Well obviously its not impossible, as hundreds of players qualified for the Open championship, and I'd be willing to be that they had to turn in a card with no blemishes in order to do so. Even though I did manage a 66 during qualifying, that round included a bogey at 16. And I recently did manage another 66 - this one bogey free - but that was from the Master tees with little girl very fast greens. Ever since WGT has made this course available from the Legend tees, it pains me that I haven't been able to complete a round without a bogey. My idea of a 'good round' isn't throwing darts at the pin from 189 yards out with your 5i every hole, its playing 18 straight holes of bogey free golf - 2 putting for par, scrambling up and down if you miss the green, avoiding the bunkers and the rough, and occasionally converting if you happen to find a makable birdie putt 6 feet or less.
Overall, I don't think Pinehurst is extraordinarily difficult from the back tees. Its just a couple of holes that I always seem to struggle with. They are:
1. The Par four 4th. Its not just the length of this hole that kills me. Its the damn green as well. Even without adding any spin, the slope of the green always manages to pull your ball significantly below the hole. Ordinarily this is no big deal, but on this hole the break is absolutely brutal, IMHO. I can't even tell you how many times I have rage quit a round because of missing a 6 to 8 footer for par here.
2. The par four 12th. The most difficult hole on the back nine, in my opinion. The natural curvature of the green tends to funnel your ball below right of the pin. This is what I refer to as 'No Mans Land,' similar to missing right at Merion 6 back pin or missing long at Oakmont 9. The resultant putt has an absolute ton of break. Not only does this make it extremely tough to aim, but distance control becomes very tough as well. Any time I can par this hole I always let out a huge sigh of relief.
3. The par four 16th. Its 'short' enough to be reached in 2 with a stiff tail wind, but pretty much unreachable (for me, anyways) in any other wind. Just about the only thing I like about this course is being able to bark out a hearty $%^& YOU, PINEHURST as I 'cut the corner' over the pond off the tee.
During round one of the Open aftermath I had my best chance yet for a bogey free round, but it ended here at 16. Moderate winds, and only fast greens. I drew side wind on 16. Hit a good drive, but missed my 3w approach way early, and ended up 20+ yards short left, 15 inches below the hole. My flop 60 wedge needed just a few yards more power, as I left a tough 9 footer for par. And once again for the one millionth time in my WGT career the putt breaks more than I read, and I'm swearing up a storm as the putt lips out. That putt still haunts me to this day, and likely will continue to do so until I can finally manage to beat this course once and for all.
4. The par four 18th. It really is a fairly straight forward 2 putt as long as you can stay below the hole, but miss long or left and you will instantly hate your life and everything in it.
5. The par four 2nd. The hole is cut back right. The green has a tendency to funnel your ball back left. Can anyone see the problem here? This is a long par four that is technically reachable, but my approach shot can RARELY hold the green. Thankfully it is fairly flat around the hole, so an up and down flop for Par usually isn't too much trouble.
So, now that the Open championship is over and Fame and Glory are no longer in play, does anyone who actually doesn't suck at this game (unlike me, LOL) have any tips for surviving this course without a bogey?