Drive past the tenth tee at Forest Creek this month and you won't see the manicured green you remember. You'll see sand, irrigation heads, and stretches of turf still filling in from sprigging that happened a few months ago. No foursomes are waiting to putt. The South Course, the Augusta-inspired Fazio design that's carried half of Forest Creek's identity since 1996, is mid-transformation, and if you've been wondering what exactly is going on out there, you're not alone.
Here's the short version: this isn't routine upkeep. It's the second time in five years that Forest Creek has taken one of its own two Tom Fazio courses apart and rebuilt it from the greens up, and the reason has less to do with wear and tear than with the fact that Pinehurst summers aren't what they were when the South Course opened.
This Isn't a Facelift
Forest Creek's North Course went through its own extensive Fazio-led restoration, reopening back in 2021 with modernized playing surfaces. Members who were around for that project already know the rhythm: months of visible disruption, followed by a course that plays better than it did before. What's happening on the South Course now follows the same playbook, five years later, but the underlying problem is different.
The South Course has carried bentgrass greens since it opened, which made sense for the climate Pinehurst had thirty years ago. Bentgrass is a cool-season grass, and it performs best when summers stay moderate. Forest Creek's own account of the project puts it plainly: the club's climate has grown warmer and more humid over time, and bentgrass is no longer the most reliable choice for the kind of consistent, fast, true greens members expect through a long Sandhills summer. This is a climate-driven decision about turf science, not a cosmetic refresh.
The Timeline, In Plain Terms
The restoration is running in three deliberate phases, and if you've been watching the course over the past year, you've already seen two of them play out.
- Winter 2025 brought targeted tree removal around the greens, opening up sunlight and airflow that turf needs to stay healthy long term.
- Spring 2026 was reconstruction: rebuilding greens and bunkers to their original size and shape, with upgraded drainage and restored contours that match Fazio's original intent.
- Summer 2026 was sprigging, planting the new TifEagle Bermuda grass that will replace the bentgrass across all eighteen greens.
That sprigging phase is essentially where things stand as of late August. New Bermuda greens need time to knit together and mature before they can handle daily play, and Forest Creek hasn't published a firm return-to-play date. What the club has said is that members will keep playing the North Course and using the full practice facility while the South comes back to life, with progress updates promised on the club's website and social channels as the grow-in continues.
Why the Grass Change Matters More Than It Sounds
It would be easy to read "we're switching grass types" as a minor detail buried in a bigger renovation story. It isn't. TifEagle Bermuda is a warm-season grass built for exactly the conditions that have been wearing down the old bentgrass greens: long stretches of heat and humidity that used to be occasional and are now the norm for a Pinehurst summer.
Forest Creek didn't make this decision blind. The club's Hog Hole, its signature par-3 practice hole, was already converted to Bermuda before this project began, and its performance since the switch is a big part of why the club felt confident committing all eighteen South Course greens to the same grass. If you've hit balls at the Hog Hole in the past couple of years and noticed the surface held up better in August than the greens on the course proper, that wasn't your imagination. That was the test case for everything happening right now.
Who's Actually Doing the Work
This is the detail that separates a routine green rebuild from what's actually underway at Forest Creek. Tom Fazio, the original architect of both the North and South Courses, is personally back on site overseeing the restoration of his own design. That's not a small thing. Forest Creek is reportedly the only golf club where Fazio himself holds a membership, which means the man rebuilding these greens has more than professional pride riding on the outcome. He plays this course.
Working alongside Fazio is Agronomic Advisors, a turf consulting group co-founded by Dave Delsandro, a superintendent known for preparing Oakmont Country Club for multiple U.S. Opens. That's the caliber of agronomic planning going into a private club course most people will never get to play. Golf Digest's 2025-2026 state rankings have the South Course at 28th in North Carolina, up two spots from 30th the year before, a modest but real move in the right direction while the rebuild is underway. The people overseeing this restoration are treating the greens with the same rigor you'd expect for a championship venue, not just a private amenity.
Where Everyone's Playing in the Meantime
If you're a member wondering how this affects your weekly game, the answer is straightforward. The North Course is fully open and, based on recent player reviews, still delivering the kind of conditioning Forest Creek has built its reputation on, described by one recent visitor as in excellent condition as always. The full practice facility, including the double-sided driving range and the now-Bermuda Hog Hole, remains available throughout the project.
For anyone who lived through the North Course's own restoration and 2021 reopening, this will feel familiar. Forest Creek has been through this exact kind of disruption before, and it came out the other side with a course that's still earning attention from national rankings and course reviewers years later. The South Course closure isn't a sign of a club letting something slip. It's closer to the opposite: a club willing to shut down half its golf for a year because the long-term payoff, greens that hold up through August the way they used to hold up in April, is worth the wait.
If you're curious about how the South Course looks as it comes back online, or you've got questions about what life inside Forest Creek actually looks like day to day, I'm always happy to talk. Reach out to Kelly Ward anytime. Let's Connect.
