Welcome to the seventh installment of GHIN & Tonic. Our hope is that this space serves as a callback to the spirit of the original writing that appeared on No Laying Up dot com: unvarnished, wide-ranging, and somewhat random, but with golf as the loose thread. Some will be more golf-heavy, some golf-light - think TrapDraw Podcast with some golf sprinkled in. We’ll pass the ball around on these on a weekly basis and all will be personal in nature.
GHIN
First things first: Contrary to my general apathy and burnout about the week-to-week world of men’s professional golf, I’m so unbelievably excited for Pinehurst No. 2 and this week’s U.S. Open.
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The reasons for this are mostly obvious and if you're reading this, I’m sure they align with the reasons you are excited. All the players are back together. It’s going to be a world-class execution test at a fascinating venue. The weather looks fantastic. Carnage is potentially looming. Plus, there is no better consistent agent of unpredictable chaos in the golf world than the USGA. Sign me up for all of it. I can’t wait.
But one of the reasons I’m most excited has to do with Pinehurst’s familiarity, both personally and within the world of golf. I’m not trying to pander here – I love watching championships at Oakmont and Shinnecock as much as anyone else – but I think there is something increasingly special about major championships held at public golf courses. Particularly, as in Pinehurst’s case, ones that are visited by so many hard-core golf fans each year.
Years ago, I remember having a drink on the patio behind the 18th green of No. 2 with a friend of mine who works at the resort who described Pinehurst as “the closest thing golf has to a National Park.” At first, this felt like kind of a hokey way to pull at people’s heartstrings and an uneven comparison – do the math sometime on how many National Parks you could visit for the cost of a round on No. 2. But the more I’ve thought about it, and the more times I’ve observed that scene around the Pinehurst clubhouse – people buzzing and laughing around Thistle Dhu, the Cradle, the driving range, the golf shops and the restaurants – the more apt I think it is and the happier that thought makes me. Throw in the addition of Pinehurst No. 10 and the revamped World Golf Hall of Fame (I have yet to visit, but enjoyed Geoff Shackelford’s write up about his first spin through) and I end up feeling really energized about the ways Pinehurst has continued to improve itself over the past decade.
A lot of this credit feels like it can go to the USGA as well, with its commitment to move its whole center of gravity to Pinehurst and likely driving some of the changes as a part of making Pinehurst an anchor site for the U.S. Open (it will host again in 2029, 2035, 2041 and, if the world still exists, 2047).
It's not perfect. And at the end of the day, I understand that we're still talking about a high-end expensive golf resort, not an aw-shucks mom-and-pop operation. But even if a round at No. 2 is out of your price range, as it is for many golf fans, Pinehurst and the USGA have still made a point of creating a lively, dynamic place with open doors where golfers can swing through for an afternoon and feel a little closer to the national championship. At a time when it's easy to find plenty of things wrong with golf at the highest level, I think Pinehurst (and the decision to make it an even larger part of one of the most visible golf events in the world) is a bright spot.
Sorry for the drive-by here, but contrast this with the PGA Tour’s treatment of the Hall of Fame over the past 20 years (burying the game's historic artifacts and legacies inside a bleak, failed commercial real estate development in the middle of nowhere and daring people to come visit). As of now, it’s easy for me to see which organization is focused on bridging the pro game and the recreational game and should be in charge of making actual fans like the actual game of golf.
Almost all my golf sicko friends have made a trip to Pinehurst at some point in the past decade. And with that, they vividly understand how boned you are behind the third green. Or how much the 13th hole plays uphill. Or how small the realistic landing area is on the 15th green. This is the stuff that makes golf watching incredibly sticky for a lifetime. There is no better feeling than seeing how the best players in the world save par from the place where you made a 7. (Actually, depending on your disposition, the only better feeling might be seeing them also make a 7.)
From a personal standpoint, Pinehurst also gives me a ton to think about and reflect on in my own career covering golf. 2014 was one of the first U.S. Opens I attended in person, so in addition to a lot of useless GoPro and panoramic photos, I also have a lot of memories.
Martin Kaymer’s blowout win isn’t just a concept or a series of scores spelled out on a Wikipedia page. I actually remember listening in person to how engaging and refreshing he was in the media center each day as he tried desperately to come up with new ways to explain why he was playing so freaking well. I remember watching him putt and bump shots from everywhere, which is something I’ve tried to implement into my own game as much as possible for the last 10 years.
I’ve spent so much time in media centers over the past 15 years (and heard so many third-person stories about “the last time we were here”), that’s it’s kind of a strange feeling when you get back to the top of the order yourself. And like doing any job, oftentimes it can be the cynical memories that tend to linger the longest (let’s be honest, especially in media centers). But Pinehurst and its focus on creating public golf memories feels like something worth getting excited about.
(Disclosure/Additional Context: Although they had no editorial involvement in this piece or any of our past content, Pinehurst Resort has been a longtime sponsor of No Laying Up.)
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