VG: Are you worried, as some people seem
to be, that the Women’s Open will be
played the week following the U.S. Open?
DP: Not really. I go back to when David Fay
brought up the proposition. We were having
breakfast at the Track Restaurant (a favorite
local breakfast spot in Pinehurst) and I said,
‘David, Why do you want to do this?’ He
said, ‘Well, I just think the women are much
better than they get credit for. I’m trying
to think of a way to elevate the women’s
championship and give them the credit that
they are really due.’
This was the idea he came up with to
showcase their talents, and I think that’s
probably what’s going to happen. There are
worries about whether the women’s shots
could get in a divot, and there’s two or three
spots where that could happen, but that’s
not a reason not to do it. I think the women
ought to be grateful to David Fay for giving
them a chance to play the same course as
the men. I think the grumblings come from
people who are uninformed about the intent.
VG: Did your views of Donald Ross
change during the restoration process?
DP: I am not what I would call extremely
well versed in golf course architecture. I’ve
played many great courses and have my
opinions about them, but I wouldn’t begin
to get into a conversation with experts.
The people who really study it, when they
look at Ross’s intent and what’s been done,
they think it’s pretty close. For one thing,
(No. 2) is just so much more interesting to
play than it was before. You play a lot of
different shots. You can run the ball a long
way and put in on the ground. There are a
lot more shots around the green that you
can play and have to play. If this was Ross’s
intent, I sure like it better than the golf
course we had before.
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VG: From a business point of view, what
has been the response to the restoration
of Pinehurst No. 2?
DP: Our numbers in 2013 were dramatically
better than they were in 2004, and the
economy in 2004 was significantly better
than it was in 2013. The interest in the
changes at No. 2 was very high. People
wanted to rediscover the course and see just
what had taken place, and that drove our
business in a very positive way.
VG: It sounds as though resort guests are
embracing the changes. Do you think
this will influence the presentation at
other Pinehurst courses?
DP: People like playing No. 2. One thing
that’s really cool is that you can hit a really
long drive. Everyone likes to hit it long. We
rolled back the clock at No. 2, but I don’t
know how much this trend will take over.
When you have a golf course like No. 4 or
No. 8, which are [T
om] Fazio courses that we
like very much, there are a lot of people who
prefer that style. I refer to these as a ‘finished
golf course.’ You wouldn’t want to try to get a
different look on these courses because they
were never designed to be that way. Some
of the architects who worked
during the most prolific age of
golf course expansion—Tom
Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Pete
Dye—had styles that I don’t
think w