Pinehurst: From Mooing Cows to a Golf Mecca

Luxury Golf Resorts: In 1895 James W. Tufts sold his shares of the American Soda Fountain Company and bought 5,550 acres of land for just over a dollar an acre. The impetus of the purchase was to transform the land into a health resort. Frederick Law Olmsted, who is the same landscape architect of NYC's Central Park, designed the area's landscape with the assistance of 450 workers. Building a golf course on the land was actually an afterthought spurred on by complaints received from local farmers. With niblicks in hand, guests were spotted hitting "little white balls" onto farmlands and scaring cows. In 1898 Tufts commissioned Dr. LeRoy Culver to design Pinehurst's first golf course, which was a nine-hole course. Holy cow!

By the 1920s, golf legend Bobby Jones referred to Pinehurst as "the St. Andrews of United States golf." Today there is no facility in the U.S. steeper in tradition or acclaim. Every legend of the game has played on these hallowed grounds. Pinehurst's No. 2 course held the 1999 and the 2005 U.S. Open Championship.

If golf is at the forefront, the Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina, welcomes all comers. The sprawling resort handles social or business events, golfing getaways, and even a personally structured golf event. Numerous Four Diamond Ranked luxury hotels dot the landscape, such as The Carolina and the Holly Inn. Aside from golf, there are sufficient activities to appease all luxury seekers. But honestly, if you aren't an avid golf enthusiast . it might be best to keep that a secret.

For LxM James Rothaar