Tobacco Road Announces Short Course with a Strantzian Twist

More than 25 years after Mike Strantz carved Tobacco Road Golf Club into the North Carolina Sandhills, the property is getting a bold new addition. The Matchbox, a 12-hole collection of par-3s winding through the trees near Tobacco Road's 12th and 13th fairways, is expected to open as early as August 2026.

A Direct Line to Strantz

The Matchbox is a design collaboration between Carlton/Marshall Golf Design and Mark White — one of the original Tobacco Road shapers who learned his craft directly under Mike Strantz. Justin Carlton, one half of the design duo, trained under White, creating a direct lineage from Strantz's original vision to the new layout.

"Mike Strantz was a master of scale," says Lee Marshall. "Having Mark White on the project provides an experienced knowledge of Strantz's vision that we're incorporating into our design."

What to Expect

The course will feature synthetic turf blended into the natural landscape, allowing consistent playing conditions while preserving the shade of the existing tree canopy. Highlights include:

• No. 3 — A 60-yard blind shot from one of the tee boxes
• No. 7 — A 40-yard shot over a cove on a pond that most Tobacco Road fans never knew existed
• No. 9 — Inspired by the iconic Tobacco Road opener, playing through two large mounds

"The overall concept is to keep it fun with bold features and heroic shot values but also provide a short-game challenge," Marshall says. Green contours will reward shot selection — high shots with spin or low runners feeding toward the hole — giving players a different experience every round, even without moving pin locations.

About Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road Golf Club is located in Sanford, North Carolina, just an hour from Pinehurst. Currently ranked in the Top 50 on Golf Digest's "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses," the course opened in November 1998 on a former sand and gravel mining site. The property also offers stay-and-play packages through its travel company and the Stewart Cabin overlooking the par-3 14th green.

Rates and availability for The Matchbox will be announced when Tobacco Road launches its redesigned website later this spring.