Pinehurst #5

No. 5 was designed in 1961 by Ellis Maples, a protégé of Donald Ross, and part of North Carolina’s first family of golf course design and construction.

Like Ross, Maples believed that it was the designer’s job to find the golf course that resided in the land’s structure, and his fealty to the land is evident in No. 5’s variety—holes meandering up and down, left and right, and over water. The combination of water carries, elevated greens and overall greater yardage favors longer hitters.

One of Pinehurst’s most picturesque holes, the par-3 15th, is here. Known as the Cathedral Hole, it’s fronted by a pond and encircled by a stand of ancient pines, the tops of which resemble the pipes of an organ.