A rare bright spot during the eye of the pandemic came in early September 2020, when the United States Golf Association named Pinehurst Resort and Country Club’s legendary No. 2 course as its first “anchor site” for U.S. Open Championships.
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.
Final groups of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, a quarter-century apart.
Payne Stewart in 1999 needs a par to hold off playing partner Phil Mickelson, but his tee shot on the uphill, par-4 finishing hole misses the fairway to the right. He’s in five inches of suffocating rough, the grass wet on a cool, misty day. He punches out, has 78 yards to the hole, hits a three-quarter sand wedge to 18 feet short of the back-right hole location.
The eyes of the sports and golf worlds will be upon Pinehurst the third week in June. The largesse of the Sandhills golf community will evoke awe and interest from across the nation and the world.
It’s always fascinated and amused me to ponder the series of dominoes that fell over five years from 1895 to 1900 that allowed this “Coincidental Resort” to sprout into reality. There was no big city next door to give birth to Pinehurst. There was no ocean or mountain range to make it an aesthetic or seasonable destination, no river to provide convenient access.
It’s been 10 years since the last U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. What’s different about the golf course and infrastructure in one decade? So much. But then again, so little.
Southern Pines resident Ashley Tramontin opened Against the Grain Shoppe in 2019 to give local makers a platform to showcase their products. “We’re a hub for local business owners,” Tramontin says. “The idea is to give small businesses a storefront and a place to grow their businesses.”
The shop, in downtown Southern Pines, carries North Carolina-made home goods and gifts. Curated with care, the shelves are filled with bath and body products, ceramic pieces, jewelry, tea towels, stained glass, woodwork, and other kitchen and gift items. Tramontin recently started a pantry section featuring locally made chocolates, baking mixes, honey, pecans, and snacks.
In a moment of weakness, you agreed to a long weekend in Pinehurst with someone special who loves to golf. Now you’re not sure what to do with your free time if it doesn’t involve tee times, golf pro shops, and discussions about handicaps and strokes.
Luckily, Pinehurst and its surrounding towns are destinations with distinct qualities unrelated to golf – and all within a short drive. From walking along tree-lined streets, browsing antique shops, or visiting potters’ studios, the golf-resistant tourist will find plenty to see and do in Moore County.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) today officially opened Golf House Pinehurst, its seven-acre campus located footsteps from the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club main clubhouse. The new location includes the organization’s equipment-testing and research facility, the visitor-friendly USGA Experience, an outdoor educational landscape feature and the recently relocated World Golf Hall of Fame, as well as administrative offices.
“Getting the No. 6 job was a major step for us in the golf-design business,” Tom Fazio says of the mid-1970s assignment to build the resort’s first course away from its core operation in the Village of Pinehurst. “There was next-to-nothing new built in 1974 and ’75. Then the call came from Pinehurst.”
Tom Doak was bitten by the golf bug as a youngster growing up in Stamford, Conn., first playing a local municipal course and then tagging along on his father’s business trips to esteemed golf destinations like Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Harbour Town and Pinehurst.
