In his upstairs office at the Pinehurst Resort clubhouse, Tom Pashley smiled and reflected back on his nearly nine years as president of the legendary property in North Carolina’s Sandhills.
“When Don Padgett retired (as president and COO) in October 2014, we had just hosted back-to-back U.S. (Men’s and Women’s) Opens, and No. 2 had been restored,’’ Pashley said. “I remember thinking in the back of my mind, ‘Am I just grabbing the steering wheel to keep steering the ship? Or are there other things to do? ‘ At that time, it wasn’t clear we were going to be going on this trajectory.’’
That trajectory has recreated Pinehurst from a sort of living history museum of American golf to a destination that is embracing its future, with such things as The Cradle short course; Pinehurst Brewing Co;. renovation of the iconic Carolina Hotel; and the 2024 opening of a 10th course designed by Tom Doak, perhaps the most in-demand architect working today.
The Cradle
Oh yes, there’s also the U.S. Golf Association’s second headquarters being built within eyesite of the resort clubhouse, and the 2024 Men’s U.S. Open next June. Pinehurst Resort is leasing the property (for a 150-year term) to the USGA. The resort and USGA also are partnering to construct an outdoors testing pavilion.
“The beauty of it – and the driving force behind it – is the Dedman family and their dedication to keep pushing ahead and not rest on our laurels,’’ said Pashley, an Augusta, GA., native who had been Pinehurst Resort’s director of sales and marketing for 18 years before he became president.
Tom Pashley (Pinehurst Resort)
The Dedman family – led by its late patriarch Robert Dedman, Sr., – is justifiably credited with saving Pinehurst Resort from Diamondhead Corporation’s real estate greed when it bought the resort in 1984 – 14 years after Diamondhead had bought it from the founding Tufts family for $9 million.
A statue of Dedman, a Texas attorney and founder of the ClubCorp empire of golf courses and private clubs, stands near the 18th green of No. 2 – Donald Ross’s beloved masterpiece. Ross also has a statue there, as does resort Founder Richard Tufts, and Payne Stewart, who won the 1999 U.S. Open on No. 2.
Dedman, Sr., died in 2002. HIs son, Robert Dedman, Jr., in 2006 sold ClubCorp, keeping only Pinehurst Resort, of which he is CEO..
“Evolve and innovate – that’s what has motivated us,’’ Pashley said. “We came up with some ideas, like The Cradle (opened in 2017). It seems obvious now, but when you take two par-fours – the first holes on Nos. 3 and 5 – that are parallel and revise that 10 acres of land into something else… That was pretty controversial at the time, with one being a Ross hole and one being an Ellie Maples hole. It took the openness of Bob Dedman and the family to do that. We don’t say ‘No’ to a lot of things, we just say, ‘Yes’ or ‘Maybe.’’’
For most of the past 11 years, a tenth course at Pinehurst Resort fell into that “Maybe,’’ box. The Dedmans first acquired land adjacent to the Pit Golf Links, located a few miles away in Aberdeen, in 2000, When the Pit, designed by Dan Maples, closed due to bankruptcy, the resort acquired that land in 2022, creating 900 contiguous acres. In 2012 – at the same time it was restoring No. 2 – the design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw ventured to the site and routed a golf course. But even with all of Pinehurst Resort’s success and popularity, a new course wasn’t needed until the post-Covid boom of the past three years.
“We had a record year in 2019,’’ Pashley said. “In early 2020 there was Covid. The fall of ‘20, there was interest like never before. We assumed it was only going to be short-term. But in ‘21 it continued, and ‘22 just kept growing.’’
The decision to forego the Coore/Crenshaw routing (at least for now) in favor of Doak, Pashley said, was made in large part for the sake of architectural variety. Ross and No. 2 always will be the resort’s star attractions. Gil Hanse renovated No. 4 in 2018; Coore/Cresnshaw had worked on No. 2; Rees Jones built No. 7 in 1986; and Tom Fazio’s No. 8 – the last technically “new’’ golf course opened in the resort’s centennial year of 1995. The resort in 2014 acquired Pinehurst National, a Jack Niclause design and renamed it No. 9.
Now comes the 10th course (resort insiders are careful not to call it “No. 10’’), currently being shaped by Angela Moser – one of Doak’s top design associates – on the property’s rugged west side. Plans call for the course to open shortly before the 2024 U.S. Open on No. 2. It will eventually include cottage accommodations similar to what are being planned on No. 8.
The 10th Course at Pinehurst Resort (Pinehurst Resort)
“It’s exciting to be building a new course on land that we’ve been patiently sitting on for a long time,’’ Pashley said.
Indeed. The 10th course goes along with the renewed excitement at Pinehurst Resort, as it embraces its past and celebrates its future.
“There was a time when we were all about our history and our championships and championship traditions, but some people would ask, “Is it any fun?’’’ Pashley said. “Now kids are telling their parents that Piehurst is a lot of fun. We are no longer just a time capsule and museum. We’fe welcoming a new generation. That’s been the most fun for me.
“We’re helping push golf forward. But we’re very humble. No one person can say The Cradle was ‘my idea.’ When Pinehrst pushes an idea like The Cradle, which allows music on the golf course and allows people to go barefoot…. A lot of places could do it, but when we do it, they do it.
“It gets back to the concept of “The Cradle of American Golf.’ Golf wasn’t born here, but it was nurtured here and grew here.’’
And continues to grow.
Feature Photo Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort
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