Golf at Talamore

My middle day of golf in the Southern Pines, NC area was at Talamore. This course was in the middle of the pack in terms of recommendations, but they are a Harvest Host so I gave this course the nod. We arrived in the afternoon the day before my round and I was hoping to have a good short game practice area. You expect this when paying over $150 for a round. They did not.

The course is beautiful and well maintained, and the resort staff were nice and accommodating. There just wasn’t anything special about the course to me. I could have been playing Silverado in Napa, albeit with a few more pine trees and sandy areas. I will say the greens were immaculate.

Julie walked with me on the back 9. I was paired with a young(er) man who was formerly the editor-in-chief of the Golf Digest affiliate in Switzerland. I feel like he’s played just about every course on my want-to-play list, so there was endless conversation about course architecture, where to play in so-and-so-state, and how to get access to holy grail private courses.

On the back 9 we encountered a group of Llamas!

What was my issue with the practice area? The driving range was just fine. The putting green had no actual holes, just the stick-in mini flags. I know it takes more time to maintain true holes on a practice green, but come on. I want to roll some balls into the hole as part of my warmup. Clinking off a piece of plastic just isn’t the same. And they have no chipping or pitching area, though they are building one for next season.

All in all - no need to return to this course in the future. There are so many others to explore, and I think I’ll always include Tobacco Road in my rotation when I visit the area.