11th Pinehurst course could be coming
Pinehurst No. 10, the first new course at the Pinehurt Resort in 30 years, will be the centerpiece of a new phase of development called the Pinehurst Sandmines.
The new course, scheduled to open April 3, is part of a 900-acre parcel that will also be the site of possibly an 11th course, a short course, a clubhouse and cottages, the resort said.
Pinehurst No. 10, designed by Tom Doak, was built on the site of The Pit, a Dan Maples design. The property was purchased by the resort and No. 10 was constructed in record time – just 17 months.
(Alabama Golf News Editor Gregg Dewalt toured No. 10 with Pinehurst Agronomist Bob Farren last fall. Here’s his story.)
The name Pinehurst Sandmines is a nod to the property’s previous use as a mine in which sand was extracted for use in construction projects around the country.
Beginning in the 1920s, the sandy soil under what is No. 10 proved useful to multiple mining operations, specifically Pleasants Sand and Supply, which was founded after World War II. Over the next half century, sand mined in Aberdeen was shipped along the adjoining railroad for building projects all over the United States, notably including another North Carolina landmark – the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Pinehurst Sandmines dunes form terrain of No. 10
Following the mine’s closure in the mid-1970s, rugged dunes, mounds and berms from the mining excavation were left behind to be reclaimed by nature. Doak’s No. 10, which comprises about 250 acres of the total Sandmines property, preserved ddunes that frame the tee shot on the course’s eighth hple..
“There’s a lot of history at this place, and you just want to honor it,” says Angela Moser, Doak’s lead design associate on No. 10. “You want to have it be a part of what you’re building, so you’ll see reminders of it.”
That history is reflected in the Pinehurst Sandmines logo. A rail car, dashed in railroad red color befitting the area’s industrial innovations and ecovative of the 25-foot sand deposit framing No. 10’s 8th hole tee shot.
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Featured image courtesy of the Pinehurst Resort
