Pinehurst No. 2 History: Donald Ross, the U.S. Open & the Course That Changed Golf
Golf has a lot of famous places.
St. Andrews
Augusta National
Pebble Beach
And then there's Pinehurst.
The name has become almost synonymous with American golf, and at the center of that history is Pinehurst No. 2, the Donald Ross-designed golf course that has hosted some of the most important championships and memorable moments in the sport.
But Pinehurst No. 2 wasn't created as a championship course.
It wasn't even created as part of a golf resort.
Its story begins with a North Carolina health retreat, a Boston businessman, a Scottish golf professional, and a piece of sandy land in the Sandhills.
And more than a century later, Pinehurst No. 2 is still writing new chapters.
When Was Pinehurst Founded?
Pinehurst was founded in 1895 by James Walker Tufts, a Boston businessman and philanthropist.
Tufts purchased roughly 5,000 acres in North Carolina's Sandhills with the goal of creating a health and recreation retreat.
Golf wasn't initially the main attraction.
But that changed quickly.
The first golf course at Pinehurst opened in 1898, only three years after the village was founded.
Golf became increasingly important to the resort, and in 1900, a young Scottish golf professional arrived who would ultimately transform Pinehurst into one of America's most important golf destinations.
His name was Donald Ross.
Donald Ross Comes to Pinehurst
If you've listened to Under Par Over Time before, you may recognize Donald Ross.
I recently explored his work at Sedgefield Country Club, another North Carolina course that remains closely associated with Ross nearly a century after its creation.
Ross was born in Scotland in 1872 and apprenticed under legendary golfer and course designer Old Tom Morris at St. Andrews.
When Ross came to America, he eventually made Pinehurst his professional home.
Over the course of his career, Ross would design or influence hundreds of golf courses across North America.
But one of his most famous creations would be Pinehurst No. 2.
When Did Pinehurst No. 2 Open?
Pinehurst No. 2 opened in 1907.
Ross didn't simply design the course and walk away.
He continued modifying and refining Pinehurst No. 2 throughout his career. The USGA notes that Ross "constantly tinkered" with the design until his death in 1948.
That means when we talk about the original Donald Ross design, we're really talking about a course that evolved along with the architect who created it.
Ross eventually described Pinehurst No. 2 as:
"the fairest test of championship golf I have ever designed."
It's an especially interesting statement considering how many courses Ross worked on during his career.
What Makes Pinehurst No. 2 Different?
One of the defining characteristics of Pinehurst No. 2 is its putting surfaces.
The greens feature significant slopes and crowned areas that can send a ball away from the hole if an approach is poorly positioned.
But the greens aren't the only thing that makes Pinehurst No. 2 distinctive.
The course sits in the North Carolina Sandhills, where sandy soil and native vegetation are naturally part of the landscape.
That became especially important as Pinehurst No. 2 evolved throughout the twentieth century.
The course gradually became much greener and more heavily irrigated.
Eventually, much of the natural Sandhills character was hidden beneath expanses of maintained turf.
And then Pinehurst decided to look backward.
The Restoration of Pinehurst No. 2
In 2009, Pinehurst began a major restoration of Course No. 2 with architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.
The goal wasn't simply to make the course look newer.
It was to make it look older.
Coore and Crenshaw studied historical photographs and archival material to understand the character of the course during Donald Ross's era.
The restoration brought back much of the sandy landscape surrounding the fairways and reduced the amount of maintained turf.
Native vegetation, including wiregrass, returned to the landscape.
The result was a course that looked dramatically different from the heavily manicured Pinehurst No. 2 that many golfers remembered.
And there was an environmental benefit as well.
The restored course requires substantially less irrigation than the previous version.
The USGA has described the restoration as an example of combining championship golf with greater sustainability.
Pinehurst No. 2 and the U.S. Open
Pinehurst No. 2 has become one of the most important venues in U.S. Open history.
The first U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 came in 1999.
And it produced one of the most memorable finishes in championship golf.
Payne Stewart — 1999
Payne Stewart stood over his final putt on the 18th green with a chance to win the U.S. Open.
He drained an approximately 15-foot par putt to defeat Phil Mickelson by one stroke.
It became one of the iconic moments in U.S. Open history.
Michael Campbell — 2005
Six years later, the U.S. Open returned to Pinehurst.
This time, Michael Campbell emerged victorious.
Campbell finished at even par and held off Tiger Woods by two strokes.
It remains Campbell's only major championship victory.
Pinehurst Made U.S. Open History in 2014
The 2014 championship was particularly unusual.
The USGA held the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open in consecutive weeks at Pinehurst No. 2.
It was the first time the USGA had staged the two championships consecutively at the same venue.
Martin Kaymer won the men's U.S. Open by eight strokes.
Then Michelle Wie won the U.S. Women's Open the following week.
Two championships.
Two completely different winners.
Same course.
And the newly restored Pinehurst No. 2 was suddenly being examined by the entire golf world.
Bryson DeChambeau and the 2024 U.S. Open
Ten years later, Pinehurst No. 2 produced another dramatic U.S. Open finish.
In 2024, Bryson DeChambeau entered the final round with a three-stroke lead.
But Rory McIlroy mounted a charge on the back nine and eventually took the lead.
Then came the 18th hole.
McIlroy missed a short par putt.
DeChambeau found a fairway bunker.
And from approximately 54 yards, DeChambeau hit an extraordinary bunker shot that finished about four feet from the hole.
He made the par putt and won the U.S. Open by one stroke.
It was exactly the kind of dramatic finish that has become part of Pinehurst No. 2's identity.
How Difficult Is Pinehurst No. 2?
The numbers tell an interesting story.
During the first three U.S. Opens played at Pinehurst No. 2, only four players finished under par for 72 holes.
Those players were:
Payne Stewart — 1999
Martin Kaymer — 2014
Rickie Fowler — 2014
Erik Compton — 2014
Michael Campbell won the 2005 U.S. Open at exactly even par.
That tells you something about Pinehurst.
Players don't necessarily need to shoot five or six under every day to compete.
Sometimes par is a very good score.
And the course can create problems without relying entirely on length.
Pinehurst No. 2 Is an Anchor Site for the U.S. Open
The USGA has made Pinehurst No. 2 an official U.S. Open anchor site.
After the 2024 championship, the U.S. Open will return to Pinehurst in:
2029
2035
2041
2047
That gives Pinehurst a permanent place in the future of the U.S. Open.
And the 2029 U.S. Open will once again be followed by the U.S. Women's Open at Pinehurst.
That's a remarkable commitment to one golf course.
Why Pinehurst No. 2 Still Matters
More than a century after Pinehurst No. 2 opened, the course has experienced almost every stage of golf's evolution.
Donald Ross designed it.
He refined it.
Golf technology changed.
Course maintenance changed.
The landscape became more heavily manicured.
Then Pinehurst looked back at its own history and decided to restore much of the character that had been lost.
Today, Pinehurst No. 2 combines all of those eras.
The course still carries Donald Ross's architectural ideas.
The restoration reflects the natural Sandhills landscape.
Modern professional golfers compete with equipment Ross could never have imagined.
And the USGA has committed to bringing its biggest championship back again and again.
That makes Pinehurst No. 2 more than an old golf course.
It's a living piece of American golf history.
Listen to Episode 14
There's more to the Pinehurst story in this week's episode of Under Par Over Time, including the history of Donald Ross's relationship with Pinehurst, how the course changed over the decades, why Pinehurst chose to restore No. 2, and how the course became one of the most important championship venues in golf.
🎙️ Listen to "Pinehurst No. 2: The History of America's Most Famous Golf Course" wherever you listen to podcasts.
Under Par Over Time is independently researched, written, and produced as part of Saraceni & Co Productions.
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