Source: Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)
No gas stations. No stoplights. No fast-food outlets. No franchise restaurants, chain motels or malls.
The less there is about the Village of Pinehurst in North Carolina, the more there is to like.
Situated about 70 miles south of Raleigh and 90 miles east of Charlotte, Pinehurst reduces life to three basics: golf, luxury and history. Little else is allowed to intrude on this quaint time capsule so lovingly and carefully preserved.
One of America's great golf meccas, Pinehurst consists of eight golf courses, named simply No. 1 through No. 8. Pinehurst No. 2, designed by the famed golf architect Donald Ross, was the site of the 1999 U.S. Open. It host the tournament again June 16-19.
The Pinehurst Resort and the Village of Pinehurst's historic district are separated by a road but are inseparable through history, each having been created in the final decade of the 19th century through the vision of James Walker Tufts, a Boston millionaire. As the story is told at Pinehurst, Tufts was passing through the region on a train when his attention was captured by the aroma of pine. The scent was so invigorating, it convinced him the area would be the ideal location for a health resort. Pinehurst opened in 1895 as a middle-class getaway where visitors could cure their afflictions through the restorative powers of pine.
A couple of years later, after the spread of disease became a problem, Pinehurst shifted its focus to golf.
The impetus for this transition was a dairy farmer. Tufts owned nearly everything in Pinehurst, including a dairy farm. One day the dairy farmer complained to Tufts that production was being jeopardized by resort guests who were hitting little white balls into the pasture and scaring the cows.
So, in 1897, Pinehurst began construction of its first golf course. In 1900, Ross was hired as the golf pro. The young Scotsman's credentials included serving an apprenticeship under the legendary Old Tom Morris at St. Andrews, considered the home of golf. During the next 20 years, Ross designed four courses at Pinehurst, including No. 2, which opened in 1907. Ross would eventually design about 400 courses, but he considered No. 2 his masterpiece.
Ross remained at Pinehurst until his death in 1948, and through the years, he continually tinkered with No. 2. His original design was fewer than 6,000 yards; by the time of his death, Ross had lengthened the course to more than 7,000 yards.
Besides the 1999 U.S. Open, won by Payne Stewart with a dramatic putt on the 72nd hole, Pinehurst hosted the PGA Championship in 1936, the Ryder Cup in 1951 (a U.S. team led by Ben Hogan defeated Great Britain), the U.S. Men's Amateur in 1962, the PGA Tour Championship in 1991 and 1992 and the U.S. Senior Open in 1994.
Stewart's victory over Phil Mickelson in *'99 rates as one of Pinehurst's shining moments, made even more poignant by Stewart's tragic death in an airplane a year later.
Pinehurst also has had some moments that weren't so lustrous. The resort stayed in the Tufts family until the 1970s, when it was sold to Diamondhead Corp., a New Jersey-based company that sank Pinehurst into bankruptcy in 1980.
"Diamondhead wanted to modernize the resort," said Janeen Driscoll, Pinehurst's communications manager. "They built homes and condos. They emphasized real estate over golf. They took a historical resort and made it modern."
Pinehurst sat in bankruptcy until it was bought in 1984 by Dallas-based ClubCorp. It shifted the emphasis back to where it belonged.
"Pinehurst is and always will be golf," Driscoll said.
ClubCorp, according to Driscoll, has spent $100 million on the resort, much of it in renovations to historical properties, such as the Holly Inn, an 80-room hotel that opened on New Year's Eve 1895 in the center of what now is the Village of Pinehurst. ClubCorp owns the Holly Inn as well as Pinehurst's glorious 220-room Carolina Hotel, which opened in 1901, and The Manor, a 45-room hotel that dates to 1923 and is home to the golf-oriented Hackers Bar & Grill.
Pinehurst's newest addition is the Spa at Pinehurst, which opened in 2002 adjacent to the Carolina Hotel.
Independently owned hotels in the village include the 1896 Magnolia Inn and the Pine Crest Inn, where Ross was once the proprietor.
Although modern homes now lie on the outskirts of the Village of Pinehurst, the centerpiece is the tiny enclave of historic, Colonial-style buildings situated just a block or two from the resort. The original village was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, whose credits also include New York's Central Park. Hardly more than a dozen businesses make up the village, including a pub, a cafe, two restaurants, shops and boutiques, a bank and a library. The buildings are virtually unchanged in appearance since Tufts drove a stake into the ground across the street from the Holly Inn and declared the village would grow from that spot.
The possibility that golf is next to godliness at Pinehurst is the kind of hyperbole that never would have occurred to me if not for something that happened one day last summer. I was near the end of a round on Pinehurst No. 2, the resort's most revered course. I had hit my tee shot into the fairway on the long, uphill closing hole, and I had thought back to the 1999 U.S. Open, when Stewart and Mickelson came to the 18th with Stewart holding a one-shot lead.
Just as I was addressing my ball, church bells from The Village Chapel, sitting just across the road from the resort, rang out with a lilting rendition of "America the Beautiful."
Considering the emotional state I was in an avid golfer having made this pilgrimage to one of the country's great golf meccas I couldn't help but pause for a bit to savor the moment.
The chapel, it turned out, wasn't finished. It followed with "Abide With Me" and then, after I had reached the green, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Although I three-putted on roughly the same line on which Stewart sank his 16-footer to win the*'99 U.S. Open (inspiration can boost my game only so far), I couldn't have asked for a more uplifting finish to my Pinehurst experience.
Of course, nothing I did could have duplicated the joy Stewart felt when he made his winning putt. His victorious gesture -- raising both his right fist and right leg -- now is memorialized in a bronze statue that overlooks the 18th green.
Pinehurst No. 2 is one of only three U.S. Open venues that are accessible to the public -- the others being Pebble Beach, the site of Opens in 2000, 1992, 1982 and 1972, and Bethpage State Park's Black Course in New York, site of the Open in 2002. (Torrey Pines, in La Jolla, Calif., will host the Open for the first time in 2008, and it's also accessible to the public.)
Like Pebble Beach, Pinehurst No. 2 is neither easy to get on nor cheap to play. Only guests staying at Pinehurst properties can make tee times, and the greens fee ranges from $290 to $345 -- second only to Pebble Beach's $395.
Just as at Pebble Beach, however, anyone can try his luck by showing up at the course and hoping for an opening.
Most visitors (95 percent, according to the resort) buy their golf at Pinehurst in packages that include accommodations. Greens fees for 2005 differ among Pinehurst's eight courses: $75-$95 for Nos. 1 and 3; $100-$150 for No. 5; $185-$235 for Nos. 4, 6, 7 and 8; and $290-$345 for No. 2.
Pinehurst's most popular package, the Donald Ross, ranges from $329 per person per night in low season to $528 in high season, with a two-night minimum. It includes accommodations, breakfast, dinner and golf each day on any of the courses except No. 2. Guests can play No. 2 with that package for an upgrade fee.
For some golfers, it's worth the extra bucks to play No. 2 just so they can say they did it. But the reality is that if not for its history, No. 2 wouldn't be Pinehurst's most popular course. It's not the resort's most visually appealing layout. While its wide, generous fairways are lined with lovely longleaf pines, No. 2 is surprisingly plain and flat, with lots of similar, straightforward holes and nary a water hazard in sight. But it's far more challenging than it appears to be at first glance.
Our shuttle driver gave us fair warning.
"You look at No. 2," he said, "and it's wide open, and at the end of the round you say, 'How did I shoot that score?' It's all about the greens."
Those Ross greens are nothing short of dastardly -- fast, crowned and full of ridges and mounds. In effect, the greens play much smaller than they appear, because shots that land near the edges usually roll off into deep swales.
On No. 2, if you don't have a short game, you might not think old Ross was such a swell fellow.
If you go
Getting there: Pinehurst is about 230 miles southwest of Richmond. Take Interstate 85 toward Durham and exit on U.S. 501 bypass toward Chapel Hill. Continue on 501 south to Southern Pines and Pinehurst. If you fly into one of the regional airports, transportation is offered by Pinehurst, starting at $65 each way.
Lodging: Although Pinehurst has no budget hotels, several can be found in the area, including the nearby towns of Aberdeen and Southern Pines. Besides its historic hotels, Pinehurst offers numerous home and condo rentals.
Dining: The top of the line is the 1895 Room at the Holly Inn, followed closely by the Carolina Dining Room at the Carolina Hotel. The Carolina's breakfast is said to be the best in Pinehurst. Less expensive options are available in the surrounding area.
Best time to go: The most favorable weather occurs in the peak seasons of spring and fall. Rates drop in summer and winter. Golf is generally played year-round at Pinehurst, with average daily highs in the mid-50s in winter.