The spirit of Donald Ross moves through Pinehurst, N.C., as easily as the wind blows through the pine trees of his beloved No. 2 Course at Pinehurst Resort. There’s no way to spend even a few hours at Pinehurst without realizing the Scotsman’s impact on the area and American golf.
Consider that of the 1,000 USGA Championships contested over the past decades, 175 have been played on courses designed by Donald Ross.
This saying from Ross, who arrived at Pinehurst in 1900 and died there in 1948, hangs in the new Golf House Pinehurst for the entire USGA staff to see:
“A country which gets golf-minded need not worry about the honor, the integrity, and the honesty of its people.”
John Bodenhamer, the USGA Chief Championships officer and the man in charge of the U.S. Open, which begins today on Ross’s masterpiece, never tires of reading that saying—or talking about Ross.
“Pinehurst isn’t a country, but when you come here, you feel the energy, the excitement, the celebration of the game,’’ Bodenhamer “People here get the game. When they feel it, it fits. We fit here at Pinehurst because it’s about golf. It’s at the center of this community. It bleeds through everything that’s here.
“I believe our country, the world, would be a better place if every young boy and girl could grow up on a golf course. Boy, if they could grow up at Pinehurst, it would be even better.’’