Umstead Pines Golf and Swim Club

A classic Durham course awaits you with today’s feature: $24 for 18 Holes with Cart and Bucket of Range Balls at Umstead Pines Golf and Swim Club in Durham near Raleigh ($54 Value. Expires March 5, 2017!)

If you’re looking for a round that features a fantastic golf course, great conditions, and a pace of play that allows you to get into a groove, today’s feature course, Umstead Pines Golf and Swim Club in Durham, is exactly the playing experience for which you’ve been waiting. Known as player’s course that even beginners will enjoy with full enthusiasm, this 6,400-yard deceptively tricky layout will test every club in your bag before you walk off of the 18th green.

From the first tee onward at Umstead Pines, you’ll find an intricately designed George Cobb layout that boasts wide fairways, rolling approaches, and picturesque Carolina countryside that will truly blow any golfer away. Though your driver may help you make up some ground on the course’s longer holes, the drastic doglegs of the front and back favor the player who knows when to draw it back and focus on accuracy with a long iron off of the tee. Water is in play here, as well as European-style pot bunkers, but the course’s most formidable foe are the thick pockets of mature trees that line nearly every hole and eat up errant shots.

As you prepare to finish your round on the 18th tee, you’ll be faced with Umstead’s signature challenge: the dreaded par-3 over water. Though it only plays 183 yards from the longest tees, this longer-than-it-looks test has played spoiler to many great rounds with lost balls from miscalculated iron shots. Club up at least one here before letting it fly, as any mishit can leave you square in the drink and hitting your third from a drop area.

The one aspect of Umstead Pines that has perhaps most shaped the course’s glowing reputation are the 18 spectacular putting surfaces. Known for being exceptionally conditioned and speedy even in the dampest weather, these highly rated challenges attract players from across the Southeast, and tend to cause fits for even the most experienced and well-practiced putters. If you want to shoot a low score on Umstead Pines, follow the advice of locals and members alike by keeping your ball below the hole at all costs. This will help you avoid three-putts and keep your scores as close as possible to par throughout your round.