This will be Korda’s eighth Women’s Open appearance. She has missed the cut in her last two USWO starts.
SOUTHERN PINES, North Carolina – It started as a funny feeling in her arm. Nelly Korda, who was in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on March 11 for a photoshoot and commercial appearance, listened to her body, went to the ER for an ultrasound and, after finding a specialist in Sarasota, Florida, underwent surgery for a blood clot in a subclavian vein in her left arm. She’s fuzzy on the exact date of surgery, but first posted about it on social media on April 8.
A Tuesday morning press conference at the 77th U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, marked her first time in front of the media since the health scare occurred.
“Obviously I did a lot, a lot of rehab,” she said, “went actually out to California for a month, did rehab there, worked with my coach Jamie Mulligan. Wanted him to be there for when I first started hitting balls.”
When asked if doctors had given her any indication on the cause of the blood clot, Korda said yes, but that she’d like to keep that information private.
Korda, 23, last teed it up on the LPGA in early February at the LPGA Drive On Championship. She finished T-15, T-20, and T-4 in three starts this season and missed the first major of the year.
This will be Korda’s eighth U.S. Women’s Open appearance. She has missed the cut in her last two USWO starts. Her best finish, a share of 10th, came in 2018 at Shoal Creek. She’s taking a grateful approach to this week, noting that she’s “not expecting too much.”
Korda, who is wearing a compression sleeve on her left arm, said rehab consisted mostly of back and shoulder exercises. She’s been struggling with shoulder issues for a year now.
Nelly Korda hits from the 18th tee during the first round of the 2022 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio Golf Club on January 27, 2022, in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
“I kind of just made sure that I was ready and 100 percent going into my comeback,” she said, “and I didn’t really want to rush it or anything. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to have any issues, even if it was just with like a little bit of my shoulder bugging me coming back in.”
Korda won four times on the LPGA in 2021 as well as Olympic gold in Tokyo and was named Female Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America. She’s currently No. 2 in the world.
Korda missed being on tour so much, that the only time she watched LPGA coverage on TV was when big sister Jessica contended on Sunday at the Chevron Championship.
“That one hurt a lot just because it was the last event,” she said, “the last time there.”
She began hitting balls again around the Palos Verdes Championship in late April, starting out slow at 60 percent, hitting her 8-iron around 100 yards to see how her arm felt. Once she got the clearance from her doctor, she was “good to go.”
“As I got closer to this week,” she said, “I started finally hitting it a little longer. I think the juices started flowing a little bit more, but I’m so happy to be out here. I’ve missed everyone, and I’m just grateful.”
LPGA star Lexi Thompson spoke with Golfweek about what she expects from her Cobra gear, why she plays 13-year-old irons and more.
Lexi Thompson has been one of the predominant faces of American women’s golf since she became the youngest female to ever qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open … at age 12. Last year, then aged 26, she had a five-shot lead at the U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco before her dream of winning slipped away in the final round, and Yuka Saso edged out Nasa Hataoka in a playoff.
This week at Pine Needles in North Carolina, Thompson is looking to bounce back and win the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open. She recently spoke at length about her gear with Golfweek’s David Dusek.
Pine Needles was designed by legendary golf architect Donald Ross and was restored in 2017 by Kyle Franz.
You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge a golf course by its champions.
That means Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines can hold its own in any discussion about great golf courses.
Pine Needles is preparing to host its fourth U.S. Women’s Open on June 2-5. It is a record number of times the USGA has brought the Women’s Open to one course.
The previous three winners are Hall of Famers Annika Sorenstam in 1996, Karrie Webb in 2001 and future Hall of Famer Cristie Kerr in 2007.
“We’ve been very fortunate,” said Pine Needles president Kelly Miller. “The course has produced some great champions. I think it’s a tribute to Donald Ross (the designer), the strategy, the shot integrity and everything else.”
Miller, 63, is the son-in-law of the late Peggy Kirk Bell and her husband Warren ‘Bullet’ Bell, who purchased the course in 1953.
Pine Needles will be hosting the Women’s Open for the first time in 15 years. It underwent a restoration in 2017 under the guidance of Kyle Franz that changed the grass on the greens. He also rebuilt the bunkers and added more in strategic locations. The final touch was removing the rough and replacing it with wiregrass and sandy areas to give the course a more rugged look.
“The course is a lot different than it was in the previous Opens,” Miller said. “No. 1 is the Bermuda greens which are much firmer and have a lot more contouring since the restoration. The Open at Olympic Club last year had very deep rough and here we don’t have virtually any rough. We have wiregrass but the course will play very wide and, hopefully, very fast. Whoever wins here will have to be a great thinker and be able to execute their shots.”
Sorenstam vs. next generation
Annika Sorenstam and David Esch pose with a trophy during the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles in North Carolina. Mandatory Credit: J.D. Cuban /Allsport
Sorenstam is a 10-time major winner with three U.S. Open titles. She retired in 2008 but returned to competition last year and won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open after she turned 50. That qualified her to play at Pine Needles this year. She won by six shots here in 1996 with an 8-under score.
“The course is challenging but it’s fair,” she said. “It has a variety of holes and it may look straightforward but it’s not as wide open as you think. You have to have accuracy on top of distance.”
Sorenstam will be competing against players half her age or younger and distance is a concern for her. In her heyday, she carried her driver 250 yards. Now she hits it 230.
“That’s a two-club difference,” she said. “I feel that many of today’s players can reach the par 5s in two but that will be hard for me. I want to just play my game, not get caught up in the moment and enjoy it.”
Course superintendent David Fruchte has been at Pine Needles for 32 years and believes accuracy could be more important than distance in winning the 77th U.S. Women’s Open.
“The most challenging thing for the women will be their second shots coming into the greens,” he said. “These Bermuda greens seem to be firmer than what we had before with bentgrass. Coming in at the right angle and getting the ball to stop will be the key.”
Surprisingly, the course will play slightly shorter than it did in 2007. It is still a par 71 but the yardage this year is 6,638 yards compared to 6,664 in 2007.
Advances in ball and club technology have helped players hit the ball farther than 15 years ago, forcing most courses to get longer, not shorter. It is a testament to the strategy required to score well at Pine Needles.
“The biggest thing is we got rid of the rough and brought in a lot of wiregrass which can make it play tougher,” Fruchte said. “There could be some difficult lies. We have also narrowed the fairways. Before we had 28 to 32-yard wide fairways and three inches of rough. It’s a Donald Ross golf course that stands up to the test of time. We’ll see how it stands up from 2007 to now.”
Cathedrals of the game
The Flag Raising on the first tee before the start of the first round of the 2019 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. on Thursday, May 16, 2019. (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)
John Bodenhamer, the chief championships officer, said the USGA includes Pine Needles on a list of courses it calls “cathedrals of the game.” Other courses on that list include future U.S. Women’s Open sites such as Pebble Beach, Riviera, Inverness, Oakmont and Pinehurst.
“We are going to the game’s greatest places,” Bodenhamer said. “It’s the litmus test the USGA uses for the Women’s Open. It’s just an amazing lineup that we are proud of.”
But Pine Needles will rank at the top of the list by hosting its fourth national women’s golf championship.
“We like to think of Pine Needles as an incredibly special place,” he said. “There is a reason this is the only place in the game to host four U.S. Women’s Opens. Just think about the honor roll of past champions here. Great courses produce great winners.”
2022 U.S. Women’s Open
When: June 2-5
Where: Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines
On the air: Thursday-Friday (Golf Channel, Peacock); Saturday-Sunday (NBC)
The course: Pine Needles, which was the site of the 1996, 2001 and 2007 U.S. Women’s Open Championships, will be played at 6,638 yards with par at 71 for the US Women’s Open. Designed by legendary golf architect Donald Ross, Pine Needles was restored in 2017 by Kyle Franz.
This year’s U.S. Women’s Open will be played June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club.
It’s official. Nelly Korda is back.
The world No. 2 posted on Instagram Friday: “See you guys @uswomensopen next week.”
Korda last teed it up on the LPGA in early February at the LPGA Drive On Championship. She has finished T-15, T-20, and T-4 in three starts this season and missed the first major of the year.
This year’s U.S. Women’s Open will be played June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Korda won four times on the LPGA in 2021 as well as Olympic gold in Tokyo and was named Female Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America.
This will be Korda’s eighth Women’s Open appearance. She has missed the cut in her last two USWO starts. Her best finish, a share of 10th, came in 2018 at Shoal Creek.
“This will be our first Open without Mrs. Bell so I know she’ll be looking down.”
President of Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club Kelly Miller plans to be standing at the first tee when the first shot is struck in the 77th US Women’s Open.
Miller recalls standing there with his late mother-in-law and the owner of the course, Peggy Kirk Bell, when the first tee shot was hit in 1996 for the first U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles.
“I was with Peg when the first shot went off,” Miller said. “It was pretty cool. She had a little tear in her eye and said her husband Bullet would have been so proud. So, we’ll all be down there on that first tee for this tournament.”
Bell was a charter member of the LPGA in 1950. She was a pioneer in buying a plane and flying herself to tournaments. When her playing days were over, she became a renowned teacher of the game, especially for women.
In an era when women golfers were not always wanted at golf courses, Bell welcomed them. She became the first woman voted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame in 2002.
In 1990, she received the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the USGA in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
In 2019, Bell was voted posthumously into the World Golf Hall of Fame. She died in 2016 at the age of 95.
“We miss her so much but yet there’s still so much of her that is still here,” Miller said. “In the end, it’s the feeling this is still her house.”
Bell was instrumental in getting the USGA to come to Pine Needles in 1996. The course had hosted a U.S. Girls Junior and was in the midst of hosting the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in 1991.
Judy Bell, no relation, was a USGA executive sitting in the Pine Needles bar with Miller and Bell.
“Mrs. Bell said to Judy, ‘We’ve had the kids and we have these old ladies here. When are we going to get us some pros?’ ” Miller recalled. “Judy said, ‘Peg, if you want the Open, you’ve got it.’ And that’s how it happened.”
Annika Sorenstam’s relationship with Peggy Kirk Bell
Annika Sorenstam of Sweden kisses the trophy after winning the 1996 U.S. Women”s Open at the Pine Needles Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Mandatory Credit: Craig Jones /Allsport
Hall of Fame golfer Annika Sorenstam won the first Open at Pine Needles. She retired in 2008 but returned to competition last year when she turned 50 and won the U.S. Women’s Senior Open. That earned her a spot in the Open field this year and she will tee it up at Pine Needles.
Sorenstam forged a special relationship with Bell. Sorenstam, a native of Sweden, was playing in her first golf tournament in the US as a young amateur about 30 years ago at Pinehurst Resort.
“I met Peggy and she offered to show me around in a limousine,” Sorenstam recalled during a media event in April. “I had never been in one before. She brought me here to stay at Pine Needles and she was a great host. It brings back a lot of memories coming back here.”
Their friendship grew over the years until Bell passed away.
Sorenstam was asked if she would be playing in this U.S. Women’s Open if it was being held somewhere besides Pine Needles.
“No, I would not have,” she said. “I’m pretty sure about that. That was probably the deciding factor.
“Being a past champion here is very special and being with Peggy’s family. There was always this friendly, family-feeling environment here.”
Record number of U.S. Women’s Open entrants
Seated in front is Peggy Kirk Bell, the matriarch and founding member of the LPGA. Behind Bell is, from left, her son Kirk Bell, his wife, Holly Bell, her oldest daughter Peggy Ann Bell Miller, her husband, Kelly Miller, her youngest daughter, Bonnie Bell McGowan, and her husband, Pat McGowan.
This will be a record-setting U.S. Women’s Open in a couple of ways. First, there were a record 1,874 entries trying to qualify for the field of 156 players. Then, there is the biggest purse in women’s golf. The addition of sponsor ProMedica has allowed the USGA to nearly double the purse to $10 million. The winner will receive $1.8 million.
Those are numbers Bell could hardly have imagined when she and her husband bought Pine Needles in 1953.
“This will be our first Open without Mrs. Bell so I know she’ll be looking down,” Miller said.
The two-time U.S. Women’s Open winner has withdrawn from the event in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Inbee Park will not compete in the 77th U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. The two-time U.S. Women’s Open winner has withdrawn from the event in Southern Pines, North Carolina, along with this week’s Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play event.
Park’s manager told Golfweek that she’s taking off a few weeks to get back into top form and will decide on an upcoming schedule soon. The seven-time major winner finished T-16/T-3 in recent back-to-back events in Los Angeles and is currently No. 9 in the world. Park tied for fourth when the USWO was last held at Pine Needles in 2007.
Andrea Lee on the 12th tee during the second round of the Cognizant Founders Cup on October 8, 2021 at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
Andrea Lee replaces Park in the field. Other alternates who are now in the Women’s Open field include Allison Emrey, Allisen Corpuz, Lilia Vu, Ingrid Lindblad, Pornanong Phatlum, Dottie Ardina, Karissa Kilby, Lauren Kim and Jillian Hollis.
The Women’s Open will be held for a fourth time at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club June 2-5 in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Kerr won the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open held at Pine Needles but is not exempt this year.
A record number of entries were filed for this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, the U.S. Golf Association has announced. The 1,874 total narrowly tops the previous record of 1,873 set in 2015, when the championship was held at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club.
Past champions Cristie Kerr (2007) and Eun Hee Ji (2009) were among those who filed entries for this year’s championship, scheduled for June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Kerr won the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open held at Pine Needles but is not exempt this year. Last year, the former No. 1 competed on a special exemption at The Olympic Club.
Kerr, 44, is scheduled to compete in Morristown, New Jersey, on May 10, while Ji, 35, is in the Fort Myers, Florida, qualifier on May 4.
Leonie Tavares, 11, of Canada is the youngest entrant, and Denise Callahan, 61, from Canton, Ohio, is the oldest. California amateur Vanessa Wang, 21, was the last one in, beating the April 6 deadline by seven minutes.
Annika Sörenstam of Sweden plays her shot from the second tee during the second round of the 2022 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club on January 21, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
2021 USWO winner Yuka Saso and Annika Sorenstam are two of the past champions who highlight the field along with Michelle Wie West (2014), Inbee Park (2008, 2013), So Yeon Ryu (2011), In Gee Chun (2015), Brittany Lang (2016), Sung Hyun Park (2017), Ariya Jutanugarn (2018), Jeongeun Lee6 (2019), and A Lim Kim (2020).
There are 82 players who are fully exempt into the championship. That number will increase with the addition of winners from any LPGA co-sponsored event prior to the USWO as well as any player who is among the top 75 points leaders and ties from the Rolex Rankings as of May 16, who is not otherwise exempt.
Here’s the list of exempt players 2022 U.S. Women’s Open (as of April 6):
PINEHURST, N.C. – I won’t bother writing that you should play golf in Pinehurst. You already know that. The Sandhills region of North Carolina is dubbed the Home of American Golf for a reason.
Advising well-traveled players they should try out Pinehurst is akin to telling gearheads that Ferraris are nice or suggesting a foodie sample something beyond the SpaghettiOs. But until you immerse yourself in Pinehurst, it’s difficult to imagine how much the game defines this little village and its surrounds – and vice versa. It’s one of the few places in the world where just about any conversation can safely begin with the question, “How you been hitting it?”
So many options among great courses. So many chances to bunk up in historic lodging. So many shots to be hit by so many golfers. Pinehurst doesn’t simply scratch an itch to play somewhere new, or even old – it fulfills a deeper need to immerse oneself in the game. Even the USGA is tapping into that need, building a second HQ in Pinehurst and bringing more national championships, feeding on the game’s energy that flourishes among the tall trees and sandy soil.
The only problem is time. How to set aside enough days to sample it all?
Pinehurst No. 8 in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort)
That’s where the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for the top public-access layouts in each state comes into play. The list for North Carolina includes 15 courses, with more than half around Pinehurst. So while I won’t bother telling you that you should play golf in Pinehurst, we can look at the rankings list to see where you might want to start among the region’s 40-plus layouts.
The eponymous Pinehurst Resort is an obvious choice, home to four of the top 15 public-access tracks in North Carolina, including the famed No. 2. But the great golf doesn’t end at the resort’s sprawling borders or on its numerical lineup. Four more of the top 15 layouts in the state lie just beyond. It’s an area so packed with strong golf that, given time, it’s entirely possible to play all eight of these layouts without stopping to refuel a rental car.
The Carolina Hotel at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst)
The ranked lineup truly does offer golf to suit just about any taste. Old courses that define classic architecture. More recent courses that promise modern flair. Restored courses. Renovated courses. Even a newish par-3 course that shouldn’t be missed. You get the idea – it’s all here.
I set out on an epic adventure of golf earlier this year to see exactly how much Pinehurst golf could be squeezed into four and a half days. Trust me, it’s a lot of steps. I played six of the best-in-state public-access courses in the Pinehurst area plus two private clubs and a quick trip around the hottest par-3 course in town. That was all a follow-up to a previous trip in which I played the other best-in-state courses. There is no doubt, if you want to play as many solid golf holes as possible in the shortest amount of time, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better destination than Pinehurst and the courses below.
Donald Ross, one through five. That’s basically the roundup for the top public-access courses in North Carolina.
Donald Ross, one through five. That’s basically the roundup for the top public-access courses in North Carolina, as the famed designer left fingerprints all across the Golfweek’s Best rankings in the Tar Heel State.
Best of all, there is a great variety among just those five. And scrolling down the list leaves plenty of other great options as well, be they original Ross designs or modern renovations on ground that Ross first shaped into golf courses.
Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. That includes the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as layouts accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.
No. 1 is, without any irony of nomenclature, No. 2 (pictured atop this story). The famed No. 2 course at Pinehurst Resort was built by Ross and opened in 1903. The native Scotsman loved the Sandhills around the resort so much that he lived there in a house, now known as the Dornoch Cottage and named for his birthplace, off No. 2’s third fairway from 1925 until his death in 1948.
No. 2 might be the best example of what have become known as Ross greens, frequently crowned with runoffs in all directions. Picture a turtle shell or an upside-down saucer – these kinds of greens demands on approach shots and even chips as players try to keep balls on the putting surfaces. The design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw renovated No. 2 a decade ago, returning the course to its sandy past while preserving the famed greens.
No. 2 has been the host of three U.S. Opens, with the next coming in 2024 and several more on the schedule as the U.S. Golf Association plans to move a second headquarters to Pinehurst, complete with club-testing facilities and more. Besides being the top public-access course in North Carolina, No. 2 ranks third on Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list for the whole U.S. and is 15th on the Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list for all layouts opened before 1960 in the U.S.
Pinehurst No. 4 in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst)
Players don’t have to look far to find the next course on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in North Carolina. The course named No. 4 at Pinehurst Resort sits in the second spot, as well as sitting right next door to No. 2. Ross originally laid out a course on that rolling land, with six holes opening in 1913 and the full, original 18 available in 1919. The course was renovated over the ensuring decades by Robert Trent Jones and then Tom Fazio, and in 2018 Gil Hanse completed the most recent reimagining of the layout. Since then, No. 4 has jumped up the course ratings and ranks 28th on Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list.
No. 3 in North Carolina is Mid Pines just across town from the famed resort. Built by Ross in 1921 on ground that features more elevation changes than Nos. 2 or 4, Mid Pines was restored in 2013 by Kyle Franz. Shorter and more intimate, Mid Pines is a can’t-miss course in the Sandhills region.
Mid Pines in North Carolina (Courtesy of Mid Pines)
The fourth-ranked Pine Needles sits just across the street from Mid Pines and is owned by the same operating group founded by LPGA legend Peggy Kirk Bell. Also restored by Franz in 2017, this Ross design has hosted three U.S. Women’s Opens and will be the site for that event again in 2022. It’s a bigger layout than Mid Pines, with more length available as a championship test, and the two courses’ proximity and heritage make them a perfect target for traveling golfers.
No. 5 among North Carolina’s public-access layouts is Linville Golf Club, another Ross design that opened in 1924 about a three-hour drive west of Pinehurst.
But don’t consider those to be a complete roundup of must-see courses in North Carolina, which is ridiculously stacked with great public-access layouts, especially around the Pinehurst area.
Pine Needles in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pine Needles)
The resort, for example, had four courses in all on the 2020 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for North Carolina, with the course named No. 8 ranking seventh in the state and the course known as No. 7 ranked ninth.
A short drive north of Pinehurst in Sanford is Tobacco Road, ranked sixth among public-access courses in the state. Completed by the highly creative Mike Strantz in 1988, Tobacco Road offers several holes the likes of which won’t be found anywhere else – at times it feels more like a video game, trying to bounce balls off dramatic slopes to avoid hazards that scream to players, “Don’t go here.” Great fun.
And Mid South at Talamore Golf Resort, not far from Pine Needles and Mid Pines, was built by Arnold Palmer as a much more modern-feeling layout, and it ranks No. 13 in North Carolina.
Tobacco Road in North Carolina (Golfweek files)
Also worth noting, Franz in 2021 is working on another restoration of a Ross course at Southern Pines, improving the layout at the behest of the same owners of Mid Pines and Pine Needles. Southern Pines ranked No. 15 in North Carolina before the restoration. Sitting on some of the hilliest ground of any course around Pinehurst, it promises to be another great destination for traveling players when the work is planned to be completed in the fall of 2021.
Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in North Carolina
The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.
No. 2, No. 4, the Cradle and a strong cast of area courses maintain the status of the North Carolina resort as a must-play destination.
Give or take a DeChambeau drive, it’s about 3,750 miles from the town of St. Andrews in the Kingdom of Fife to the village of Pinehurst in the sandhills of North Carolina. But what distance separates, golf connects.
St. Andrews and Pinehurst are often mentioned in the same breath as homes of the game in the Old World and the New, respectively, not least because both places don’t just embrace golf but rather seem to have grown organically around its finest canvases.
The village of Pinehurst is dominated by its eponymous resort, which can now boast more golf courses than Elizabeth Taylor could ex-husbands. There are nine standard courses, all numbered, and the most celebrated – the Richard Burton, if you like – is No. 2. It has hosted three U.S. Opens, a U.S. Women’s Open, a U.S. Senior Open, a PGA Championship, a Ryder Cup and three U.S. Amateurs. There isn’t another venue in golf that owns such a glittering resume.
When I first visited No. 2 about 15 years ago, much of its strategic charm was buried beneath sod. Its fairways were wall-to-wall grass, generous enough to land an aircraft without disturbing a pine cone. What little it demanded of players off the tee, it made up for around the famously crowned greens, where someone with a stonemason’s touch might ping-pong hither and yon for some time. To wit: A friend once shot an ignominious round of 121 at No. 2. With one ball!
A long season of change at Pinehurst began a decade ago, when No. 2 was restored by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. The duo ripped out 35 acres of turf, leaving native areas dotted with grass and scrub that not only returned long-lost playing angles to the old masterpiece but gave it back real character and authenticity too. You’ll still find almost every wayward shot out there – trust me on this – but No. 2’s demands off the tee are considerably more thoughtful and exacting than they once were.
Pinehurst No. 4, recently redesigned by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner (Courtesy of Pinehurst)
For my money, No. 2 is No. 2 only to Pacific Dunes among the finest publicly accessible golf courses in America. The U.S. Open returns here in 2024, marking its fourth staging in a quarter-century in Pinehurst.
The rebirth of No. 2 was a springboard for greater change at Pinehurst, a subtle shift that firmly consigned the era of stiff collars and upper lips to the photos adorning the walls and ushered in a more mellow mien. The ambience of the resort and the golf options it offers are much more relaxed these days, to the point of being kid-friendly (if you’re into that sort of thing).
Two years after the new No. 2 was unveiled, Thistle Dhu opened. It’s an 18-hole putting course right by the clubhouse, inspired by the famed Himalayas course in St. Andrews. Two years after that, in 2014, the resort purchased a nearby Jack Nicklaus course called National Golf Club, which became No. 9 for members and guests.
But Pinehurst still suffered the same burden as many other fine resorts –Kiawah Island and Sea Island, to name but two – in that the drop-off in quality between its premier golf course and its other layouts was precipitous. Pinehurst’s second-best was considered No. 4, which had been touched by more designers than a supermodel, all the way back to Donald Ross his ownself. What existed a few years ago was a Tom Fazio design that was popular but unspectacular.
So Pinehurst hired Gil Hanse and gave him a bulldozer. Both did fine work.
What exists today is unrecognizable from what was there previously. No. 4 shares only a number and a footprint with its predecessors, and today suggests more the native, sandy look of No. 2 than the parkland vibe of the old Fazio effort (though its contours are considerably more helpful than those of its more feted neighbor). A year after reopening, No. 4 co-hosted the ’19 U.S. Amateur with No. 2.
It was not Hanse’s only mark on Pinehurst.
In 2017, Hanse created the Cradle, presumably so named because it will rock you. Located by the clubhouse and right next to Thistle Dhu, it’s a 9-hole adventure, with holes ranging in length from 56 yards to 126 yards. All you need to navigate the Cradle is a putter, a couple of wedges and a thirst for entertainment. On any given day, the Cradle is peopled with more than a few aspiring golfers who are still years away from being old enough to tackle the more storied course around the corner of the clubhouse. Fees are $50, replays are free and kids under 17 play free when accompanied by a paying adult. The Cradle is as chill as golf gets, and in a town long known for a more formal bearing, it might be the best use of 10 acres in the game.
Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Course in Southern Pines, N.C. (Courtesy of Pine Needles)
There is more to Pinehurst than the behemoth resort. A few miles away is Pine Needles, another Donald Ross course, long owned by the late Hall of Fame teacher Peggy Kirk Bell, whose family still runs the place. Pine Needles and its sister course, Mid-Pines, were both restored in recent years by Kyle Franz, who cut his teeth working on projects like Pacific Dunes in Oregon, Barnbougle Dunes in Australia and, closer to home, the No. 2 restoration.
Pine Needles recaptures every tease of Ross’s imagination, tumbling over heaving terrain with every hole beautifully framed amid the pines. Its green complexes are the equal of most any you’ll find. Adding to the thrill ride: Pine Needles offers Finn Cycles, sporty two-wheeled motorized scooters that carry both bag and player. They might not clean your clubs, but nor do they give you a bad yardage or mock your misreads, plus after 18 holes you dismount feeling like Steve McQueen.
Tobacco Road near Pinehurst, N.C. (Courtesy of Pinehurst)
Just as there are dozens of fine courses within range of the Old in St. Andrews, the sandhills too offers more options than most travelers have days to spend. One I am loath to pass up is Tobacco Road, located in Sanford, halfway between Pinehurst and the airport in Raleigh. Arguably the most polarizing course in America, Tobacco Road is a wildly engrossing design by the late architect Mike Strantz. It has its share of blind shots – some of them on putts – but there is not a single dull shot among its 18 incredibly varied holes. It is well worth a detour.
What ultimately connects Pinehurst and St. Andrews is not simply history but evolution, the fact that they are living museums to this ancient game. Both are grounded in old sepia images of dour Scots and gentlemen golfers, but each has in its own way adapted to ever-changing challenges, audiences and eras. And that’s perhaps the most impressive accomplishment evident now in Pinehurst: that so much has been added, while nothing has been lost.
