Tobacco Road Golf Club

Tobacco Road opened in 1998 on an old sand pit once mined for asphalt, about 25 miles north of Pinehurst. It's Mike Strantz's signature work, a wild sand-and-pine layout of blind shots, forced carries over deep chasms and boomerang par 5s, and players have argued about it ever since. Owners new to golf, early bad reviews, a clubhouse fire and the golf recession all nearly finished it. It has been on Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Public list since 2009. Strantz died in 2005 at 50, with just nine courses to his name, and the club keeps a locker in his honor.