National Amateur held a few thousand pine cones down the road over at The Amazing Deuce…Pinehurst #2…a little on that in a minute.

“Buddy Trips” as they’ve been coined, are among the most sacred events in  the game.  It doesn’t take much to make one a success.  The elements are good friends, good or great golf, a nice but not too nice place to stay, and a little beer.  But the best part was none of the above.  The thing that made this 36 hours The Best In Golf was, you guessed it, night chipping.

Since we were staying next to 18 green the lure was too great.  We had to hit a few lobs in the dark, not quite sure where the flag was…then again who cares about that anyway.  I’m pretty sure I lost. 

Then over to the US Amateur for a couple hours.  If you ever want to have a great getaway, find a golf course near the Am to play, then go watch college kids hit it miles and putt 13.5 greens with all the fear of a US Marine.

The fun part is you get to do all of this from the middle of the fairway.  It takes a hole or two to get used to this…big major chamoionships are supposed to be mob scenes, with all the intimacy of a fall Saturday at Death Valley…but not here.  These amateur championships have got to be the last best secret in the game.

Strolling up a perfect fairway behind two great golfers is a treat…take it from me.  And the best part?  You don’t have to ruin the experience by playing.

Dear Rick,

I’d like to nominate something for your Best In Golf Blog.

A few weeks back I was in London and had an opportunity to play golf on a Monday morning. As you know, there are several great heathland courses around Southwest London that we’ve all heard of: Sunningdale, Wentworth, Walton Heath, The Berkshire. Truly amazing golf.

We end up at New Zealand Golf Club just about a mile from Sunningdale. New Zealand was built about the same time as these others but is truly one of those hidden gems.

So the three of us (me, my business partner Nick Green and one of his friends who lives nearby) show up at 9am as “visitors”. No introduction is necessary here. It is a private club. But like most in Britain, they keep their monthly dues low by taking money off of visitors like me. In America, we pay to keep the unwashed masses off our private clubs. There they like to keep the dues low. Different strokes and all of that.

Anyway, we have a fantastic round with some really fun holes. Finish in 3 hours toting our own bags (the way golf should be played). We don’t see anyone out on the course. Afterwards we head into the clubhouse and order lunch (3 Shepherd’s pies please with a pint of lager), and then head into the lockerroom to change shoes.

It was there I discovered what I have never seen.

Their lockers, which are original from the 1920s, have been passed down from member to member…with the previous occupants all listed above. When a member dies, his name is scratched out and the next guy inherits the locker. I know at Deepdale on Long Island there’s a similar tradition, but I don’t believe they scratch the guy’s name out!

Anyways, chalk this up as the Best Locker Doors in Golf.

And I highly recommend the Shepherd’s Pie.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Scott

Thanks Michael…sounds like you better not miss too many Saturday morning games at New Zealand or you just might lose your locker. I can hear the board meeting now:

 ”Anyone seen Purlmutter lately?  No, not for some time.  Scratch him off then and be quick about it.”

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.

Apparently “Tradition” means anything over a year old, whether a golf tournament or a golf course…the greatest example of all is “Old Memorial” opened all the way back in 1998…but I digress.

Somehow the Jeld-Wen is is a major…the winner gets a swell trophy and a bunch of cash…but the kicker is an 8 X 8 bay window for their sun porch.

Consequently every travel writer will succumb to the usual (lazy) description of the area. It almost never fails. He or she gets to town, sees the neon and traffic, and inevitably goes to the negative.

On Day 1 go play The River Club or Willbrook Plantation, or both. These courses are a good warm-up, quality courses always in good shape and won’t wear you out.

Have I given you a cheap golf trip? No, but what I’ve described to you here is as good a trip from a quality and value for the money standpoint you can take anywhere in the country.