Tobacco Road, built by the late Mike Strantz and one of the most dramatically shaped golf courses found anywhere, has a new sibling. The Matchbox – a 12-hole, par-3 course that embraces the ethos established by Strantz on the property near Pinehurst – opens August 1 in Sanford, North Carolina.
The new short course is the result of a partnership between Carlton/Marshall Golf Design and Mike White, one of the shapers who worked for Strantz on the full-size Tobacco Road layout that opened in 1998 in the Sandhills.
“There’s a direct line from our past to the present – and we believe The Matchbox will become a must-play experience in its own right,” Mark Stewart, whose family opened Tobacco Road, said in a media release announcing the opening of The Matchbox.
The Matchbox was constructed in just six months near Nos. 12 and 13 of the big course. Holes range from 40 to 105 yards and feature synthetic turf blended into the natural landscape, a choice that allowed the builders to preserve more trees instead of clearing room for grass to grow. The choice of synthetic turf also avoided the installation of irrigation.
Guests can book tee times from the opening date through December.
- Golfweek's Best ranks the top public-access short, par-3 and non-traditional courses in the U.S.
“This is a special piece of property as it contains spoils shaped during construction nearly 30 years ago,” Stewart said. “The more I’ve walked around this corner of the property through the decades, the more obvious it became that a unique golf experience could be revealed – and we’re excited to share it with Sandhills travelers. Utilizing synthetic turf enables us to deliver consistent playing conditions while maximizing the shade of the existing tree canopy.”
The Matchbox features several holes that play around and across a pond hidden from most golfers playing the original full-size course, which is ranked by Golfweek's Best as the No. 8 public-access course in North Carolina and among the top 100 public-access courses in the United States.
“During the design process for Tobacco Road, we talked about Mike building a par 3 over that pond, but it didn’t make the final routing,” Stewart said. “Now we have the opportunity to bring that bit of drama back into play in a different way.”
The Matchbox routing includes the third hole with a blind 80-yard shot from one tee box, No. 7 with a 60-yard shot over a cove and No. 9 that plays through two large mounds inspired by the giant stacks that guard the tee shot on No. 1 of the original 18.
“The overall concept is to keep it fun with bold features and heroic shot values but also provide a short-game challenge for those who really want to test their wedge game,” Lee Marshall of Carlton/Marshall Golf Design said in the media release. “While the longest yardage was dictated for some to play with only one club and a putter, we are creating an amenity unrestricted by that thought process alone. The contours on the greens will focus more on shot selection depending on the type of shot the player decides to execute (high shot with spin at the pin or low shot to feed the ball toward the hole). This will provide a different experience each time the course is played, even without moving the pins to alternate locations.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: New short course opens in North Carolina as sibling to popular layout
