Changing times make for changing people, and for changing golf courses as well.
When Rees Jones designed the No. 7 Course for Pinehurst Resort in 1986, he did it with the purpose of creating a course with a different look. It was still Pinehurst, but Pinehurst with an attitude.
Jones loved the challenge on what is some of the most rugged terrain in the area. The result was a course that gave golfers the feeling of playing a mountain course in the Sandhills. Elevation changes, wetlands and severely sloping greens all contributed to the intrigue of No. 7.
It was the first course built by new owner ClubCorp of America and followed No. 6 as the second “satellite” course. The original five were situated around the clubhouse, where all their starting times were assigned.
While the course abuts some holes of No. 2, the entrance is located about a mile away from the main clubhouse.
When Jones was brought back in 2003 to renovate the course, he asked to reshape the greens to accommodate the new G2 bentgrass being used on the other Pinehurst courses. Also, stricter environmental guidelines forced more wetlands to be brought into play.
The result made No. 7 a more traditional course. It still very much has its own identity, but it’s more in line with the other resort courses.
“The No. 7 Course was the first one at Pinehurst that ClubCorp was involved with building,” said Bob Ferren, grounds and golf course manager for the resort. “Rees was able to come back and redo the greens and change some features. There were some changes in elevation and more wetlands.”
Unlike the other resort courses, No. 7 has a separate membership program.
“It’s the only gated community among the eight resort courses,” said course superintendent Kevin Robinson. “If you’re a member of No. 7, you’re a member of all the courses, but if you’re a member of — say No. 6 — you’re not necessarily a member of No. 7.”
Farren added, “The members have a real sense of ownership.”
The new greens are undulating and can be treacherous, but they have more of the “Pinehurst” feel.
“When Rees built the course in 1986, greens sloping from back to front was the thing,” Robinson said. “But when you put G2 grass on them, they’re much faster, and you can’t use that much slope. On the old No. 7, there were some very sloping greens where if you had a side-to-side putt, it would have been almost impossible.”
One reason for that is the different mowing process for G2 grass.
“You have to maintain G2 shorter,” Robinson said. “We used to think a green was fast if we mowed it to a quarter-inch, but now we’re cutting it at one-eighth.”
Jones also narrowed some of the fairways, forcing a higher premium on accuracy from the tees.
“There’s not as much turf as there was,” Robinson said. “The fairways are tighter. It’s easy to hit a bad shot now and be in the woods or a swamp. There are a lot of wetlands here. You couldn’t build a course here now.”
Some of the changes included adding bunkers to replace some of the trademark Rees Jones humps.
“We got rid of the small bunkers on holes 1, 2 and 3 and made one big on those holes,” Robinson said. “We got the seventh hole off the swamp and got rid of the little pot bunkers there. And we now have five sets of tees instead of four to give golfers more options.
“A big change was on 11. It’s still a dogleg left, but we knocked some trees down and you can see more of the hole now. We bulldozed the 15th hole and improved the fairway and the aesthetics of the hole.
“Also, Rees originally used a lot of bunkers to frame holes. Now marginal shots will roll off the greens into collection areas. The greens surfaces were larger before, but there are actually more pin areas now.
“Everything that was done improved the playability.”
The hilly terrain and wetlands also create some maintenance concerns.
“It’s a little harder to maintain,” Robinson said. “We’ve definitely got more hazard paint there than on the other courses. It also requires a lot more drainage.”
Members have enjoyed the changes and the course has moved up a few notches in the North Carolina Magazine rankings.
“On the No. 4 Course, for instance, there are always resort days with some room for member play,” Robinson said. “At No. 7, you always have members with some room for resort play. They call it ‘their course.’ A lot of them played it as resort guests, then retired and moved to it.”
