- Title
- Our State
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-
- Date
- January 2012
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- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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Our State
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Pinehurst No. 2:
Pure Pinehurst
The home of American golf Pinehurst No. 2 nearly lost itself
trying to be great. But after a yearlong restoration, it looks
just like it always should have, right at home in the
North Carolina Sandhills, written by michael graff
On a new day at Pinehurst No. 2, the flagsticks are the last things set into place.
A golf course isn’t a golf course during the night. It’s just
a cut of land treated more carefully than the other cuts
of land around it. If you walk Pinehurst No. 2 at night,
you won’t see a single ghost of golfers past, despite the
legends; you’ll just stumble upon short grass and shorter
grass, and lots of sand, all strangely placed in the middle
of 18 odd tunnels of longleaf pines. It’s an unnatural
setting with all-natural pieces.
Morning activates it. Nearly20 men scatter throughout
the land. They yank the mower cords, breaking the
silence. They mow one way, then the other way. They
rake sand traps and pick up pinecones and fix ball marks.
They don’t talk much. The air is wet, and the ground is
wet, too, glazed by dew that slept here with No. 2.
The fourth hole is the farthest east of all the holes on
No. 2, one of the East Coast’s most revered golf courses.
Sunrise hits here first. The fourth is a gorgeous hole even to
the eyes of a nongolfer. From the tee, you can see clear to
the green, 520 yards away. In between, a valley bends down
from the tee then up to the green, an empty belly in the
«<
THE SUN RISES OVER THE FOURTH FAIRWAY AT PINEHURST NO. 2.
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