Info:        

Pinehurst Resort
80 Carolina Vista Drive
Village of Pinehurst, NC 28374

Web:
www.pinehurst.com

Phone:
800-487-4653

Pinehurst—Golf and More  

by Mitch Kaplan
photos by Mitch Kaplan

Among the things I expected to find at North Carolina’s Pinehurst Resort were

• multiple excellent golf courses
• fine old-time southern hospitality
• excellent lodging and dining.

What I didn’t expect to find were

• 24 tennis courts
• a state-of-the-art, upscale spa (including a kids' spa)
• a lake for swimming, boating and fishing
• condo lodging for those who prefer that style
• serious croquet—no, really
• equally serious lawn bowling—yes, really
• homemade scones with afternoon tea
• horseback riding
• hiking
• and, special day-camp style programming for kids and teens.

As a result, the biggest surprise, to me, was the number of families and kids running around having a grand time.

After all, I’d come here to experience a golf Mecca, and expected that the place would be mostly about golf. But, when I ventured down to the manmade, 200-acre Lake Pinehurst and later to the swimming pool and day care center, and saw the kids, canoes, kayaks, fishermen and swimming in action, I realized the place is about way more than golf. It’s about family vacationing.

Gone Golfin’              

Still, I was at Pinehurst to play golf, and here's what I'm thinking as I teed off on Course Number Five.

I'll never play baseball at Yankee Stadium, take center court at Wimbledon, or play basketball at Madison Square Garden. But, here, I am playing golf where the world's best have—and will—hack at it.

I had no intention of playing Number Two, where the pros play. Frankly, I’m not good enough. But, I did want to discover what makes Pinehurst a revered golf site.

Sure, Pinehurst holds eight courses, each with its own personality and challenge. Yet, many golf destinations offer more courses.

So, what does Pinehurst have that those other sites don’t have?

A combination of enveloping grandeur, history and royal treatment that extends to everyone from grandpa to granddaughter.

Here's a world-class golf resort where players of any age and ability feel welcome on any course.

• Skilled practitioners can take on championship caliber challenges on courses designed by legends for legends, like Number Two.
• Duffers like me can stick to more forgiving links like Number Five.
• Families can take advantage of specially priced packages, and all golf together utilizing the children's tees set up on five layouts.
• Or, if duffers dare, they can play where the Big Boys play, and realize the kind of skill those pros actually have.

But, no matter if you're an ace, a hacker or a non-golfer, you'll experience impeccable service.

• At check-in, I write my tee times and course locations on my souvenir bag tag, and—voila!—my clubs magically await me at a different clubhouse each day.
• An on-demand shuttle transports me wherever I want to go.
• When I ask off-handedly at the front desk if there's anywhere I can obtain a North Carolina road map, it's instantly produced.
• They'll shuttle you to/from the airport and have Acura demo cars for up to three hours' use.
• Bikes to borrow sit at the ready in front of the Carolina hotel.

Some Quick Pinehurst History                         

The resort was founded in 1895 as a health retreat. As the story goes, founder James Tufts put a stake in the ground and bought all the land for a mile around. He then commissioned Frederick Law Olmstead, Central Park' designer, to lay out the Village of Pinehurst.

The first hotel, The Holly, opened on New Year’s Eve, 1895; room rates, $3/day. The grand, 210-room Carolina opened in 1901. Thoroughly modernized, these two properties retain traditional southern warmth and grandeur—columned entry porticoes, lush lobbies, sophisticated gourmet dining and remarkably attentive guest services.

Soon after the resort opened, guests began hitting golf balls on their own in nearby cow pastures. Golf!? What a great idea.

A nine-hole course was created in 1897. The course grew to 18 holes a year later. In 1900, Donald Ross arrived, and his now-famous Course Number Two was completed in 1907. Ross, of course, went on to become the world’s premier course designer.

Major tournaments played here include two U.S. Opens, two PGA Tour Championships, the U.S. Senior Open, and Ryder Cup Matches.

Come 2014, the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women's Open will be played on Number Two during consecutive weeks. Unprecedented.

How I Hit 'Em                   

"The threesome that was scheduled to play with you has cancelled, the starter said. "There's a threesome about two holes ahead of you. You can either join them now and come back to play the first two holes, or just join them when you catch up to them."

I decided to go it alone.

I teed it up, took my practice swing, set my stance and gave it a whack. Beautiful! Right down the center, about as far as I can hit it.

"A good shot?" came a voice from behind. It was the starter.

"About as good as I can do," I said with a smile.

He shook his head ruefully. "Too bad."

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

"You're on the wrong course!"

The first hole tee boxes for Numbers Five and Three stand adjacent to each other. I'd gone left when I should've gone right.

A bad start? Perhaps. But what followed was a wonderfully enjoyable round, on a playable course forgiving enough to accommodate and challenge my fledgling's game. Sure, I played my way behind the left-side fairway trees on the par-4 first, and under the trees on the par-3 sixth. But, I was able to scramble my way to decent outcomes on all of the front nine, and stayed out of the water on 13 and 15—a significant accomplishment for me.

Even the turtles in residence on 12 were impressed.

I caught the threesome ahead of me at the 10th hole, and the round became even more enjoyable.

"Why Pinehurst?" I asked Greg, a fifteen-year Pinehurst resident, who'd retired here from New York.

"The variety of courses," he replied without hesitation, "and you can play year-round. It doesn't get that cold here in winter, or ridiculously hot in summer."

Next day, I was on Number Eight. Reached by a two-mile shuttle ride, this had more of a "resort" course feel—variable uphill-downhill terrain, water and greenside swales. Still, it's championship caliber, a two-time site of the PGA Club Pro Championship with some nasty pot bunkers and a good deal of wetlands to avoid. It was North Carolina's first certified Audubon Signature Sanctuary.

I played like a bird flying upwind in a gale—flapping wildly while making little progress until I set a magnificent chip to within two feet of the pin from 100 yards out on 17.

It’s shots like that that keep guys like me coming back for more.

"Why Pinehurst?" I asked Richard and Deb, the middle-aged couple from central New Jersey with whom I was paired.

"We'd heard so much about it," was the answer, "we just had to come down and try it." They were here for a week, they said, playing every course.

And, the verdict?

"Wonderful."

That’s Pinehurst golf—its reputation lures you in. The experience matched the expectations.

Beyond the Links            

Beyond the links, there's a whole 'nother story at Pinehurst that really requires, well, a whole 'nother story. But, to summarize:

• four-diamond dining
• mint juleps enjoyed on front-porch rockers
• Pinehurst Village, a New England-style village and National Historic Landmark district, walking distance away, replete with shops, pubs, antiquing, a tea parlour, etc.
• More shopping in nearby Southern Pines, Aberdeen and other nearby locales
• Even more golf (as if you need it) at Southern Pines.

The Rockefellers, DuPonts, Morgans, Hollywood stars, Michael Jordan and even Amelia Earhart and Annie Oakley have stayed here.

And why not? The Pinehurst Resort experience—both yesterday’s and today’s—mirrors its perfectly manicured fairways.

But, you needn't be a celebrity or member of the élite-riche to get the royal treatment here. Honestly, this place tenders the customer service that ranks with the best I've ever experienced. No exaggeration.

And, really, we all deserve to be spoiled like a Rockefeller—at least once in a while.