Pinehurst: Home of American Golf

In celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the venerable Pinehurst No. 2 course comes the release of the definitive history of North Carolina Sandhills golf, Pinehurst ~ Home of American Golf (The Evolution of a Legend) written by veteran golf course architect Richard Mandell. It is a story of dumb luck, ingenuity, and grand visions... Pinehurst ~ Home of American Golf is the untold story of one of the three most popular golfing destinations in the world: Pinehurst ~ Home of American Golf (The Evolution of a Legend) . This 384-page, four-color history is more than just a coffee table book. It is a detailed account of the evolution of the playing fields of the Sandhills area of North Carolina and how it directly affected the game of golf in America. The book chronologically reviews the history of golf course development in the Sandhills and how it mirrored the growth, and often directed the evolution of golf architecture and development in the United States. Few authors have written books about Pinehurst. None of those writers has ever completed such a detailed review of an iconic landmark of the game of golf in the United States. Pinehurst ~ Home of American Golf reveals design, construction, and maintenance trends throughout the history of golf development. The book provides insight into the ingenuity and creativity of design and construction techniques of the past and how they relate to decisions made today. Articles from newspapers of the times will reveal the public s exposure to trends of the design industry whose details are not explored in most books written about golf architecture today. Reprinted letters from the major players (Donald Ross, Albert Tillinghast, Tufts family members, Herb Graffis, etc.) in the area give the reader a fly on the wall understanding of day to day operations and challenges. The design evolution of Sandhills golf courses is documented from pre-design site decisions to renovation projects throughout their history, to how these events have defined each golf course as it lays today. Specific design topics such as strategy, golf course features, rhythm of the holes, etc. will all be discussed. The reader will hear directly from the architect about design choices and challenges as well as construction tales which make each golf course s history different. Inside these pages is the story of The Pinehurst Resort, Pine Needles, Mid Pines Golf Club, Southern Pines Country Club, The Country Club of North Carolina, Tobacco Road, and countless other golf courses of the sandhills. Rare, never-before-seen photographs of the early days of sandhills golf include construction scenes of one of the most famous golf courses in the world as well as the only known construction drawings of Pinehurst No. 2. Another feature of Pinehurst ~ Home of American Golf (The Evolution of a Legend) is Mr. Mandell s detailed overlays of historic golf course routings of Pinehurst on top of an aerial photograph from today, allowing the reader access to history only an archaeologist can uncover. The reader can clearly see where features of the past would sit in the present day. Pinehurst ~ Home of American Golf is the definitive encyclopedia of Sandhills golf course history and teaches the reader about golf course architecture as it applies to these golf courses. It is written from my perspective as one of the few practicing golf course architects to have ever based my business in Pinehurst.