PIN EH Lit. ST Aims ANOTHER COLKSE
By NELSON C. HYDE
Pinchurst has presented the State of
North Carolina with another "First."
The famed Golf Capital of the
United States opened its new nine
holes in October, giving its Country
Club four IS-hole courses, all starting
and finishing at the clubhouse. No
other club in the country can make
this claim.
It's a far cry from the nine holes
laid out in the winter resort village
in 1898. Charles A. Adams of Boston
established the first course record that
year, a 58. That was for nine holes.
The record today for 18 holes on the
championship No. 2 course, over which
the international Ryder Cup matches
between British and American pro¬
fessionals was played two years ago,
is 65, made by none other than Mr.
Golf himself, Ben Hogan.
The new holes were ready for the
second annual North and South Invi-
Pinehurst general staff maps a new hole. John F. Taylor, engineering officer;
Richard S. Tufts, president; Henson Maples, greenskeeper, of Pinchurst, Inc.
Fourth Becomes an N. C. First
talion Seniors’ Championship the week
of October 26.
Three of the Pinchurst Country
Club courses were revamped this sum¬
mer to provide the 72-hole layout, only
the championship No. 2 course remain¬
ing "as was." The No. 1 course has
a new first tee, from which golfers
will play what was its second hole.
The old first hole of No. 1 becomes
the 10th hole of the No. 4 course. From
the former first tee of the No. 1 course
a new hole will be played which will
be the first hole of the revised No. 3
course. A large part of the old No. 3
course becomes part of No. 4, and new
holes have been added to No. 3 to
complete this course.
There’ll be confusion a-plenty for
golfers returning to Pinchurst this
season, but they'll have four full
courses to select from once they get
used to the layout.
Adding up the tec to green dis¬
tances of the four courses shows a
12
total of 14 miles. "And some addict
soon will be trying to play them all
in one day," said Richard S. Tufts,
president of Pinchurst, Inc., the other
day.
The par 70 No. 1 course measures
6,104 yards. The No. 2 course is 6,952
yards from the back tees used in the
big tournaments. The par is 72. The
No. 3 course, par 71, is 6,013 yards
in length, and the No. 4, which bids
fair to be popular with the older en¬
thusiasts of the ancient sport, totals
5,586 yards with a par of 69.
Some of the new holes of the No. 3
course occupy the big field where the
prize cattle of the late Leonard Tufts,
for years president of Pinchurst, Inc.,
which runs the village, used to graze.
The growth of golf which turned
Pinchurst from the health resort which
its founder, the late James W. Tufts,
father of Leonard, intended it to be
when he bought the land from the Page
family in the 90s, has been consistent
with the world-wide popularity in¬
crease in the game itself. There were
those first nine holes of 1898, a season
when the Pinchurst paper. The Out¬
look, launched a series of articles on
the game.
"The driver is used for the stroke
from the teeing ground. The object is
to get the ball as far as you can. A
fair drive should carry 160 to 175
yards."
Thus reads one paragraph, revealing
how little the public knew about the
game in those days.
Next came nine more holes, added
soon after, these forming the basis of
the present No. 1 course. In 1901 nine
more holes were built, the start of the
now famed No. 2 course which became
IS in 1906. Nine holes of the No. 3
course were completed in 1907, and in
1919 nine were added to this, and the
first nine of No. 4 course built. This
( Continued on page 20)
THE STATE, October 31. 1953
