New Pinehurst Development Breaks the Mold

By Lee Pace

When Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw complete Pinehurst No. 11 in the fall of 2027 — adjacent to Tom Doak’s Pinehurst No. 10, which opened in 2024 — Pinehurst will join rarefied company. Only a few golf destinations in the world, such as Bandon Dunes in Oregon, Streamsong in Florida, Barnbougle in Tasmania, and Te Arai Links in New Zealand, can boast courses designed by both architectural powerhouses.

Your grandfather played Donald Ross.

Your dad revered Tom Fazio, Rees Jones, and Jack Nicklaus.

And today’s golf architecture connoisseurs swoon over the work of Coore & Crenshaw, Doak, Gil Hanse, and Andrew Green.

“I’m prejudiced because we’re doing one of them,” says Coore, “but this will be a really big plus for Pinehurst. So many amazing resort courses are being built on sites that are photogenic, dramatic—true ‘if-you-build-it-they-will-come’ places. People go to Bandon, sit around the firepit at night, and argue which of the five is the best.

“At Pinehurst, it’s always been about No. 2 — and rightfully so. But No. 10 and No. 11 will be a huge step forward. No homes, just golf. And the landforms are interesting, dramatically different from anything else at Pinehurst.”

For nearly three-quarters of a century, Pinehurst operated five golf courses radiating from its main clubhouse, anchored by Ross’s famed No. 2 — site of the 1936 PGA Championship, the 1951 Ryder Cup, and the storied North & South Open.

The real estate boom of the late 20th century pushed Pinehurst to expand beyond the village core. Course No. 6 debuted in the late 1970s (by George and Tom Fazio), followed by Rees Jones’s No. 7 in the mid-1980s. Fazio returned with No. 8 in 1996 to commemorate the resort’s centennial. Pinehurst acquired the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pinehurst National in 2014 and rebranded it as No. 9.

Now come No. 10 and No. 11 — set on 900 acres south of the resort that Pinehurst owner Bob Dedman Jr. quietly assembled over two decades. The site’s heritage as an early 1900s sand mine inspired the development’s branding: **Pinehurst Sandmines**.

The new Sandmines logo features a vintage rail car, echoing how sand was historically transported. The logo’s silhouette mimics the 25-foot mound that dominates the eighth hole of No. 10 — a standout par four.

“There’s a lot of history at this place, and you just want to honor it,” says Angela Moser, Doak’s lead associate on No. 10. “You want it to be part of what you’re building. So you’ll see reminders of it.”

Doak’s course opened in May 2024. Construction is now underway on Coore & Crenshaw’s No. 11. A temporary clubhouse has supported operations, but a new golf shop is slated to open by late June, with an adjacent restaurant following in August. Both facilities will serve the new courses, and Pinehurst is already considering plans for a short course and on-site lodging.

Visitors to the Sandmines will note a striking contrast in architecture. Gone are the white clapboards of the Carolina Hotel or the stately brickwork of the Village clubhouse. Instead, the new shop and restaurant embrace timber-frame construction, complete with exposed beams and decorative joinery.

Designers drew directly from the landscape: sand textures, pinecones, bark, and forest tones.

“The color palette is native to the site,” says Calvin Burkley, Pinehurst’s director of projects and planning. “They used every natural element for inspiration. This will feel unlike anything else on property. ‘Refined rustic’ has been the guiding principle.”

Lee Pace is a freelance golf writer who has written about Sandhills area golf for four decades and is the author of club histories about Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Forest Creek.