Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst Resort is a golf resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina, United States. It has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments including four U.S. Open Championships, one U.S. Women's Open, three U.S. Amateurs, one PGA Championship, and the Ryder Cup.
Pinehurst consists of ten 18-hole golf courses, each named simply by a number, an 18 hole putting course, and a 9-hole short course. Pinehurst No. 2 has consistently been ranked as one of the top courses in North Carolina and among the best in the United States. In addition to the golf courses, Pinehurst has three hotels, as well as many villas, condos, restaurants, and other leisure facilities. Pinehurst Resort was inducted into Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, since 1991.
History
Pinehurst was founded by Boston soda fountain magnate James Walker Tufts. He purchased for approximately $1.25 per acre in 1895, and opened the Holly Inn New Year's Eve of that year. The first golf course was laid out in 1897-98, and the first championship held at Pinehurst was the United North and South Amateur Championship of 1901. Pinehurst's best known course, "Pinehurst No. 2," was completed in 1907 to designs by Donald Ross, who became associated with Pinehurst for nearly half a century. After Pinehurst No. 2 was opened in 1907, Donald Ross said that the course was, "The fairest test of championship golf I have ever designed."From 1902-1951, Pinehurst was the home of the North and South Open, which was one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the United States at that time. Pinehurst is still home to the annual North and South Amateur Golf Championships, a series of tournaments which includes a Men's Championship, inaugurated in 1901, and the Women's Championship that began two years later.
The first PGA Tour major staged at Pinehurst was the PGA Championship in 1936, won by Denny Shute. In 1951, the resort hosted the Ryder Cup, and, in 1991 and 1992, it was the venue for The Tour Championship.
In 1999, Pinehurst staged its second major, the U.S. Open, won by Payne Stewart at the No. 2 course. There is currently a statue behind the 18th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 showing Stewart's famous victory pose after making a putt on the 18th hole to defeat Phil Mickelson. The U.S. Open returned in 2005, won by New Zealand's Michael Campbell. In 2011, Pinehurst No. 2 completed a $2.5 million, year-long renovation led by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. The goal was to revert the course back to the original Donald Ross design.
In an unprecedented move, the USGA brought both the men's U.S. Open and the U.S. Women's Open to Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014. The U.S. Open was scheduled at its normal time, ending on the third Sunday in June, and the women played the following week.
The resort now has ten golf courses, three hotels, a spa and extensive sports and leisure facilities. It was ranked as the world's largest golf resort by the Guinness World Records before it was surpassed by Mission Hills Golf Club in China. The property’s old-growth longleaf pine trees are home to the federally endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker.
The No. 2 course is included in the Links and the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game series; the No. 8 course is also available for the Links game. Both Pinehurst No. 2 and Pinehurst No. 8 are available to play on E6 software.
Pinehurst was owned by the Tufts family until 1970, when it was sold to Malcom McLean. The Tufts Archives are located in the Given Memorial Library in Pinehurst. After the property was acquired by a set of banks in 1982, it was sold to Robert H. Dedman, Sr., founder of ClubCorp. When the Dedman family sold ClubCorp, they retained Pinehurst.
In June 1999, National Public Radio reported that the Pinehurst Resort was using threats of trademark infringement lawsuits to prevent any businesses located in the area of Pinehurst village from using the term "Pinehurst" in their business names.
Major tournaments hosted
- All professional tournaments and 1962 U.S. Amateur held at Course No. 2. 2008 and 2019 U.S. Amateur qualifying rounds played on No. 2 & 4. 2019 U.S. Amateur played final on No. 2 & 4.
World Amateur Team Championships hosted
- Both tournaments held at Course No. 2.
Golf courses
Pinehurst No. 1
The first nine of what would become Pinehurst No. 1 was designed by Leroy Culver in 1897 and the second nine by John Dunn Tucker in 1898. Donald Ross however came in 1901 to tie it all together into a full 18-hole course, beginning a long career at what would become Pinehurst Resort. While there have been many changes to No. 1 over the years, many to accommodate the construction and renovation of the other courses, the original design is still there. The course is currently grassed with Certified Tifway 419 Bermuda tees, fairways, and rough and Mini Verde ultradwarf greens.Pinehurst No. 2
Pinehurst No. 2, the most famous course at Pinehurst Resort, was first opened in 1907 and designed by Donald Ross. Pinehurst is considered to be Ross' best work and he continued to perfect it until his death in 1948. The course is famous for its exceptionally difficult green complexes which were a signature of Ross designs and many of the greens are crowned causing shots that are short to roll off the green, leaving a difficult chip shot. Johnny Miller once famously compared trying to land a shot on a Pinehurst green as "like trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle". Pinehurst, like many Sandhills courses, was without long rough for much of its early history but in 1974 a redesign by RT Jones led to the installation of thick bermuda rough throughout the course, which lasted until a restoration in 2010 by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who removed all of the rough and reshaped the fairways and bunkers to restore the course to its original Ross design. In lieu of rough, golfers now find hardpan sand and native scrub bordering the fairways. The course since its inception has been host to many significant tournaments including 5 men's majors. Additional U.S. Opens are scheduled in 2029, 2035, 2041, and 2047 under a partnership with the USGA announced in September 2020 naming Pinehurst as the USGA's first "anchor site". It also hosted the 1951 Ryder Cup and the 2014 U.S. Women's Open played the week after the men's. Not only has the course hosted numerous professional events, but it has also hosted the U.S. Amateur three times. The course is currently grassed with Tifway Bermuda tees and fairways and Champion Ultradwarf greens. For its 2019-2020 course rankings, Golf Digest ranked No. 2 as the 29th best golf course in the United States and the 6th best public course in the country. Golf Magazine for its 2020-2021 rankings named No. 2 as the 11th best course in the country and the best in North Carolina.The North Carolina Golf Panel has consistently ranked it as the best course in the state, both public and private. A statue of Payne Stewart is beside the 18th green, showing him celebrating his winning putt from the 1999 U.S. Open – his second and final U.S. Open and third and final major championship before his death in October of that year.