Letter from Pinehurst: Is Pinehurst the perfect test that challenges every aspect of a player’s game

Pinehurst Resort has long called itself “the home of American golf,” as comparison to St. Andrews that once seemed more aspirational.

THE PERFECT TEST: In some ways, Pinehurst might be the perfect U.S. Open test that challenges every aspect of a player’s game including creativity and patience. Pic: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

There may be few things more polarizing in life than a U.S. Open golf course. Some golfers absolutely hate the test of attrition that the United States Golf Association (USGA) presents; others relish it. Some fans love watching the best players in the world suffer a little; others hate what they call “goofy golf.” 

Pinehurst No. 2 is unlike any other venue that the USGA calls home. It doesn’t have ANY traditional rough. Fairways are plenty wide and bordered by sandy native areas littered with unpredictable wire grass clumps or pinestraw. Its greens have roughly 50 percent of the surface where a ball can stay up on it. It’s firm and fast and slopes and just hard as hell.