News, Events & Articles
Pinehurst enlists Coore and Crenshaw to lead project that will return character to No. 2
March 4, 2010
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. (March 4, 2010) – Pinehurst has signed an agreement with the renowned firm of Coore and Crenshaw Inc., to return both natural and strategic character to its championship No. 2 course. Work will be conducted gradually in 2010 without any closure to the course or to individual holes until mid-November.
The project’s philosophy is to restore some of the course’s natural aesthetic characteristics and to bring back shot values and strategic play originally crafted by Donald Ross, but that have been lost over time. They include returning sandy waste areas, native wiregrass and natural bunker edges; widening the fairways to play as they did in the era from 1935 to 1960; and reducing the amount of manicured rough by as much as 30 to 40 percent.
The project began last week, when the design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw conducted its first planning meeting with Pinehurst executives and golf course management leadership.
“We feel confident that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw are the right people to bring back key Ross features to the course,” said Pinehurst CEO and Owner, Bob Dedman Jr. “Their body of work speaks for itself. They share a level of respect for the history and tradition of the game, and for Pinehurst. We’re undertaking this project to perpetuate Ross’ vision, knowing his design elements were meant to stand the test of time.”
Coore and Crenshaw researched historic photographs last week, along with documents and drawings of the course’s irrigation plan that mapped the course’s progression from soft fairway lines to the manicured, wall-to-wall grass look synonymous with the modern era. The new project will return a natural aesthetic to No. 2 that is indicative of its native soil and topography.
Initial steps have commenced this week beginning with widening of the fairways, and will continue through the spring and summer with gradual turf reduction in the rough areas. The Coore and Crenshaw team will simultaneously begin a review of each hole’s strategic value, beginnings with holes 11 through 14. It will opportunistically choose the scheduling of the remaining work throughout the year.
“It is not our intent to radically change this golf course,” Coore said. “We’re trying to uncover it, not recover it. We’re trying to take what Ross left and perhaps bring it back to the character and definition of what was once here. In short, we’ll bring the strategy back, and reinstate its character.”
Course work is not expected to impact play on No. 2 until the course closes for the winter off-season months, from November 15 until March 2, 2011. The signature greens of No. 2 will not be touched, nor will significant length be added to the course as a result of the Coore and Crenshaw project. With the exception of the seventh hole, tee boxes will remain the same as well. When the majority of the work is completed in early 2011, the course will have minimal mowed rough, larger playing areas, and a better fit into the Sandhills landscape that existed during the time of Hogan, Snead, Nelson and Nicklaus.
“When you see it and feel Pinehurst, you know it’s something different. In Ross’ mind, it was the best way he believed a course should be played – his masterpiece. His courses are so beautifully balanced, intended to test every part of your game. This piece of ground was special to him. To contribute our ideas here is a high, high honor.”
While the USGA was not a leading force behind the restoration work, the organization has been informed and consulted in these early stages.
“The time is right to undertake this endeavor,” said Pinehurst President Don Padgett II. “We’re not doing this for purely environmental reasons, nor are we doing this project as preparation for the 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open Championship. We’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do, as stewards of this historic course.”
About Pinehurst
Located in the North Carolina heartland, world-renowned Pinehurst Resort is a 2,000-acre historic property that has been widely known as the cradle of American golf. It 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. In 2014, it will make history again as the only site to host both the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open Championships in the same year, in back to back weeks.
See pinehurst.com or call 800-487-4653 for a complete list of events and activities.
# # #
More News, Events & Articles
Golf Course Architecture...The Anti-Augusta Syndrome
February 15, 2011Adam Lawrence was blown away on a visit to see the restoration of Pinehurst No. 2. Led by the design firm of Coore & Crenshaw, the restoration currently under way at Donald Ross’s masterpiece, Pinehurst No. 2, might just be the most important project the golf world has seen for many years.
Read moreTexas Golfer - Checking In with Gentle Ben
January 22, 2011Home will always be in Texas, but for the past 20 years Ben Crenshaw has had to leave Austin behind in hopes of unearthing golf in its most native settings
Read moreFlorida Doak/Coore & Crenshaw Resort launched
November 17, 2010
After months of speculation, the new 36-hole resort project featuring courses simultaneously designed and built by the firms of Coore and Crenshaw and Renaissance Golf Design, has been revealed.
The Streamsong Resort is being developed by the Mosaic Company, the world’s largest producer of phosphates, on a 16,000 acre former mine site in Florida, between Tampa and Orlando. Streamsong’s site is unique as the mining activities have created dramatic landforms that, according to the architects, will make for great golf holes.
Hole #1 Restoration at Pinehurst #2
October 18, 2010Click on the web link to view a short video from the Members Club porch (opening tee shot) taken from an aerial lift showing the Coore & Crenshaw course restoration work at Pinehurst #2.
Read more
Hidden Creek Golf Club - Golf Club Atlas
September 24, 2010
Many factors go into the creation of a ‘great’ course, with great defined as a course that one wishes to play numerous times, year after year. Three primary ones are the site needs to be special, the driving force behind the project must understand and look to promote golf as being about enjoyment and variety and then finally, the architect has to deliver a strategic design. Getting all three factors to come together at the same time is difficult or otherwise there would be many more great courses.
Hidden Creek in southern New Jersey is a rare example of a modern course where the key ingredients seamlessly melded together, though from the time that the owner first contacted the architects to when this dream course opened was seventeen years!
Why We Need More Par-Three Courses
July 24, 2010
Short layouts are still out of fashion, but a revival could be a boon to the game—and also really fun
Mike Keiser, who commissions everything at the Bandon Dunes complex in Oregon as a golf purist's fantasy, is building a fifth course to add to his famous four. It's something you don't hear about much anymore - a par-three. Construction on the 12-holer, tentatively called "The Bandon Preserve," starts in February.
Uncovering Pinehurst #2 - Follow the Progress
May 26, 2010We're honored to have the renowned firm of Coore and Crenshaw Inc., working with us to return both the natural and strategic character to our championship No. 2 course.
Read moreNorthern California Coore & Crenshaw Project
May 22, 2010
Coore & Crenshaw associate James Duncan is exploring the viability of a new project in Northern California Wine Country, and visiting with prospective investors. For details, images and project information, please visit: www.goatranchresort.com
Ben Crenshaw returns to Colorado Golf Club for the 71st Senior PGA Championship
May 3, 2010He'll have ditched the mud boots and jeans for cleats and khakis, and have swapped his shovel for a driver. Yet the heart that went into building Colorado Golf Club figures to just as passionate when Ben Crenshaw tees it up at the 71st Senior PGA Championship. "He's extremely proud and excited to play a major championship on his own golf course," said Mike McGetrick, a founding partner at the private Parker club.
Read morePinehurst enlists Coore and Crenshaw to lead project that will return character to No. 2
March 4, 2010
VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. (March 4, 2010) – Pinehurst has signed an agreement with the renowned firm of Coore and Crenshaw Inc., to return both natural and strategic character to its championship No. 2 course. Work will be conducted gradually in 2010 without any closure to the course or to individual holes until mid-November.
The project’s philosophy is to restore some of the course’s natural aesthetic characteristics and to bring back shot values and strategic play originally crafted by Donald Ross, but that have been lost over time. They include returning sandy waste areas, native wiregrass and natural bunker edges; widening the fairways to play as they did in the era from 1935 to 1960; and reducing the amount of manicured rough by as much as 30 to 40 percent.
The project began last week, when the design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw conducted its first planning meeting with Pinehurst executives and golf course management leadership.