When it opened in 1985, The Pit Golf Links was the most dramatic golf course you could play on a Pinehurst golf vacation, breaking the mold of traditional Sandhills golf by immersing players in an off-road style game of blind shots, towering sand dunes and fearsome forced carries over water.

Thirteen years later, The Pit suddenly seemed like a bicycle with training wheels compared to the outlandish and unforgettable Tobacco Road Golf Club, located just 35 minutes from the Village of Pinehurst.

Tobacco Road, which rambles over a former hunting ground and tobacco farm, is a fun alternative to Pinehurst's historic and traditional links, and, compared to The Pit, it offers a more coherent, artistic and audacious version of Sandhills golf.

This is not the place to play on your Pinehurst golf vacation if you're looking for a leisurely round of golf, however. This is, as the course's website states, where you come "to do battle."

Architect Mike Strantz, who succumbed to cancer in 2005, designed only nine courses during his career, and despite the cheesy, machismo marketing of this one, he created some of the most memorable and aesthetically intriguing courses the golf world has ever seen.

The par-five first hole sets the tone for the round, as you must thread two shots through narrow gaps in soaring sandy bluffs that bordered the groomed turf. Enormous natural areas also surround the ultra-wide fairways and undulating greens (you can ground your club wherever there is sand). And this is the more sedate part of the 150 slope-rated course.

The back nine incorporates more length, more extreme mounding and more blind shots than the front. As you probably guessed, you must be careful of cutting corners here. A temporary lapse in course management or a single errant shot can quickly wreck a scorecard.

In short, Tobacco Road Golf Club isn't everyone's highway to golf heaven, but it provides an unforgettable ride on any Pinehurst golf vacation.