PineHurst
"Since I was a kid, Pinehurst and Southern Pines had always been comforting places for my heart. That much was indisputably true. Being there never failed to make me almost ridiculously happy."(Page 55)

Located in the North Carolina heartland, world-renowned Pinehurst Resort is a 2,000-acre historic property featuring spa, golf, tennis, family, events and leisure recreation. Widely known as the Home of American Golf, Pinehurst has hosted more single golf championships than any other site in America, including the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup Matches, PGA Tour Championship and many others.

Pinehurst was originally founded as a health resort in 1895 by James Walker Tufts. At the time, golf was in its American infancy, and the game was actually introduced to the resort not by its owner, but by its guests. Guests at Pinehurst liked to experiment with the Scottish import -- an activity that went relatively unnoticed amid the vast landscape of the new resort until 1898, when Tufts received an angry complaint from a resort dairyman. It seems that Pinehurst guests were hitting little white balls into his pasture and frightening his cows. Rather than rein in his paying guests, Tufts built them a place for their game -- the first golf course. From that moment, the winter resort known as Pinehurst was forever changed.

In 1900, Scottish-born Donald Ross was hired as golf professional for the first 18 holes built at Pinehurst. Ross would later redesign Pinehurst No. 1 and design No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 for the Tufts Family. He has been credited with the design or redesign of over 400 golf courses throughout North America during his career. The resort now has eight world class golf courses, three hotels, a spa and extensive sports and leisure facilities. In 1996 Pinehurst was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Many of the world's rich and famous have crossed the thresholds of Pinehurst - the Rockefellers, DuPonts and Morgans to name a few. John Philip Sousa, Will Rogers, Bing Crosby, Mary Pickford, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey and others have vacationed at Pinehurst. And Amelia Earhart even landed her plane at the resort's airstrip.

The stories of champions and the traditions of championship golf have been created at Pinehurst since 1898. Pinehurst has been the site of countless great moments in golf history, from Ben Hogan's first professional win, to Payne Stewart's dramatic 18th hole putt that led to his 1999 U.S. Open victory. Bobby Jones so revered Pinehurst he connected it to golf's homeland, referring to it as the St. Andrews of United States Golf. The site of more championships than any other golf course in the country, most recently Pinehurst played host to the 2005 U.S. Open Championship. The U.S. Open will return in 2014.

LINK: www.pinehurst.com