What once was considered a
desert the Sand Hills of North Carolina is now one of the
greatest golf destinations in the world. There's a saying
here. If you get sand in your shoes, you'll always come back and
there's something to that. So how did we get here? It started with the toughest
family in the first part of the 1900s Tufts came here and
decided to buy 5,000 acres of land and to build a village. From scratch, it was James
Walker, tough to entice, Donald Ross to come to Pinehurst and
build golf courses. Ross was the greatest architect that ever lived between the Tufts of vision and
Ross's architecture Pinehurst became the ultimate influencer
of golf in America, you know, you look around here in these
pine trees are just they're really special. They just hold
you in this comfort and this beauty and this town. And you
just feel pretty Untouchable and the gulf is just
spectacular. We don't have Beach, we don't have mountains.
We don't really have any Water but we have a phenomenal golf
course that people just love to come play.
There are certain
gathering places in the game. St. Andrews is what Pinehurst is the other one. Big names with a lot of game
were coming and going winning and celebrating not only what
was happening locally, but what was being developed nationally? People came here to see what was
happening and they admired it just like you admire what's
in a cradle Pinehurst is authentic, not just the buildings or the golf
course, but the personalities that have
been here over all these years. I've led to Pinehurst being
perceived as one of the Premier destinations and go one of
those.
Melody's was Peggy Kirk Bell who threw her golf Ari's was
building. The women's game one student. At a time. There is no
singular female, who's brought golf to newcomers and women, more than Penny Kirk bail, while Ross made his impact with
designs of Pinehurst numbers 1 through 4, pine needles mid
Pines, and Southern Pines. There are courses like ccnc Tobacco Road, door me Club Mid-South Linville and so much more.
That Avid golfers come from all
over the world to explore. There are 40 golf courses in a
ten-mile radius. So you can go play golf on any
street corner, you go to, there's just golf golf and more
golf. This healthy competition for the
customer. Resulted in a restoration of the destination
in general, which started with number two in 2011 by Bill Corr.
And Ben Crenshaw, when we were asked what would you do
with it? We just looked at each other and we
said God I can't believe we're contemplating.
This bill was walking out and I see
this gentleman coming. The guy gets within 2 or 3 feet East. Are you Bill
Corr? He said, I am. He said, well, I just want to tell you. I
don't know if You know what the hell you're
doing out there, but you better not screw it up because that
Golf Course goes this whole area goes, the Bell family, who
after buying pine needles in 1953 set their sights on Mid Pines,
in the mid 90s. I was approached about maybe
purchasing that Pines. I said Peg. What do you think? She
says? Oh, we got to get that. I love them and Pines. Well,
they got it. And after hiring
Kyle, France to restore, both pine
needles and mid Pines. The Bell family bought Southern
Pines in 2020, which has also since
received an update.
It was 1996. When US Women's
Open started, coming to pine needles back-to-back
championships. For Annika, sorenstam. They found the right players.
They got the big time winners and Peggy Bell. Love that
because she helped build it. Not long. After the US opens
started coming to Pinehurst. You could say 1999. In essence
was a coming out party that reintroduced Pioneers to. So
many people. 2014 was the year. They were back-to-back. And now over 120 years later
what's happening in Pinehurst and pine needles continues to influence golf in
America and it goes beyond the majors.
And in fact, it's what might be
considered minor.
That's having the latest wave of impact in
2017. Tomp Ashley Pinehurst current president. Hired Gil
hanse to build the Cradle. Nine holes on 10, acres of front
porch, fun for anyone. Carrying a club would love when
people refer to us as the home of golf in America. And it's
something that's been said for a long, long time. I think this place really has a
golf solo people that live here work here. I think we all kind of get it and All seems to be set up for
another 120 years. The Pinehurst Resort is soon to be a
second home of the USGA. The best of what
golf is exists here. Number two is officially in an
unofficial US Open Rota that will host five more Majors
before 2047. There's a strange magic to the
place. I mean it's a game but it comes alive here and thanks to the efforts of
Peggy. Kirk Bell and her family pine needles continues to be an
An ultimate test for the best and the women's game. We are
very excited about the Women's Open.
Coming back to
pine needles. We will be co-sponsoring and marshalling a
whole. Yeah. We're going to be on hole number
two, if it's the Pinehurst Mystique you seek there is something about it. You
just want to come back. The answer is still in the sand. We
have numerous people who move here
just because they just love their it. And if you're lucky
one day, you too will get some of that sand in your shoes..