What's So Tough 
About No. 2?
The Ross classic, to which the U.S. Open returns in 2005,
proves that a course needn't be tricked up to be treacherous

There doesn't appear to be any trouble lurking out there on the 15th fairway 
(below) at No. 2 –– or so many pros thought during the 1999 U.S. Open

By Dave Droschak

Lost in the excitement of Payne Stewart's dramatic victory at the 1999 U.S. Open in Pinehurst was a letter slipped to USGA President Buzz Taylor during the awards ceremony.

“What it said was, `We hope you'll come back sooner rather than later,'” said Pinehurst President Pat Corso, confident his resort and the historic No. 2 course had pulled off one of the more successful Opens in history.

Corso had hoped the tournament would return to the North Carolina Sandhills by the end of the decade, maybe 2008. He had his fingers crossed when the USGA met in late January in San Francisco. What came out of the meeting even floored Corso. The U.S. Open was awarded to Pinehurst No. 2 in 2005, the quickest turnaround for a site since the 1940s.

“Things did go very well,” Corso said of the first Open in the 104-history of the resort. “North Carolina showed it they wanted it and was proud to have it.”

Pinehurst even proved a rural site might be advantageous for future Opens with very few traffic headaches. And No. 2, the masterpiece of Donald Ross, more than held its own with the world's best golfers. Only Stewart, who died shortly afterward in the tragic plane crash, broke par on the turtleshell greens.

Why did so many great golfers post big scores on No. 2? Don Padgett, director of golf at Pinehurst, explains. “You think, `I don't see what's so tough about this thing.' Then all of the sudden in the U.S. Open one person is under par. It's sort of pretty. It just lays there and then boom.”

Dr. Trey Holland, the newly-appointed USGA president, remembers when Pinehurst was struggling. Holland and a group of friends from Indianapolis took a series of golfing trips to the famed resort in the early 1980s, prior to its purchase by ClubCorp in 1984. What Holland found was a hurried experience and a lack of service that turned him off.

“I thought (No. 2) was wonderful, but from an operational standpoint it left something to be desired at that time,” said Holland. “I may be looking at it with a jaundiced eye, but they gave you the impression that if you didn't want the tee time or if you didn't want the hotel reservation there were plenty of other people who would take it. It's not that way any more.”

Corso said his vision was clear when he took over as the resort's president in 1987 — map out a path that would return Pinehurst to its rightful position in the game.

How would Corso accomplish it? Certainly not by himself. That's where Padgett and his golfing connections surfaced. “We called Don Padgett's son at Firestone and asked him who we should get,” Corso said. “And he said, `Well, have you talked to my dad?' I said, no, I'm from Indiana, too, and I thought he was dead.”

Padgett was alive and well on the West Coast, and was lured back East by Corso. The first piece of the puzzle was now secured. “We needed to be coached and counseled. Don led the way,” Corso said.

First there was the 1988 PGA Club Pro Championship, a tournament that brought 360 of the best club pros to the Sandhills. “Those guys went back to their clubs . . . and sang our praises and what a special place it was,” Corso said.

Corso and Padgett almost blew the next golden opportunity. Former PGA commissioner Deane Beman called in 1990 and said No. 2 could host the Tour Championship for $500,000. The resort, still short on cash, passed. Beman called back, saying he would waive the fee and set up a time convenient for Pinehurst. Corso and Padgett accepted.

“The 1991 and 1992 Tour Championships were very, very important successes for us in the ongoing return of Pinehurst to championship golf,” said Corso.

Then, the 1994 U.S. Senior Open was supposed to be a test run for a possible Open, but a year before the event the USGA awarded Pinehurst the 1999 Open.

Under Corso's direction, Pinehurst did anything but sit still in the 1990s. The greens on No. 2 were redone with heat resistant Penn G-2 bentgrass prior to the Open. No. 8, the resort's new course marking Pinehurst's centennial, was built by renowned architect Tom Fazio and opened in 1996, and Fazio just completed a redesign of No. 4. No. 5 had its tees rebuilt and greens constructed to USGA standards.

With the addition of No. 8 and Fazio's work on No. 4, Corso said the club now has four championship golf venues. He includes No. 2 and No. 7 in that list.

“We are Pinehurst, but we realize there is a lot going on out there,” Corso said of other resorts across the country. “If you aren't afraid of that you're a fool.

“If we sit still for too long the nature of the beast is that people will move on to the next thing. We had one overriding goal and that was to separate Pinehurst from our competitors by virtue of the fact that we were selling an experience, not a round of golf.”

So how much is a round of golf on No. 2? Don't know, says Corso.

“We have this rule that you have to stay here to play here. You can't wonder in off the street,” Corso said. “Some folks don't like that, but we want to capture you in this historic traditional setting. Certainly the golf is what brought you here and what you'll remember, but we want you to experience the village, parking your car and never having to get into it again and playing eight different golf courses. That is what we are. We are not just No. 2.”

Fazio said he was honored when Pinehurst called him to redesign No. 4.

“That really is the home of American golf, right there at the Pinehurst Country Club,” said Fazio. “For some reason that just seemed really special to me.”

Corso said Fazio changed only four holes of the original Ross layout that also included alterations over the years by several other architects.

However, the course now includes 180 bunkers, wire grass and a host of beautiful natural areas.

“I think of pine trees, I think of magnolia trees, of pine needles on the ground, of wire grass,” Fazio said when asked to describe Pinehurst to a stranger. “You think of a lifestyle, of the little main street, you think of the people that have been there and competed and played in all the events and its tradition in golf.”

There is a lot more to Pinehurst than the majestic resort and its eight golf courses. There are more than 40 courses in Moore County and the surrounding area, making it one of golf's best destinations.

“When you think of golf you think of Pinehurst,” said John Cleetwood, the head pro at Dan Maples-designed Little River Golf Club, six miles north of Pinehurst. “You don't necessarily think of Myrtle Beach when you think of golf.

“We know where our bread is buttered,” Cleetwood added. “People are here for golf and they're here to be treated nicely and that's what we do and stress. That's a big part of why people come back.”

All the merchandise in Cleetwood's pro shop include the words “Pinehurst, N.C.” under his club's name.

“Nobody would care much if it said, `Carthage, N.C.,”' Cleetwood said. “People want to wear that Pinehurst name.”

Caleb Miles is the executive director of the area's convention and visitors bureau, which bills itself as the “Home of American Golf.” Miles said visitors to Pinehurst for the Open were surprised that most of the stereotypes of the area were not true.

“On more than one occasion I went out by myself and listened to people in the stands,” Miles said. “It was amazing the similarities in conversations. People would say things like, `My uncle comes here and this is my first visit and I thought it was . . . just fill in the blank. I thought it was just a place for retirees. I thought it was just a couple of golf courses.”

Another misconception of Pinehurst is that it's pricey.

“You can go down there as a golfer and spend as little as $50 or $60 a day or $500 or $600 a day and almost anywhere in between depending on the level of courses that you want to deal with,” said golf course architect Rick Robbins.

Just in the 1990s alone, the Pinehurst area has added such spectacular courses as Fazio's private Forest Creek and Legacy Golf Links, where this year's U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship will be held. And Pinehurst Hotel and Country Club isn't finished either. Corso said construction for No. 9 may begin this year, and there are plans for a 10th course.

“Four championship golf courses is not enough,” Corso said. “If we are going to be what others say we are, we have to re-validate those statements. We believe we have to continue to add quality golf to our portfolio.”

And despite rumors after the 1999 Open that tee times were scarce, Corso said plenty of spots remain for that dream golf round.

“Some folks thought after the Open that we would be swamped, that a title wave would come over us and we would have demand to play all the time. That it would be like Pebble Beach where you can't even get a tee time in December,” Corso said.

“That hasn't really happened. We've had steady growth, our numbers are going up,” he said. “We're thrilled because we are seeing a lot more of the traditional groups of four and eight guys because we had gone a little more on the corporate side. That is a big part of our business, but we would like a balance (of) 60 percent corporate and 40 percent the foursomes and eightsomes and groups of 16 golfers. That is filling in nicely.”

The U.S. Women's Open will also return to Pine Needles in Southern Pines in 2001.

The USGA's Holland said he can't wait to return.

“I would describe it as a quaint little village, kind of much like I had envisioned Mayberry when I was a kid watching `Andy Griffith', with a real golf flavor to it. I don't know if there is anything to compare it to that I've ever seen. I really don't.”