Look back on any decade in the story of Pinehurst, and you can see just how often history happens here.
Consider the 1900s – Guests hitting balls and disturbing the dairy cows in the pasture, Harry Vardon’s monumental visit to Pinehurst and his grand review of its links, Donald Ross’ arrival, the opening of a certain second course in 1907…
How about the 1930s – Sand greens give way to grass, Ross redesigns that second course, which then hosts the PGA Championship in 1936. Not bad.
It goes on and on – Hogan in the ’40s, Ryder Cup and Nicklaus in the ’50s. The ’90s?
Yeah, think about the ’90s – Two Tour Championships, the U.S. Senior Open, No. 8 opens…and Payne.
So, then, how do the 2010s compare as they come to an end?
You decide:
In March 2010, work began on the Coore and Crenshaw restoration of Pinehurst No. 2, returning the course to the classic sandscape and wire grass style that Donald Ross had originally intended all those decades ago. The restored No. 2 reopened in 2011.
For the next few years, the No. 2 restoration dominated the news concerning Pinehurst, leading up to the biggest moments of the decade – the playing of the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open in back-to-back weeks, the first and only time that’s ever happened in golf.
For more than 120 years, people have gathered on the veranda overlooking the 18th hole of No. 2 to watch golf and enjoy everything that comes with that historic view. Finally, in 2016, a casual pub adjoined and accentuated that veranda with the opening of the Deuce.
From the day Gil Hanse started shaping the ground where Pinehurst’s very first holes were carved from the sand 120 years before, we knew The Cradle could be special. The 789-yard short course has exceeded our expectations, and then some.
Pinehurst served as the site of just the third playing of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, the 9th USGA championship at Pinehurst and the first to include Pinehurst No. 8, which served as the companion course to No. 2.
Hanse’s redesign of Pinehurst No. 4 re-opened, restoring its original landforms and creating staggering vistas framed by natural sandscape. Just a few weeks after re-opening, GOLF Magazine named No. 4 the “Best New Course You Can Play.”
Within days of Hanse’s No. 4 opening, so too did Pinehurst Brewing Co. Set in the original steam plant that powered the first hotels, cottages and businesses of Pinehurst in 1895, PBC brings a new energy to the Village.
Another first in the history of golf came just before the end of the decade – and happened here. For the first time in the 119-year history of the U.S. Amateur, the 36-hole championship match was played over two courses – No. 4 for the morning round and No. 2 in the afternoon. Mississippi’s Andy Ogletree made a stirring comeback on No. 2 to edge John Augenstein to win.
As the decade came to a close, The Manor, Pinehurst’s youngest hotel at a mere 96 years, re-opened its doors following an extensive and complete renovation. The new decade will open with another beauty – the North & South Bar, a contemporary bourbon bar inside The Manor.
It’s fitting to close the 2010s there, with a toast to
what’s yet to come.
Happy New Year, from all of us at Pinehurst.