Village People

By Lee Pace

Noted golf writer, author and blogger Geoff Shackelford had not been to Pinehurst in the decade since the 2014 U.S. Open was held on No. 2.

Fresh in his mind the third week of June in arriving in the Sandhills was the memory of the 2022 British Open at St. Andrews, one of the most unique major championship venues because literally across the street from the 18th fairway is a hotel, pub, retail store and private residences.

“One real bummer of the last U.S. Open at Pinehurst was a sense that the Village was not as much a part of the week as it should have been,” says Shackelford, whose “Quadrilateral” blog focuses on golf’s four major championships. “This time it felt different, and while it’ll never have the connection St. Andrews does with the Old Course because of simple tournament security and logistics, the effort made was noticeable. Wednesday night’s concert made for an ideal kick-off and really captured the essence of why people love Pinehurst. Like at St Andrews, I had many heartening random chats with fellow golf fans of all ages just enjoying the beauty of the Village and the excitement surrounding the championship.

“And as someone who has not been there since 2014, all I can say is, ‘Wow.’ The Village looked incredible. So many shops, places to hang out and so much character. I can’t wait to come back.”

It’s a half-mile walk north from the golf clubhouse at Pinehurst to the stake James Walker Tufts in 1895 hammered into the sandy loam at the top of what would become the Village Green. Meanwhile, the main entrance to the Open championship because of bus access and egress is positioned on the south side of the resort complex.

But the experience of having hosted three previous Opens in 1999, 2005 and 2014 gave resort and town officials and the USGA ample trial-and-error to build a plan that connected the New England-style hamlet and the Open venue as never before. Merchants stayed open into the evening. Pop-up beer gardens and bartending stations were set up. Dogwood Road in front of the Pine Crest Inn was blocked off during the evenings for live music. Golf great Nick Faldo broke from his TV duties to noodle through the Old Sport & Gallery. A video screen and Adirondack chairs were positioned on the Village Green to watch the golf.

“It felt different in the Village this time, there was more energy, more people, more fun,” says Kevin Drum, proprietor of the Drum & Quill Pub. “I saw golf writers and I saw some golfers in the championship come through and hang out. The Open at Pinehurst has risen to a whole new level.”

“People had a nice time and there was a lot of happiness in the street,” adds Andy Hofmann, whose family owns the Pine Crest.

Pinehurst’s newest friend and ally is the United States Golf Association, which was founded the same year Pinehurst was created and on Father’s Day 2024 wrapped up its 1,000th championship. That such a significant round number could fall by pure happenstance in Pinehurst certainly means there are bigger forces at play here — particularly with the USGA just christening its Golf House Pinehurst venue.

“When you fit, you can actually feel it,” USGA President Fred Perpall says. “The USGA just fits here in Pinehurst.”

A quarter of a century has passed since Pinehurst hosted its first U.S. Open. Since Payne Stewart sank his theatrical putt to win that championship, the resort has been the venue for three more Opens, two U.S. Amateurs and one U.S. Mid-Am. It has four new golf courses (the No. 4 redesign, the No. 9 purchase, the spanking new No. 10 and The Cradle short course).

It has rebuilt a downtrodden Manor Inn into a boutique inn showplace and turned an old steam plant into a barbecue and beer emporium that is one of the busiest spots in town.

“James Tufts said he wanted to build a ‘friendship village,’” owner Bob Dedman Jr. says of the town and resort founder. “We’ve created multiple venues that are exactly that.”

One significant moment during Open week occurred at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday when Michael McGowan of Southern Pines struck the first shot of the competition.

On one pinhead you had the grandson of LPGA founding member Peggy Kirk Bell and the son of former PGA Tour player Pat McGowan. You had a vociferous gallery of locals come to cheer on a family they have known and revered for decades, you had a sense of grieving over the passing of Mrs. Bell in 2016 and Micheal’s mother, Bonnie, in early 2023.

“It was kind of a surreal moment,” McGowan said. “The sun was coming out between the trees on the right, and everyone was cheering. A very cool moment for me.”

“It was like a reward at the end of the rainbow to play at home and hit the opening shot in the U.S. Open,” said his dad. “It was such a high to see your son playing in our national championship, enjoying himself and engaging with the gallery. It was the grand prize to play at home. There was a huge sense of pride for the community.”

At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, the golfers were battling the heat, the sand, the short grass, the wiregrass, the bumps and humps and having a jolly good time of it. The proceedings were punctuated with the peal of Amazing Grace from the Village Chapel, programmed as a tribute to the hymn ringing out in 1999 just as Stewart struck his tee shot on the 18th hole.

“You hear the bells, and you know you’re in Pinehurst,” says Ben Crenshaw, who with partner Bill Coore orchestrated the watershed restoration of No. 2 a dozen years earlier. “It’s yet another little connection to the past, another little statement that this is no ordinary place in golf.”

Images Courtesy USGA

Chapel Hill-based writer Lee Pace has written about golf in the Sandhills since the late 1980s and has authored a dozen books about clubs, courses and the people who’d made it special over more than a century.