First Timer’s Guide to Pinehurst
Welcome to the Home of American Golf! The Sandhills of North Carolina are anchored by the towns of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, and Aberdeen. Although most visitors come here to play 18 holes, and there is ...
On the Golf Trail
Golf Trail
Welcome to the Home of American Golf!
Follow the Home of American Golf Trail to visit the highlights of golf in the Sandhills. The impact of golf starts centuries ago and continues to be a main attraction for visitors. With more than 40 golf courses in the area, golf is the essence of the Sandhills.
Accessibility:
This trail will best be explored in your personal vehicle with various stops.
USGA Golf House Pinehurst & Golf Experience
The USGA officially opening its second headquarters in the village of Pinehurst in late December 2023. More affectionately known as “HQ2,” this USGA complex houses administrative offices, testing center, welcome center and World Golf Hall of Fame, among other amenities. It is located on the Pinehurst Country Club campus on the south side of the circle between the club and the Carolina Hotel. Photo courtesy of the USGA.
Accessibility:
The USGA Experience is a 2-story experience, elevators available. Paved grounds and parking area with accessible parking.
USGA Golf Hall of Fame
Opened just prior to the 2024 U.S. Open in June, the WGHOF is making a return to its original home in Pinehurst. The USGA has deep experience in collecting and preserving golf history. The facility will be very convenient for visitors, resort guests and golfers. Displays will be created with flexibility to change them periodically, so an ever-evolving experience for all.
Accessibility:
This is a 2-story experience, elevators available. Paved grounds and parking area with accessible parking.
Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame
The Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) Hall of History is located inside the organization’s headquarters Southern Pines across the street from Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club. The museum is free and open to the public during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Learn about our amateurs like Bill Joe Patton and Bill Harvey along with PGA professionals like Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Jay Haas and Lucas Glover, who all have Carolina roots.
Accessibility:
Thistle Dhu
1919 when James Wells Barber completed construction of a course on his Pinehurst estate in Moore County that the game most Americans would recognize today as miniature golf came into being this course would be name as Thistle Dhu and would be the first in miniature golf course. A perfect warm-up before a round, wind-down afterward or just a fun way to let the family share in one’s love of golf, Thistle Dhu is an 18-hole putting course made to make memories on. There are 18 greens here, but no greens fees, so any resort guest can simply bring a putter, drop a ball and take their chances aiming for pin after pin.
Accessibility:
Park at: 1 Carolina Vista Dr, Pinehurst, NC 28374
Accessible parking available. Paved road from the parking lot to the paved sidewalk, flat greens for playing.
Double Eagle Indoor Golf Simulator
For golf enthusiasts, there is no off-season. Find your fairway at Pinehurst’s first indoor golf facility and sports bar. Play at the world’s finest courses indoors.
Accessibility:
Accessible parking available. Paved road from the parking lot to Double Eagle. Large open space for maneuvering around inside. Simulators are wheelchair accessible.
Pine Needles
Home to several U.S. Women’s Opens and known for its superior golf instruction, cozy ambiance and immaculate Donald Ross course, Pine Needles lives up to its reputation as a sanctuary of excellence.
Accessibility:
Accessible parking available. Paved road from the parking lot to entrance, some elevation slight shifts on the property.
Golf Pride Retail Lab
A first of its kind, the Retail Lab in Golf Pride’s state-of-the-art Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Pinehurst, NC, has opened just inside the entrance to Pinehurst No. 8 golf course.
Accessibility:
Accessible parking available. Paved road from the parking lot to entrance.
Bottlebrush Course at Longleaf
Bottlebrush is a six-hole par 3 course located on the grounds of Longleaf Golf & Family Club. One of the first such “short courses” in the region, the holes range from 50 to 100 yards in length and offers a wide variety of well-contoured and picturesque holes to challenge any player, and also be enjoyable and playable for all.
The Bill Bergin designed layout keeps in place a white furlong fence that was once part of the horse track and farm that encompassed the property. The nod to history is part of the charm, but so is the commitment to the future, as you’ll often find families and young players enjoying time together improving their skills, in fun competition, and mostly, just loving taking part in the game.
Accessibility:
Accessible parking available. Paved road from the parking lot to entrance, slight grade change in the parking lot.
Area Golf Courses
With more than 40 courses to choose from there is a choice for every one.
Wee Pines at Olmsted Village
Opened in Spring 2024, Wee Pines at Olmsted Village is the only mini golf course in Moore County. Wee Pines is a classic design, featuring 36 holes, 18 of which are ADA compliant, a water hole, and giant boulders. All ages welcome and fun for the entire family.
Accessibility:
Accessible parking available. Paved road from the parking lot to entrance.
Both courses are ADA Compliant.
Selfie Moments with Golf Legends
Payne Stewart
Donald Ross
Putter Boy
Top 10 Amateur Wins
A crowd estimated at near 2,000 lined the fairways of the No. 2 course, many of them friends and fraternity brothers of Ward, the Tarboro native and popular University of North Carolina golfer. ...
Top 10 Professional Wins
One could make an argument that either entries No. 2 or No. 3 should be perched at the top of a list of momentous professional golf moments at Pinehurst. But Payne Stewart and Bryson DeChambeau ...
Count to Ten: Top Pinehurst Area Courses
Top 10 lists are always fun. Here is the first of three in the Sandhills golf universe to kick off 2025 based on one man’s humble opinions. ...
Top 100 You Can Play
Nine North Carolina golf courses have been included in Golf Magazine’s annual ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses You Can Play in the U.S. for 2024-25. All nine of them are located in the ...
The Thankful Month
“I’m not certain of this, of course, but I believe that when good golfers die (those who let faster players through and don’t lie excessively about their scores), they come to Pinehurst and are given ...
The Joy of Winter
The Pinehurst Outlook in early January 1919 celebrated the riches of the local golf experience, writing of the annual Mid-Winter Tournament and of a Tin Whistles competition. ...
Pinehurst’s History in 50 Moments
James Tufts’ letter is just one of hundreds of interesting historical artifacts on display in an exhibit built around the idea of “Fifty Moments in Pinehurst” located in the USGA Experience Building, Golf House Pinehurst. ...
Locker Room Talk
For the golf purist, the fascination is endless. But the true allure is a slow stroll through the aisles of lockers and a close examination of the artifacts and pieces of memorabilia the inductees and/or ...
The Fall Foursome (And Beyond)
The weather is starting to turn and cool off. The lure of the famous courses they’ve seen on television — Pinehurst No. 2 for the U.S. Open and Pine Needles for the Women’s Open, for ...
The Deuce: Tips & Tricks
So, you were among the 5.9 million viewers watching Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy battle it out in the final round of the 2024 U.S. Open on Pinehurst No. 2.And now you want to play ...
Walk It Off
During the USGA’s initiative in the early 2000s to promote walking, he took the lead within the club to develop a policy to encourage members to walk. “We developed a policy that said we think ...
World Golf Hall of Fame
The World Golf Hall of Fame has returned to its original home in Pinehurst, NC. The facility opened just prior to the 2024 U.S. Open at the new Golf House Pinehurst campus adjacent to Pinehurst ...
Pinehurst Area Basks in U.S. Open Glow
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 ...
Village People
“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 ...
The Shot
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 ...
The Coincidental Resort
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 ...
The Eve of the Open
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. ...
USGA Officially Opens Golf House Pinehurst
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. ...
Architect’s Mosaic
“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 ...
Count to Ten
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 ...
Rebirth at Woodlake
A.B. Hardee was going to bring the ocean to the Sandhills. He was going to build a lake and a dam and install a wave-making machine on some swampy property in northeast Moore County. You ...
Pinehurst No. 2 Continues to Lead the Way in 2024
Pinehurst No. 2 has once again secured the top spot as the best golf course in the state as determined by the North Carolina Golf Panel. Pinehurst Resort will host the 2024 U.S. Open at ...
Sandhills Pours Double Dose
They came from across the Eastern states and even the Midwest on a crisp morning in October 2023, these aficionados of the golf course artistry of Mike Strantz. The venue was Tot Hill Farm, the ...
The Dynamic Decade
The last decade has seen an explosion in innovation in the golf and hospitality worlds. By June 2024, the Sandhills will have seen the launch and evolution of these top 10 stories for the last ...
A Dozen Master Strokes
No doubt the 20-footer Payne Stewart drained on the last shot of the 1999 U.S. Open is the most famous shot in a century and a quarter of golf in the Sandhills. But there have ...
Hall of Fame Take Two
This new, six-acre Golf House Pinehurst complex, just steps away from the opening tee shot on Pinehurst No. 2, features the USGA Experience Building and World Golf Hall of Fame. ...
Sandhills Hall of Fame
The World Golf Hall of Fame arrives this spring. There is no Sandhills Golf Hall of Fame. But what if there were? Who might comprise the inaugural class of honorees? ...
Payne at 25
To the left of the putting green on Pinehurst No. 2’s 18th hole stands a bronze statue of Payne Stewart. The champion of the 1999 U.S. Open, the first ever held at Pinehurst, was captured ...
A U.S. Open Year
The Pinehurst elixir is two-fold. The village and club offer a blend of history and aesthetics and devotion to the game of golf that set a perfect table for such a competitive feast. ...
Golfers Gift Guide
Wondering what to get that golfer for Christmas? We've got you covered with a range of holiday gift ideas for the golfer. ...
Pinehurst Holiday
On December 25th, there was Santa Claus. On the 27th, there was Donald Ross. For scads of avid young golfers in the Carolinas and beyond, the Christmas season means not only toys under the tree ...
A “New” Pinehurst Welcomes the World in 2024
Even if you’ve made a recent visit to the Sandhills region of North Carolina — the “Home of American Golf,” Pinehurst, along with the bourgeoning Southern Pines and Aberdeen areas — you will quickly discover ...
To Dornoch and Back
“Our relationship with CCNC is centered around Donald Ross and the Pinehurst area,” Macrae says. “The recently developed relationship between the Royal Burgh of Dornoch and Pinehurst will provide even more opportunities for the two ...
An Artist in the Dirt
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 ...
Act Two for Tot Hill Farm
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, ...
Loving Our Black & Whites
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 ...
Pinehurst Major-itis
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 ...
When They Were Young
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 ...
Sleepy Summers No More
“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 ...
Kid You Not
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 ...
Rock the Village
Pinehurst Business Partners, in collaboration with the Village of Pinehurst and the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, is thrilled to announce Rock the Village, an extraordinary art installation project designed to ...
1999 U.S. Open: A Look Back
A U.S. Open at Pinehurst seems old hat now. In about a year, the esteemed No. 2 course will be the venue for its fourth rendition of America’s national championship, following 1999 (won by Payne ...
2024 U.S. Open: A Look Ahead
The Village of Pinehurst, the broader Sandhills community and the revered No. 2 course are officially in countdown mode as the calendar swings to one year out from the 2024 U.S. Open. Where did 10 ...
X Marks the 10-Spot
The Pinehurst Resort wanted to open its 10th course around the time Donald Ross’s masterpiece No. 2 hosts its fourth U.S. Open in June 2024. Tom Pashley, the resort’s president, contacted Doak in mid-2022, and ...
Pinehurst No. 2 Still Ranked Best Course in NC
Pinehurst No. 2 has once again secured the top spot as the best golf course in the state as determined by the North Carolina Golf Panel. Pinehurst Resort will host the 2024 U.S. Open at ...
Golf Pride Retail Lab
That connection is a recurring theme around Golf Pride’s 36,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Global Innovation Center and headquarters, which debuted in 2019 near the entrance of Pinehurst Resort’s No. 8 course. ...
A Few of Our Favorite (Golfing) Things
As we like to say around the Home of American Golf, “When the dogleg bites, when the bogey stings, when we’re feeling sad, we simply remember our favorite things, and then we don’t feel so ...
Southern Pines Golf Club Recognized
Southern Pines Golf Club, an original Donald Ross designed golf course built in 1906, has been recognized by raters from Golf Digest as one of the best renovation projects for 2022. ...
Pinehurst Resort Announces New Course to be Designed by Tom Doak
Pinehurst Resort has announced that it will be creating a brand-new golf courses for the first time in 28 years. Pinehurst No. 10 is set to open in 2024 and will be designed by acclaimed ...
Coore & Crenshaw Roots Run Deep
Golf architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw each have a significant tie to the Sandhills and Pinehurst No. 2 from their respective early days in golf. Coore was born in 1946 and grew up in ...
The Hanse Touch
Gil Hanse launched his golf design firm in 1993 and for nearly two decades carved a niche doing restoration work on classic courses across the United States, among them Merion, Winged Foot, Fishers Island, The ...
Jones Family Imprint
Jones Family Imprint Across The Sandhills of North Carolina with favorite courses such as Pinehurst No. 7 and CCNC's Cardinal Course. ...
The Big Three
It made for a great story in the heady days of the late-1980s golf boom: Arnie and Jack battling it out once again, staking their immense abilities and reputations face-to-face as they’d done so many ...
Pinehurst Area Buzzing with 2023 Excitement
Headed into 2023, there’s a palpable buzz pulsing throughout North Carolina’s Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen area — or as it is more globally recognized, the “Home of American Golf.”Golf around Pinehurst boasts a storied ...
Maples Roots Run Deep in Sandhills Golf Design
“For me, Pinehurst is such a special place for golf,” says Fazio, who at 77 is still designing new courses and working on renovations of his earlier works. “Put Donald Ross in the equation and ...
“For me, Pinehurst is such a special place for golf!”- Tom Fazio
“For me, Pinehurst is such a special place for golf,” says Fazio, who at 77 is still designing new courses and working on renovations of his earlier works. “Put Donald Ross in the equation and ...
Talamore Resort Debuts New Toptracer Range
Autumn around the Village of Pinehurst area is the most popular time of year for a golf vacation. This fall, guests at Talamore Golf Resort in the “Home of American Golf” will be able to ...
What Goes Around…
The World Golf Fame will move back to Pinehurst and be located on the second floor of the new Golf House Pinehurst facility the USGA is building on land adjacent to the Pinehurst Resort & ...
Fall into Pinehurst Golf
Fall around the Home of American Golf may be the most enticing season of all, when there’s a nip in the air on the first tee and you’re out of your pullover by the turn. ...
No Resting on Laurels Around the Home of American Golf
Calling these “the best of times” around the Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen area of North Carolina might seem like it’s saying a lot, but sometimes the shoe simply fits. Just take a look at ...
Donald Ross Could Golf His Ball
Anyone who has ever teed it up in the Pinehurst area knows the name Donald Ross. A transplanted Scot, Donald Ross fused his home course knowledge (Royal Dornoch and its elevated, contoured greens) and his ...
From Cradle to Cradle
Nothing in 30 years has changed my early opinions: Pinehurst is the spiritual home of golf in the United States and St. Andrews the spiritual home of golf in Scotland — and for the rest ...
Waltzing on the Danube with Peggy Kirk Bell
Twenty-five years ago, I drew one of those assignments that happen in life — to the fortunate few. As a senior editor at LINKS magazine, I signed on to document the first golf cruise put ...
Grande Dame of Women’s Golf
Peggy Kirk Bell’s influence around the Sandhills, and on the game of golf, will be on full display during the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. ...
Pine Needles Goes Back in Time
Following a restoration that took it back to its original Donald Ross design, Pine Needles will look and play much different than it did during its last U.S. Women’s Open in 2007. ...
Talamore Doing More for 2022
The popular resort in the Home of American Golf has numerous enhancements and new amenities arriving soon, including a Toptracer Range, cutting-edge EcoBunkers and a 15,000-square foot putting course. ...