Pinehurst No. 3 entered the resort’s rota in the 1910 season as an 18-hole course laid out by Donald Ross, on ground immediately across the road from his developing No. 2. Resort histories and contemporary summaries place the opening in 1910, with Ross listed as the original designer. Chris Buie’s archival research adds that No. 3 first appeared as a nine-hole loop in 1907, then expanded to a full 18 by 1910, a sequencing he documents with period press excerpts and Tufts Archives imagery; club-facing timelines, however, cite only the 1910 debut.
Ross’s intent for this particular property can be inferred from Buie’s contemporaneous descriptions of how he “walked down from the clubhouse…into untamed lands” whose knolls and hollows promised a greater variety of playing stances than the broader sand plains of No. 2. In Buie’s account, Ross used the rolling ground to create a compact but varied test that could be played quickly yet reward precise placement into small, perched greens. Early commentary quoted by Buie praised the “radically different” sequence of holes and the way natural contours and hazards shaped shot values on the new course.
The most consequential modern phase occurred in 2017, when Pinehurst reopened No. 3 after a renovation aimed at re-presenting Ross’s early sand-belt character on this site. The work, led by architect Kye Goalby with support from Blake Conant and Kyle Franz in collaboration with Pinehurst superintendent Kevin Robinson, reintroduced sandy native areas and wiregrass, restored rough-hewn bunker forms, and rerouted portions of the course. Two new holes—both par 3s—were built to keep No. 3 at 18 holes after land near the clubhouse was reassigned to a new short course. That short course, The Cradle (by Gil Hanse), occupied about ten acres formerly used by the first holes of Nos. 3 and 5, with the original greens retained within the short-course routing; this change explains the need for the two par-3 insertions on No. 3.
Unique Design Characteristics (hole-specific)
No. 3’s identity today is defined by tiny, elevated greens—averaging roughly 4,500 sq. ft.—and a par-68 card of 5,155 yards that compresses decision-making into short par-4s and exacting one-shotters. The resort’s course dossier highlights the small green pads and the way their elevation and fall-offs demand accuracy more than raw power. Buie, writing at the 2017 reopening, explicitly tied these surfaces to Ross’s on-site solutions at No. 3, noting how “turtleback” crowns and short-grass surrounds were brought back into play as central hazards rather than ringed rough.
Specific holes illustrate how Ross’s ideas appear here. No. 2 (par 3, 119 yds from white tees) regained an original sandscape and bunker presentation that frames the tee shot and influences play from the adjacent 1st fairway; the restored native area matches 1930s imagery and re-activates the diagonal carry that was once muted by wall-to-wall grassing. The 14th (par 3, listed today at 191 yds white) reprises a long, uphill one-shotter that, in hickory days, played as a half-par hole—hard to hit, yet offering a prudent lay-up left for a pitch—an arrangement Buie cites as Ross’s way of accommodating a spectrum of players on this exact site. By contrast, the 15th toggles to a short par-4/5 stretch (today the card shows a par-4 15th and par-5 13th) where the land falls away from the tee and an angular ravine/gully hazard crosses the corridor; the 2017 work returned this crossing to a sandy, variable-lie feature rather than a grassed swale, restoring its original strategic leverage on the lay-up or go-for-it second.
Beyond these set-pieces, the course’s drivable par-4s are central to its Rossian tone at Pinehurst. The resort’s notes and the 2017 reopening essay both stress that several short 4s can be reached, but their small, crowned greens and surrounding native sand make aggressive play precarious if the hole location is awkward—an explicitly hole-location-from-the-tee dynamic observed by Buie on this course.
As to the clearest surviving examples of Ross’s work, two present corridors stand out in the historical literature. Buie identifies the current 7th as the original 14th, photographed during early North & South play, a surviving line whose interest derives from the downhill approach and hazard placement Ross selected here; he also documents the original 6th (“Cathedral”)—a Ross-named hole—now playing as No. 5’s 15th after later property reconfigurations, a reminder that parts of Ross’s No. 3 craftsmanship persist nearby even where the numbering has changed. On today’s No. 3, the 2nd, 14th, and 15th together best express the course’s present-day Ross DNA: restored diagonal/native hazards (2), an uncompromising uphill one-shotter (14), and a downhill-then-crossing-hazard decision hole (15). Pinehurst Resort
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s Pinehurst portfolio, No. 3 mattered as the next major step after No. 2 on ground that offered sharper relief and a chance to stage a quicker, variety-rich round for resort play without diluting shot-making. The 2017 reopening essay frames No. 3 as an early proving ground whose holes drew praise in the 1910 era and again today once their sand-belt textures were restored. Buie’s longer history argues that No. 3 was, for a time, regarded on par with No. 2 and even hosted portions of the North & South Open before that event settled entirely on No. 2; his piece includes period commentary (American Golfer, Golf Illustrated) attesting to No. 3’s standing. Golf Club Atlas
Most concretely, the North & South Women’s Amateur used No. 3 as its course of record for many years, according to Pinehurst’s own “Women of Pinehurst” oral history with Peggy Kirk Bell, who recalled, “The women had played on course No. 3 every year … Finally they [moved us] to No. 2 in 1949.” This places No. 3 directly in the competitive history of one of America’s longest-running women’s championships. Pinehurst Resort Pinehurst’s championship history page likewise records that the women’s event “was first played on No. 1 … but also included Pinehurst No. 3” in its early decades.
While No. 3 does not typically appear on national Top-100 lists, several editorial assessments since 2017 have singled it out among Pinehurst’s “lesser-known” courses for the faithful return of small, turtleback greens and for the way its modest yardage masks exacting approach-and-recovery demands—a reputation captured in LINKS Magazine’s overview of the course following the renovation. LINKS Magazine
Current Condition / Integrity
No. 3 today is a par 68 of 5,155 yards with Champion ultradwarf Bermuda greens and Tifway 419 Bermuda on tees, fairways and rough. Pinehurst reports approximately 85,000 sq. ft. of putting surface in aggregate (about 4,500–4,700 sq. ft. per green), roughly 25 acres of fairway, and about 30 bunkers—data points that align with the resort’s goal of firm, sand-belt presentation rather than rough-bound target golf.
As to integrity of Ross features, the routing and several corridors remain recognizably Ross, particularly in the mid- and inward-nine where the holes still exploit the original undulations; Buie’s historical mapping notes that some original No. 3 holes were reassigned to present-day No. 5 (including the named “Cathedral”), so the course’s Ross heritage persists partly in relocated form as well as on No. 3’s extant fairways. The 2017 renovation deliberately removed wall-to-wall grass, re-introduced exposed sand and wiregrass, and re-shaped bunkers to echo period photographs; it also inserted two new par-3s to maintain 18 holes after the clubhouse-side acreage became The Cradle. These choices returned angle-dependent play into small, shedding greens—the defining Ross trait on this property—without claiming to recreate lost greens wholesale.
What has been preserved: many green locations and pad forms (small, convex, elevated) and the relationship between width and approach precision, especially at holes like 2, 14, and 15 where the ground game and recovered hazards now govern scoring. Pinehurst Resort What has been altered or lost: portions of the original outward routingnear the clubhouse (land now occupied by The Cradle), with two par-3 replacements integrated into the card; some original No. 3 holes now sit within No. 5’s numbering. In turf terms, the current Champion ultradwarf greens and 419 Bermuda fairway matrix are modern agronomic choices layered onto Ross’s spatial ideas.
Bottom line on integrity: No. 3 looks and plays closer to its Ross-era character than it did pre-2017, especially around tee-to-green sandscapes and the short-grass fall-offs that enliven its small targets. But because routing acreage at the clubhouse was reassigned and because some original holes now live on No. 5, the course is best described as a Ross core with modern insertions, rather than a perfectly continuous Ross artifact.
Sources & Notes
1. Pinehurst Resort — No. 3 course page (par/yardage; green sizes; turf and bunker counts; designer date).
2. Historic Hotels of America — Pinehurst history (No. 3 opening year reference and 2017 renovation mention).
3. GOLF Course Architecture — “Donald Ross design characteristics return to Pinehurst No. 3” (2017 work led by Kye Goalby with Blake Conant/Kyle Franz; reintroduction of sandscapes/wiregrass; two new par-3 holes; rerouting rationale).
4. Hanse Golf Design — “Routing of new short course” (The Cradle on 10 acres formerly used by first holes of Nos. 3 & 5; original greens retained in the short-course routing).
5. Pinehurst Resort News — “Vintage charm and strategy are evident in reopened Pinehurst No. 3” (Chris Buie, 2017) (hole-specific notes: restored native area/bunker at today’s 2nd; uphill challenge at 14; ravine/gully at 15; drivable par-4s contingent on hole location; return to sand-belt hazards).
6. GolfClubAtlas — Buie, “The Original Pinehurst No. 3” (1907 nine-hole opening; full 18 by 1910; original 14th now today’s 7th; the named “Cathedral” hole—original 6th—now part of No. 5; period commentary on No. 3’s stature; overlay of original vs. present corridors).
7. Pinehurst — “Women of Pinehurst” (Peggy Kirk Bell recollection that the North & South Women’s Amateur used No. 3 each year until it moved to No. 2 in 1949).
8. Pinehurst — “History of the [North & South] Championship” (early years included play on No. 3). Pinehurst Resort
9. LINKS Magazine — “Best Lesser-Known Courses at Pinehurst” (post-2017 assessments highlighting small turtleback greens and precision emphasis on No. 3).
10. Neighbors of Pinehurst Owners Association — “Timeline History of Pinehurst” (PDF) (1910: “Pinehurst #3 designed by Donald Ross opens.”).
Disputed/uncertain points
• Opening sequence: Pinehurst materials and local timelines list 1910 as the opening of No. 3, while Buie’s archival reconstruction contends it opened as nine holes in 1907 and expanded to 18 by 1910; no single primary club minute reproduced publicly resolves this discrepancy.
• Extent of Ross’s later interventions on No. 3: Publicly accessible records are thin on year-by-year tweaks after 1910; Buie documents changes in status and in later reassignments of holes to today’s No. 5, but detailed plan sets for interwar adjustments on No. 3 have not been published by the resort or Tufts Archives online.
