There are more than a few legends who once walked the grounds of Pinehurst, North Carolina. As a town established in 1895, numerous storied guests and residents have roamed the streets. From world-famous golfers to sharpshooters, these famous men and women impacted history both in the area and well beyond it.
Tom Fazio was working at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, in the mid-1970s on some course renovations leading up to the 1979 U.S. Open when he noticed an ambitious and talented member of the course maintenance staff named Mike Strantz.
“Mike developed a close friendship with Andy Banfield of our staff,” Fazio remembers. “He was a talented artist and drew sketches of golf holes. He showed a real desire to get into golf course design. He liked us and we liked him. After the Inverness project was finished, we offered him a job working for us.”
If Mike Strantz hadn’t died from tongue cancer in 2005 at the young age of 50, would he ever have made it to Pinehurst proper to design a golf course?
We’ll never know, of course, but at least 25 percent of his remarkable but all too limited design portfolio was built within 45 miles of the Village of Pinehurst.
Twenty-five miles to the northeast is Tobacco Road in Sanford, which opened in 1998 with craggy edges, blind shots and dramatic ups and downs whittled from the site of an old sand quarry.
Seagrove potters have exciting activities planned to celebrate American Craft Week from October 7-14. Visitors are invited to browse and purchase new works fresh from the kilns, have an opportunity to meet the potters, enjoy refreshments, watch demonstrations and learn more about the pottery process at participating shops.
Southeast Tourism Society (STS) has named the Festival D’Avion as one of the Signature Events of the Southeast for 2023. The event is one of 20 tourism events selected by STS among its 13 member states and the District of Columbia. It was the only event in North Carolina recognized among the selections. The event was originally nominated by the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
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.
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.
