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 walking is a part of the game and should be allowed,” Ellis says. “You can really enjoy the game walking.
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.
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.
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 US, among them Merion, Winged Foot, Fishers Island, The Country Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Oakland Hills and Baltusrol.
The Jones Family has a long-standing connection with the Sandhills area of North Carolina. Jones Family Imprint Across The Sandhills of North Carolina with favorite courses such as Pinehurst No. 7 and CCNC’s Cardinal Course.
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.
The words “Off for Pinehurst” say it all — a trip south to what at the time was a 72-hole resort in the North Carolina Sandhills, later augmented by three courses in Southern Pines and more to come in the mid-and then late-1900s.
