Pinewild Country Club of Pinehurst

I played the Holly course on Saturday, May 3, 2014 with 3 long-​time friends. This is the second time I have played Pinewild, the first being about 2 years ago in 2012 when I played alone.
After my first visit I was so confident it would be a good experience that I scheduled a starting time for myself and my 3 friends, in spite of it being pricey at $ 150 for Saturday play. My, how things can go south in a short time!
We arrived on time, and after getting situated and paid, made our way to the starter. With 15 minutes before our scheduled time, we told the starter we would hit a few balls on the CONTIGUOUS driving range to warm up a bit. His immediate and rather firm reply was that he needed us to go off right away because he had groups coming off #18 that started earlier on #10.
We politely complied and went off, unfortunately playing dreaded trunk-​to-​tee golf for the first few holes. This was grudgingly acceptable until we realized that we were alone on the course. For a very BRIEF time we saw a threesome in the distance, but that was it – no groups filling up the holes behind us as the starter told us would be the case … zip, none! The threesome mysteriously appeared and disappeared.
For $ 150 per player we expected (1) better treatment, (2) an overview of the course, (3) a towel, (4) a roving drink/​snacks cart, and (5) WAY better course conditions.
Aside from the gruff treatment and nonexistent amenities, the condition of the course was positively average, about as good as a public or heavily-​played semiprivate course would be. In no way was it worthy of a $ 150 fee … $ 50 +/​-​tops!
For the money I would say to look elsewhere. With so many alternatives in the area it will not be hard to get a far better experience for far less money.