In Volume 2 of The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses, Tom Doak published that:

“In the 1970s, when I first visited, course #5 was seen as the resort’s second-best track, because it had some length to it and a fair amount of water in play. Without a good set of greens, and with its length negated by modern technology, it is just another golf course now, but the members who joined in the 1970s still love to play here."

Pinehurst No. 5 received a score of 4 out of 10 from Tom Doak, and two of his co-authors.