PINEHURST,   Home of America's golf, has engendered more than 600 courses in the state

by R. Bourne &  C. Jaricott

Pinehurst, July 2002 -
"First in flight" on the car plates of North Carolina reminds that the brothers Wright made the first powered flight taking off from the beach of Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17th 1903.  Homeland of the Indians Cherokees and land of the first English settlement, North Carolina is proud of his history bringing it out in the heart of old cities at Beaufort, New Bern, Wilmington… There are more movies, TV shows or series made in North Carolina's natural scenic beauty than in any other state except California and New York.  North Carolina is also Home of America's golf where Pinehurst, till 1898, has engendred more than 600 courses through the state.

Located on the mid-Atlantic coast of the USA at about the same distance from New York and Miami, this middle large state extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the southern Appalachians which can be admired from the famous Blue Ridge Parkway. Mount Mitchell is the highest peak on the eastern side of the Mississippi while the coast is crenellated by hundreds of long islands and the shore strewed by marsh and swamps, ponds and lakes. The Heartland host huge urban areas and farmland in gently rolling plains and the large Sandhills where has been designed the famous Pinehurst, ranked in the very first famous golf resorts in the world. From the highest, the Mount Mitchell Golf Course, to the flat windy sea level course of Bald Head Island near to Cape Fear, more than 600 daily-fee, public-access, resort and private courses attract each year millions of golfers.

They come not only for the terrain and variety. They come for the accessibility: by car from the surroundings states and by plane at the international airports of Charlotte, Greensboro or Raleigh-Durham. They come for the climate - golf is played almost year-round at every corner - from the South to escape the tropical heat in summer and from the North to escape the winter when northern courses are frozen or burdened by snow. They come also for the history. Donald Ross moved from Scotland to North Carolina in 1898 and settled a year later at Pinehurst; he designed more than 40 courses in the state. Jack Nicklaus has four, Palmer has six… Ben Hogan won here his first professional tournament and Arnold Palmer, Tom Fazio, Dam Maples live there… But does a golfer really need reason for playing in North Carolina? Just go and enjoy. 

    in the Heartland  (Pinehurst,Grandover,Raleigh)

    in the mountains  (Mount Mitchell, Lake Lure, Etowah)

    at the Atlantic coast (Beaufort, New Bern, Wilmington)

  information ( addresses, phone, fax, e mail...)

Pinehurst and
Grandover in the Heartland
 

Bald Head Island

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