THE MATCHBOX - Tobacco Road's New 12-hole Short Course - Ignites Late-Summer 2026!

Mike Strantz's famed Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford, NC is honoring the legacy of it's famed architect by adding a new short course to it's iconic course. It was announced March 9, 2026 that the new offering would be arriving as early as August 2026 - thus sending fans of the late Maverick golf course designer into a elated state.

In a statement released by Tobacco Road today, the new course, dubbed The Matchbox, will feature twelves holes and be independent of the existing course.

El Camino, a once-hidden alternate routing, plays over the existing front nine. Followers of the StrantzFantzClub can rejoice in the fact a new, Strantz-inspired course is on the way.

The statement released on social media reads in full as such:

It’s Happening. More than 25 years after Mike Strantz carved Tobacco Road into the North Carolina Sandhills with his signature artistic flair, something new is coming to the property once known for sand and gravel mining yet now revered as one of America’s most creative golf courses.

The Matchbox, a 12-hole collection of one-shotters winding through the trees near Tobacco Road’s 12th and 13th fairways, will feature synthetic turf blended into the natural landscape and is expected to welcome golfers as early as August 2026.

“This is a special piece of property as it contains spoils shaped during construction nearly 30 years ago,” says Mark Stewart, whose family opened Tobacco Road in November 1998. “The more I’ve walked around this corner of the property through the decades, the more obvious it became that a unique golf experience could be revealed — and we’re excited to share it with Sandhills travelers. Utilizing synthetic turf will enable us to deliver consistent playing conditions while maximizing the shade of the existing tree canopy.”

The Matchbox is a design partnership with Carlton/Marshall Golf Design and Mark White. Justin Carlton trained under White, one of the original Tobacco Road shapers who learned his craft under Mike Strantz.

“There’s a direct line from our past to the present — and we believe that The Matchbox will become a must-play experience in its own right,” Stewart says.

“Mike Strantz was a master of scale,” Lee Marshall adds. “Having Mark White on the project provides an experienced knowledge of Strantz’ vision that we’re incorporating into our design.”

Multiple holes play along a pond that few fans of Tobacco Road even know existed all these many years. “In the design process for Tobacco Road, we talked about Mike building a par 3 over that pond, but it didn’t make the final routing,” Stewart recalls. “Now we have the opportunity to bring that bit of drama back into play in a different way.”

More information on The Matchbox — including rates and availability for the latter half of 2026 — will be released when Tobacco Road unveils its newly designed website later this spring.

The Golf Crusade became familiar with Justin Carlton and Lee Marshall, the two principals behind CarltonMarshall Golf Design this past year as they completely reconstructed Broadmoor Golf Links, a course in the Blue Ridge Mountains just south of Asheville, NC that was decimated by Hurricane Helene. Their remarkable efforts there remain on track to open to the public later this Spring.

Subtle clues were available for those that new where to look. In a January 27th Instagram post on @cmgolfdesign's page, they posted a green design with a caption that had since been updated to simply say, "Tuesday..."

Another previous IG story image showed a possible property match to the site where The Matchbox will set up it's residence.

Needless to say, Strantz fans have something new to look forward to. Should future lodging or lighting be added to or around the site in the future, it may become the greatest stay-and-play in golf. That's purely speculation on our part, but we're not AP reporters, so we're allowed to still dream!

You can bet we'll be on any news for this project like flame to a match, so stay tuned to GolfCrusade.com's social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram for more details. @GolfCrusade @StrantzFantzClub

Remember, Tobacco Road Travel is your #1 place to book your travel packages in the Sandhills. That's not a paid endorsement, just our personal experience.

Who knows... could the final chapter to The Iron Maverick series be on the horizon? No promises, but like we said, we're allowed to dream!

Sincerely Fores,

Your Golf Crusade

View from 12th tee of the wooded area where The Matchbox will be located

View from 12 green from 12 fairway and of the wooded area where The Matchbox will be located

View from back tee on hole 13 - The Matchbox should fall someplace to the 9 to 12 o'clock range in this photo

THE MATCHBOX Tobacco Road's new Short Course