They're walking off the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2 with smiles, giving each other high fives and taking home enough memories to liven up a few 19th holes back at their home clubs.

The "new" No. 2 reopened for play last Friday after six months of restoration work by the architectural firm of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, and the reactions have been overwhelmingly on the positive side.

Chris Dietz, of Cleveland, came to Pinehurst as part of a package group that played Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and he was still beaming as he loaded his clubs into the back of an SUV in the parking lot.

This was his first time playing the old Donald Ross course that has hosted two U.S. Opens and will make history in 2014 when it is the site of both the U.S. Open and the Women's Open in back-to-back weeks. But he promises it won't be his last.

Asked to comment on the experience, he said, "How many words do you want? It was a great experience. This was my first time playing here, but I'm definitely coming back and playing it again. I couldn't compare it to how it was, but I understand from the caddies that it's more challenging than it was.

"I've been on packages to this area before, but this is the first time I've played at the resort. We stayed at the Carolina Hotel and just did the whole deal. We had caddies and it was a great feeling knowing we were walking the fairways where legends had walked."

Kerry Durkin, from Youngstown, Ohio, also enjoyed his first time on No. 2.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it," he said, "especially having the caddies. My guy's name was Jack and he was a great one. Walking the course and thinking about everyone who had been there before was special. I made a birdie and that called for a celebration. I'll be back."

Bob Oldani came here from Virginia Beach and made the most of the long weekend.

"We played the Magnolia Course at Pinewild and courses 8, 2 and 1 at Pinehurst," he said. "This was just a great experience - the whole package.

"Playing No. 2 was the thrill of a lifetime for me. I had played one other U.S. Open course, Oak Hill, and that's special.

"I made a par putt on 18 here and struck the Payne Stewart pose."

Stewart, who won the 1999 U.S. Open just months before his death in an airplane accident, is immortalized in bronze behind the 18th green in a fist-pumping memorial.

Jeffrey Crabbe, first assistant golf professional at Pinehurst, says those kinds of reactions are basically what he's hearing from everyone coming off the course.

"Most of them are saying they like it better, that the course has more character," he said. "They love what Coore and Crenshaw did to it. I haven't heard any criticism at all.

"Some of them do say that they're looking forward to seeing how the pros play it in the 2014 Open. There's a lot of character in the course and it's interesting. It's not just the greens on No. 2 that are interesting anymore."

Stephan Cryan, director of retail at Pinehurst Resort, says he has played No. 2 many times. He played it again the first day it reopened, and he feels Coore and Crenshaw have hit a home run.

"I just feel that they've brought the course back to where Donald Ross wanted it," he said. "There's a lot of character out there and it has the naturalness that Mr. Ross always wanted it to have.

"Unfortunately, No. 2 had lost a little character and it leaned on the reputation of the greens to make it special. Now the original natural beauty is back to complement the greatness of the greens.

"The wire grass and sand have created a mixture of what Coore and Crenshaw were talking about. I was there a few times and a couple of times I got it out cleanly and a couple of times I was up against some wire grass and had to figure a way to go from there.

"But there are many more options now than when it was set up for the U.S. Opens."

Contact Howard Ward at howardward@att.net.