My Winter Golf Trip: Doug Hastie

Doug Hastie, director of golf at Highland Pacific in Victoria, recalls a quick sidetrip to one of the iconic golf destinations in the United States. He says he’d like to return one day and absorb the atmosphere of Pinehurst again.

My favourite golf destinations are the ones that I would call pure golf destinations like Bandon Dunes in Oregon or World Woods near Tampa.

At those places, it’s about the golf.  If you go to Hawaii, sure it’s about the golf, but it’s also about a lot of other stuff. It’s different at Bandon Dunes and Pinehurst is the same way.

The whole little town, it just seems like everything is about the golf. That’s the kind of place I would picture for a winter getaway.

Pinehurst is a special place, with the whole North Carolina feel and the history. Of course, the most famous course there is Pinehurst No. 2.

When you play No. 2, you can see how the Donald Ross design is worked into so many other golf courses that you’ve played before and use many of the same principles.

It’s renowned for its crowned greens. You try to get up and down on those greens and it rolls off the other side. That little hybrid shot that people use now, or the Texas wedge, or the bump-and-run, you’d better have all of that in your bag.

I wasn’t there for very long. We drove in on our way back to Toronto. It was Dec. 21 and about 13 C, a nice day and I was playing with Danny King and Ryan Klassen with the church bells playing Christmas carols in the background.

You’re walking around a historic golf course, it’s quiet and all you can hear are those church bells. It was pretty serene.

I would love to go back there and stay a few nights and play all of the different courses at Pinehurst.

I’ve also spent a lot of time in the area around Tampa and Orlando in Florida and I really enjoyed World Woods. You can play and stay at Innisbrook and I also liked Hunter’s Green.  Over in Orlando, obviously, Lake Nona is special if you can get on it as a golf professional.

That whole middle Florida area has some great golf around, which makes it very special for me.

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• Pinehurst No. 2 Gets A Facelift