Today the Sandhills and its golf courses are evolving more and more as an exquisite canvas for shutterbugs of all makes and models, and the ability to immediately display the visuals on social media and assorted blogs and digital venues multiplies their visibility a million-fold over the old days of weekly and monthly magazines.
A vintage photograph showing Pinehurst owner Richard Tufts seated on a bench beside architect Donald Ross taken in the 1940s had long captured Tom Pashley’s fancy. Here was Tufts, third generation of the Pinehurst founding family and a giant in American golf administration circles in the mid-1900s, alongside Ross, the native Scotsman and architect of four golf courses at Pinehurst by 1919 and nearly 400 nationwide through his death in 1948.
In 2022, Moore County witnessed an unprecedented $750 million in economic impact from visitor spending, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. Moore County remains the tenth highest tourism economy in the state, its highest ranking in history. The data comes from an annual study commissioned by Visit North Carolina, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, and compiled by Tourism Economics in collaboration with U.S. Travel Association.
The eight trophies sit in a glass display case at the east end of Heritage Hall in the Pinehurst Resort Clubhouse. To one side is the outside veranda and then the 18th green of Pinehurst No. 2, to the other a 100-foot hallway lined with photographs, memorabilia and shadow boxes telling the history of 125 years of golf at Pinehurst.
Ben Hogan was a 30-year-old journeyman when the PGA Tour came to Pinehurst in March 1940. Hogan had been playing for eight years and didn’t have a win to show for it. He was out of money — and confidence. If he didn’t crack the winner’s circle that year, he was going to go back home to Fort Worth, Texas, and work full-time as a club pro.
Spending time outside is one of my favorite activities and there’s no shortage of incredible outdoor activities in the Southern Pines/Pinehurst area. Whether you’re an avid hiker looking for a great trail, or you just want to relax on a patio, there’s something for everyone in the amazing Sandhills region in North Carolina.
“It was sleepy during the summer for sure,” says Peggy Bell Miller, daughter of Warren and Peggy Kirk Bell. “All the staff went to Myrtle Beach. There was no business during the summer.” But, that has all changed…
Dan Van Horn was an engineer living in Atlanta and raising a family of three in the mid-1990s when it struck him how well the baseball equipment industry addressed the youth market and how poorly the golf industry was positioned for its junior players.
“You could buy a lightweight bat that felt great in a kid’s hands, but golf clubs were just crude, sawed-off clubs that were still too heavy and had shafts too stiff for a kid’s strength,” he says. “My kids weren’t having any fun with golf.”
It’s time for the 25th annual Peach Festival in Candor NC, July 13-15; and this year, the celebration continues on with the first ever Peach Week in Pinehurst and Southern Pines. It’s all happening with the onset of peach season, a time when nothing says summer like a bowl, box, basket or bushel full of NC peaches.
The arrival of the fall season heralds the start of high school football Fridays, cooler temperatures, and festivals galore in the Sandhills of North Carolina! Fall in Moore County means there are always plenty of things to see and do. Take a look at some of our favorite autumn events happening in the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, and Aberdeen area.
