Tobacco Road Golf Club
Sanford, North Carolina
Designing Tobacco Road, Mike Strantz set out to test a "player's eye, determination, and wits." With blind sightlines, tricky greens, and stunning vistas, the course can be as frustrating as fun. Accepting that this experience will be anything but your traditional golf round will help set you up for success. Embrace the weird.
After dropping out of art school to get a degree in Turfgrass Management, Strantz built a career combining his two passions — art and golf. Golfers will catch themselves looking backward frequently, trying to make sense of what they just experienced.
Before it became a golf course, Tobacco Road's land was used to grow tobacco before becoming a mining and sand excavation site. Tobacco Road's layout is as stunning as it is unique. Unlike other courses in the Sandhills, Tobacco Road employs several significant, manufactured land shifts strategically placed to fool you on the tee box. The course is easier and more scrorable than what meets the eye, even if the punishment for mis-hit shots can be brutal.
Its laid-back atmosphere on a big property in the middle of nature will have you feeling detached from the "real world" in all the right ways.
Often added to an itinerary featuring the classic Sandhills courses, Tobacco Road is a destination-worthy jaunt in its own right. Their rentable, on-site cabin on the 14th green is a fine place for a group to stay when exploring the golf-rich area. Soak it all in and catch your breath from the rocking chairs overlooking the 18th green after your round.
Buy a yardage book, and don't expect any Ubers to be working in the area - we learned the hard way!
Public: Course Website | Opened: 1998 | Designer: Mike Strantz
