- [Announcer] The home of American golf and so much more.

For more about the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen area of North Carolina, visit homeofgolf.com.

[gentle music] [upbeat music] - [Player] What are you doing Big Blue?

What do you know?

- Yes, sir.

[players laughing] - [Player] No.

[players laughing] - [Player] No shot.

- [Announcer] Funding also provided by Mary Louise and John Burress and viewers like you.

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] [engines humming] [gentle music continues] [water spraying] [lawnmowers rumbling] [people chattering] - Good?

- Yeah.

Camera rolling.

- Alright.

Good morning, guys.

We're one in 10, 720 on course two cradle 8:00 AM.

This morning we're walk mowing greens.

We're doing a backtrack mow.

Double cut, okay.

Down your pass and right back down the same pass.

That will be David Carroll, Fred, Larry Tucker, Connor, Caleb, Carl, and Steve.

- [Dwayne] Okay.

This is early in the morning.

- [Kaye] I know.

Earlier tomorrow.

You wanna start tomorrow?

- Earlier tomorrow?

- [laughs] Yeah.

- [Dwayne] [laughs] No, I don't think so.

- [Kaye] As the season progresses, we go half hour earlier, and 5:30 will be the earliest.

- [Dwayne] Is it like this every day?

- [Kaye] Every single day.

Seven days a week.

- [Dwayne] Every day an army rises in the dark to tend the lawns of Pinehurst and prepare these 10 courses for the grandeur of the day to come.

[lawnmower engines humming] - All right, Dwayne, here we go.

- Here we go.

Whoa, okay.

It's still dark.

- Yes, I know, I know.

- This is really early.

- Sun's coming up.

That's what we're looking for.

[engine humming] [gentle music continues] - Wow.

- I know.

- [Dwayne] All this, just so someone can have a good round of golf.

- [Kaye] This is for sure.

And this is pretty cool, when the heads go off and you've got an amazing sunrise.

This sunrise is gonna be off the chart.

- [Dwayne] So my wife is from Southern Pines.

- She is?

- She told me as a little girl, she remembered they would run out when the sprinklers came up.

- Oh my gosh.

- [Dwayne] And run through the sprinklers.

of all the courses that make up the resorts offerings, none draws more attention than No.

2.

- Let's see.

Let's put 'em this way.

- Okay.

- [Kaye] Try to keep 'em clean.

- [Dwayne] My guide, Kaye Pearson is one of the lead groundskeepers responsible for that legendary loop.

Alright, Kaye, what are we doing?

- Alright, we're gonna do a little bunker work.

So can you carry these four?

- [Dwayne] You do this every day?

- No, I'm part-time now.

This is my semi-retired job.

I'm just gonna pop these rakes down here like this.

- [Dwayne] Okay.

- You see all these footprints?

- [Dwayne] Oh, we're getting rid of the footprints.

- Just smooth it like that.

See those little trails?

Those are underground crickets.

- Okay.

- [Kaye] I was a nurse up in Maine for several years, and then as my husband semi-retired, I did some travel hospital work.

- But what drew you to golf?

You were always playing?

- No, I started in my twenties.

I was living in San Diego and actually was expecting my first child and took a line drive in softball and said, "I gotta find a safer sport."

[Dwayne laughs] And so I went and moved over to golf.

- [Dwayne] Uh huh.

[Kaye laughs] - Now when we walk out, we're gonna smooth our foot tracks as we go back out.

So put your rake right up here.

- Put my rake over here.

- Yep.

Grab one of these guys.

- Yes.

- You can follow me.

- Oh, I will do that.

- How's that?

[rakes scraping] - [Dwayne] Ah.

- Go around.

- Go around.

- Take a left.

- Gotcha.

[Kaye laughs] - All right.

- So do we?

- Keep going.

- We keep going around.

- Follow that path.

Nope.

This way.

- Go this way?

Maybe I wouldn't be too good at this.

[Kaye laughs] - This line goes towards the green like this.

- Towards the green.

Okay.

- So you gotta take one long line.

Watch this.

- One long line?

- Watch this.

Tsh, tsh, tsh, tsh.

- Got you.

Like this?

- Yes.

- There we go.

I'm a quick learner.

- This is called a modified Australian method.

- Modified Australian method?

- Yep.

- Why so?

- If you see, this comes about up to where it starts to go up.

If this is all smooth, technically if the ball hits that, it would hit that and roll into the soft stuff.

And then the golfer would come in with the rake lines going towards the green.

- There we go.

- Hit his ball out.

- How did you fall into this line of work?

What brought you here?

- I was the first, well, I needed something to do.

I got bored the first winter, said, "I gotta do something.

I wanna be outside."

So I applied to be a starter ranger.

Didn't even have a clue what that was, but turns out I was the first woman hired to be a starter ranger.

- Really?

- In 100 year history of Pinehurst.

- [Dwayne] Really?

- I used to tell my husband my dream job would be on a mower with a headset on a golf course.

And I still say to this day, who would ever think it would be Pinehurst?

[gentle music] We got a little green sand to do a few divots around the hole.

But you check the hole.

Should have my scissors.

Yep.

I get a little particular and smooth it out.

- Okay.

Here we go.

- There it is.

- I hope no players blame me if something goes wrong today on this green.

- Well, let's see.

That looks like a fair hole placement, don't you think?

- [Dwayne] So you're into music and you're writing music.

- [Kaye] Yes.

Have been for a long time.

- [Dwayne] Music.

Is that what this is to you?

- It is.

It really is.

And the other venues that I've worked, it's just like you're waiting for the sunrise and you see it at other venues in different situations.

It's not the same, but the beauty is still there.

Yeah.

- The other venues are great, but this one- - Yes.

- This one tugs you here, doesn't it.

- Yes it does.

Yes it does.

This was my dream job.

Not on No.

2, but holy smokes, here I am.

[laughs] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle guitar music] - [Dwayne] Tides and tee times wait for no one.

By 7:30 AM the first players of the day are ready to take on No.

2 and our 18 hole punch list must be done.

- Well gentlemen, welcome to course No.

2.

You guys are ready to have your US Open experience here this morning.

So the way I like to say it, is we have no bunkers on the golf course, we simply have a lot of sand.

[upbeat guitar music] [golf club thwacks] [horse neighs] - [Dwayne] Dawn brings out all sorts of athletes here.

Hard by the resort is the equally famous Pinehurst Harness Track.

It seems fitting that this home of American golf, Garth.

Is also home to America's oldest sport.

- Good to see ya.

- Good to see you.

Wow.

This is really something.

Horses and horsemen come from all over to train here and some stay.

- Kind of fell in love with the place.

I was down at a barn on the corner here by the resort.

And I'm in the back of the barn and somebody overshot the green at No.1.

And a golf ball lands at my feet.

And it's a March day and it's like 75 degrees.

I'm in a T-shirt.

I had a winter jacket on when I left Canada.

And I just pulled out my cell phone and I called my wife and I said, "I think we need to come down.

You need to come check this place out.

This is pretty sweet."

And that's how it started.

- Pinehurst continues to surprise me.

Here we are now, harness racing.

Who knew?

There's a history here.

- [Garth] Oh yes, yes.

This training center, it's been specifically a designated harness horse training facility for over 50 years.

- And we know about some of the golf champions at Pinehurst.

But you've produced some champions out of here, right?

- Oh, yes, yes.

Most recently we had a Hambletonian winner.

We've had horses that won heats of the Little Brown Jug.

We actually had a winner of the Triple Crown on the trotting side came outta here not more than eight years ago.

Basically in Pinehurst you do one of two things.

You golf or you do something with horses.

And it's a mecca for either.

There's many, many horse disciplines here, not just standardbred training.

- [Dwayne] What is it about this area that makes this kind of activity so special and so productive?

- Specifically for standardbreds, most of these horses that are here are younger horses.

Generally two and three year olds.

They come here for two reasons.

A, the track is never frozen.

So we're never going over a frozen surface, a hard surface where you can damage young horses if you go too fast too early, or when the track is too firm or frozen.

The other big reason that the trainers like coming here is specifically for the mile clay track that we have here.

Very easy on young horses.

Very easy on their bones, their ligaments, their tendons, you know.

So if you can train a younger horse down, minimize the chance of injury, musculoskeletal injury on the way down, you're way ahead of the curve if you can do that.

And this place lends itself specifically to that.

- Garth, if you're ever looking for an assistant, give me a call.

[Garth laughs] I can handle this.

- Yeah.

Yeah, it's pretty laid back this morning.

Very laid back.

- Good morning everybody.

I'm Audrey Moriarty.

I'm the library services and archives director for the Village of Pinehurst.

This is the Gibbon Memorial Library and the Tufts Archives.

[pensive music] The village of Pinehurst was founded in 1895 by James Walker Tufts.

And he built, in the first two seasons, he built 38 cottages.

It was supposed to be for consumptives, people up north who were suffering from this ailment.

They told them to go south, relax.

And so he decided to try to find something mid-south so the consumptives could come.

So this is Albudis Cottage right here.

And it was built in 1895.

It's one of the first ones.

And, as you can see, it's getting spruced up.

That's really nice.

It had seven rooms and it rented for $185 a season.

And you remember the season was from November to March.

The plan for Pinehurst was done by Olmsted, Olmsted and Elliot.

So the streets are curvilinear and we have the thicket, we don't have any left here really.

This area, see where the trees are and stuff, was planted.

So you had these six foot walking paths, the thicket, and then the street was sand and then thicket on the other side.

And ladies had skirts down to the ground.

Everybody had one pair of shoes.

So this thicket protected you even from dust or splashes.

And besides that, it beautified the area.

And Olmsted was definitely into beautiful landscape architecture.

- Frederick Olmsted and his firm were the famous designers of New York's Central Park.

And Pinehurst's patron and founder spared no expense in the creation of his dream.

Audrey, the beginning, James Walker Tufts, I know the name, but help me understand how this all came to be.

- How this happened?

- Yes.

- When he was a young man, his father died and he was apprenticed to an apothecary.

So he started an apothecary shop.

And in the process of doing the powders and potions, he became more involved in the soda fountain beverages.

After he had done that for some time, he said, "I need to do faster and better."

So he invented some labor-saving devices for himself.

And other people in the business said, "Where did you get that?"

He said, "I made it."

So it evolved into a soda apparatus company too.

And after several years he had five shops.

It's believed that he may have the first drugstore chain in the east.

So when he decided to retire from the American Soda Fountain company, he sold his portion.

- In today's dollars?

- Well, I'm not sure about today, but when I looked it up a couple years ago, it was 16 million.

- Okay.

That's still a lot of silver.

- So at age 65, he became a multimillionaire.

- [Dwayne] So when he had the idea for this place, golf was not part of the vision, correct?

- No, no, he meant it to be a health spa or a place for people to come and recover from consumption.

A lot of people up east had consumption and they were going to Florida, somewhere to the south to take the cure, rest and relax.

And he hoped to find a place between the folks in the east and Florida.

And he started looking around this area and he heard about Pinehurst from Edward Everett Hale, who actually was the chaplain of the Senate.

And he knew him, and his wife had been in Southern Pines, that already existed.

And that's how he found about this area.

And he came and as I say, it was exposed sand, scrub oak, wire grass, nothing, not even a structure here.

And he envisioned in his mind, he's one of those people who could see something that's not there.

And he bought 6,000 acres from the Page family and they laughed at him behind his back, 'cause he paid a dollar and a quarter an acre.

And they said, "It's not worth but 85 cents."

- [Dwayne] Consumption or tuberculosis turned out to be contagious.

So Tufts turned his resort away from health and towards golf and course designer Donald Ross.

- [Audrey] And this one right here.

- [Dwayne] That's right.

He was an expert in carpentry.

- Yes.

Well, that's what he had to learn.

He was a carpenter.

But when he grew up in Dornoch, he learned to golf there.

But then he went to St. Andrews where he learned golf course maintenance and club making.

Let me see if I can find, he had a notebook that he carried with him with this grid.

And he would draw on the grid and then he would put notes on the side of what to do with this bunker or whatever.

And the notes on it.

So these are his drawings for- - I noticed that's in Florida.

- Yeah.

- Where are the Pinehurst drawings?

- Well, we actually don't have very many Pinehurst drawings.

And that is because Donald Ross lived here until he died in 1948.

And if he saw something that he didn't like, he'd say, "We need to move this out here," whatever.

We don't have separate drawings of the courses.

- So it was more of a function that he was here.

He didn't need to- - Yeah, he basically, yeah, he basically walked them every day and made modifications constantly.

- "The Putter Boy," I mean if you see it now, you know it's Pinehurst.

But where did that come from?

- It started, Frank Presbrey, we have his picture here.

Frank Presbrey was hired to help publicize golf.

And Presbrey had all these tournaments.

Like he had one for people who never broke 100.

[Dwayne laughs] Or, you know, things like that.

So he had all these special tournaments and everybody could get in a tournament and everybody could be congratulated in one way or another on their golf.

So they did all they could to promote golf with the help of Frank Presbrey.

They just pushed, pushed golf until it just was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And then we have more courses.

We need more courses.

We need more courses.

And now we have 10.

- By the way, Audrey, I do break 100 now, but just there was a time, - Well, you could get in- - I can understand that.

- I think they had one for people who make 100.

But yeah.

[Dwayne laughs] [wistful cello music] [wistful cello music continues] - [Dwayne] Over 100 years later, and Pinehurst and golf are now inseparable, drawing in the most casual players and the captains of the game.

- Arnie and his dad, Deacon, who was a superintendent at Latrobe, where Arnie grew up.

They would come down here in the spring.

This club is a track iron that goes back to the 1840s and you had to hit it out of tire tracks back then.

This was the first golf event in the south and in Pinehurst, back when we still had sand greens.

You'll notice around the cup there's oil to keep the stability.

- What year is this?

- 1904.

- And this is a photo, right?

- That's a photograph that's been hand colored.

We've been lucky to have made it to "Golf Week."

And a lot of different publications, "Sports Illustrated."

- [Dwayne] What is the oddest request you've ever received?

- Some odd stuff, obviously.

So.

- Bit of golf detective work for you.

- You know, Payne Stewart cut his sleeves off at the '99 US Open and they ended up in the clubhouse where they belong because that's part of the history.

- History.

Here you can live in it.

Donald Ross designed nearly 400 courses across the US but he called Pinehurst home and now you can rent it as your own.

[clock ticking] [wistful cello music] [clock chiming] [clock continues ticking] Matt, something happened to me when I walked through the door in here.

This place has an effect on you.

Maybe Donald Ross had that intent when, you know, he moved here.

- It's a special place for us indeed.

Ross moved here in the early 1900s and found his wife Florence, around the Pinehurst area.

And they built this house in 1925.

And it has so much character to it, to your point that it just oozes not only golf history, but just Pinehurst history in the way that it connects you with the game, the proximity to course No.

2, which was obviously his pride and joy through the years.

And you know, it's funny, as you look out onto course 2, he kind of tinkered with the third hole, which is where this home sits.

And it was always kind of a special green complex and bunker complex for him.

So it just oozes Pinehurst and golf history in general.

- So myth or truth, did he just actually just walk out and watch players and make design decisions?

- Very truthful.

Yeah, he would watch play, he would watch how balls came into the green complexes and react.

And again, through the years, making little edits and changes to the green and the bunkering complexes around it was something that he would toy with.

Yeah, absolutely.

[gentle music] - You know, as you walk around here, it seems like there's this feeling that comes over everyone that's kind of calming as you walk throughout the village and everywhere you go.

What is that magic?

- You know, it's called the Pinehurst Cure.

You know, people take themself pretty seriously all their life and they come to Pinehurst.

And you get here and you realize nobody cares what you did before.

They care about how you behave now.

So it has a modifying effect on most people that come here.

And if somebody gets outta hand or tries to be too important, they don't last long because nobody cares.

It's all about the golf and friendships.

And it has a special place.

- Like Tufts, Ross recognized the power of the native terrain.

The naturalness of his design celebrated what the land offered.

Well, how many courses are there actually in this area?

- Nearly 40 and all within a 15 mile radius.

- That's a lot of golf.

- That is a lot of golf.

And we're the home of American golf.

That's what we brand ourselves as.

But we're a lot more than just golf.

This area was founded on these longleaf pines.

There were millions of acres of longleaf pine forests throughout the Southeast.

This is a magical place.

It truly is.

You can look at a picture of the village of Pinehurst from 1895 and look at it today, it looks almost exactly the same.

This is a timeless place.

Your heartbeat subsides a little bit when you get here.

You can remove your phone from your pocket, turn it off.

I give our tourism folks for the state a hard time because when I see the hype video for the state, it's mountains and beach.

And then I get the obligatory golf shot at the end, which is kind of fun.

But this area, it's the 10th highest tourism economy in the state of North Carolina.

And 2022 it accounted for three quarters of a billion dollars in visitor spending.

So people are definitely coming to Moore County.

And things like the USGA and the US Open just puts us more on the map.

But we're more than just golf and we know that people, the more they come here and understand that we are more than that, they tell their friends and they come here and experience the same thing.

It is a special place and a place where you can kind of restore and regenerate and revive and go back home feeling good.

- The Sir Walter Raleigh's Gardens are named for a man who believed strongly in the power of nature to heal mind, body and soul.

And while golf is on the mind of most that come here to nourish your body and feed the soul, the communities like Southern Pines that surround it, have much to offer.

I did not grow up in North Carolina.

I grew up in the other Carolina, in South Carolina.

I met my wife, she was from Southern Pines.

We would come down here, visit with her mom.

The closest connection I guess I really have to Pinehurst at one point was when I brought my son here, Jared, to Golf Academy camp.

We dropped Jared off at the manor, took him in, Paul McRae, the master pro at Pinehurst, was and is the instructor for golf academy.

And we dropped Jared off and I remember Jared standing there on the steps of the manor and he was dressed in his blue blazer and tie 'cause at the time, that's what they required, the first day opening ceremonies.

And we were proud.

And I remember my wife, it meant a lot to my wife because she was retelling the story as we were going in the manor.

And she told Jared, he was sitting in the backseat as we pulled up.

She said, "Jared, your grandfather was a bellman here.

And as a black man, the only time he could go in there was when he was carrying someone's bags or in service.

And here you are, we're taking you here.

You are a welcome guest and you're attending Golf Academy at Pinehurst.

Do not let that be lost."

And Jerry said in the back seat, "Yes ma'am."

[laughs] But it's funny, Jared now, who's an adult, you know, he tells people that and it means something to him.

Southern Pines predates the founding of the resort.

But as it grew, the town and others, like Taylor Town, which was created out of Jim Crow for black residents, became home to the diverse working class needed to support it.

- [Resident] Well, don't you look handsome.

- Well, thank you ma'am.

Hope you have a nice day.

- [Resident] You too.

- Now those deep roots sustain a vibrant community.

Ashley, do you get new fresh ingredients every day?

- We really do.

We're kind of dependent on what comes in the back door.

So, you know, and it's something different every day and we're really, [knuckles rapping] really lucky.

- Uh oh.

- Oh and here's Isaac.

Hey Isaac.

- How are you?

- Good.

Come on in.

- Awesome.

I got some really great stuff for y'all today.

- This is really good timing.

- Isaac, I'm Dwayne.

- Very nice to meet you.

- You have the goods.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Show Dwayne what you brought today.

- Yeah.

Come check these out.

- It's really kind of a neat story.

Isaac's first job was with us, outta high school and now he is our main micro-green purveyor.

Aren't you the proud culinary mom?

- Parental.

I know.

- She's like my second mom.

- Yeah, I do.

Because you know, he has taken our mantra of use as much local as we can and turned it into his passion and his job.

- What are we looking at here?

- Oh, so today we have, these are pea tendrils and then right here we've got nasturtiums.

They're a little bit peppery.

They got kind of a little bit of a spicy taste to it.

- Oh yeah, that's happening.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Matthew] Some of the mushrooms.

Get our pans nice and warm.

- [Dwayne] Burners on.

- [Matthew] We'll give it a little oil to get the pan started.

- [Dwayne] You want me to give it a shot?

- If you want give it a shot.

Feel free.

- So just chop.

- Just rough chop.

We want 'em big, we want people to see what- - You mean like, like so?

- That's perfect.

- Okay.

Look at me - [Matthew] Want people to see that we got some nice- mushrooms.

- Look at me.

[laughs] What's the best thing that happens for you, you find out as a result of doing this?

- Well, buying locally and having these local ingredients that are peak in season.

Take that as freshness right here in Moore County.

What I try to do is try to be as minimal as possible, let the ingredients speak for themselves 'cause they're so good.

Take these peas now they're warm.

We're gonna blend 'em up with a little bit of the conscious cultivator pea shoots.

It's gonna bring a nice, bright, bright color.

Also pack in a lot of nutrition.

- This becomes the sauce?

- This will become the sauce for our dish.

- Okay.

[mixer whirring] - Everything that's on our plate is sourced as locally as possible.

Sometimes that's right down the road, such as Isaac.

Sometimes it's in Carthage, you know, 20 minutes away.

And sometimes it's in the mountains of North Carolina.

We do try to keep it as regional as possible.

And that has always been our goal.

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] [electric guitar twanging] - The two of you sitting here are a mass of contradictions, you know that, right?

- We are.

- You got Mr. Rock and roll probably in his most sedate state right now.

- I'm very calm.

- [Dwayne] And then you're married to the mayor.

- Yeah.

So when his father, when I met Bill Clements, he said, "Well, are you married?"

And I said, "No."

- I think he said, "Are you spoken for?"

- Am I spoken for?

Whatever the term was.

And he said, "Well, you need to meet my son."

And I was like, "Okay, well that's a bit strange."

And he's like, "He's on a punk rock tour in Canada right now, but when he comes back, I'll have him call you."

And I went home and called probably my parents and my friends and said, "I just agreed to the worst date of my life.

It's gonna be terrible."

- And then he called me and was like, "I got this girl you gotta meet when you get back from tour."

And I was like, "What does she do?"

"She's like a financial advisor."

I'm like, "What is she Republican to?"

And he's like, "Probably."

And I'm like, "Oh, this is never gonna work."

- You do have preconceived notions.

You have expectations of the person that you're gonna, the town you're gonna be in, or the person you're going to meet.

You know, I moved to what I thought was gonna be a very small town with, you know, a lot of golfers and found out that there's a lot of culture, there's a lot of arts, a lot of different people here, and there's a lot of life downtown.

And that's something that, you know, I felt like I was in a much bigger town.

But then you have all the joys of being in a small town.

- That's what's fun about this weird little place that we live is, it is, it's a melting pot of a bunch of weird, sort of confused, artsy people, great soldiers, golfers.

So you're gonna see a bunch of weird folks all over the town.

That's what makes it.

You know, you can kinda blend in or stick out however you want to.

[guitar strumming] - What an honor to be the leader of a community that people are discovering and finding out the cool culture that we have here.

And the idea of growth, the idea that people want to be here.

It is, I think it's fabulous.

We have a great opportunity, as the town grows, to really shape it into what we want it to be.

Protecting it so that it remains that community that people love.

We don't wanna grow so fast that we kind of lose sight of who we are.

But I think that's why people elected me and tasked me with that job.

I hope that I have a good vision for seeing that growth while preserving the culture of Southern Pines.

[guitar music] [guitar music continues] - [Dwayne] Golf is also a game of contrast.

[crowd cheering] - [Commentator] And he's back on top.

Great stuff.

- [Dwayne] A game of tradition and rock and roll all at once.

- [Commentator] 42-year-old Payne Stewart back into a share of the lead with Mickelson.

- [Jim] It was a moment that really, I think this course and in some ways the US Open came of age.

- [Commentator] This one piped right down the center, John, he's swinging better as the day goes on.

- [Jim] You have Phil Mickelson, who was the rising star.

- [Commentator] Well you fans of south paws, you'll be rooting for the lefty today.

Phil Mickelson, he's with Roger Maltbie.

- [Roger] Phil who's more nervous today?

You or Amy?

The storylines of the week, Certainly Phil Mickelson, whose wife Amy was getting ready to give birth to their first child.

- So I think Amy's gonna be a little bit more nervous, but obviously with the opportunity to win my first major there's some nerves out there.

- [Commentator] Here comes the leader after 54 holes, Payne Stewart.

- [Roger] And then of course Payne Stewart had already won a US Open but had lost in such, almost kind of a tragic way at the Olympic Club the year prior.

Good luck to you.

- Thanks, Rog.

- [Jim] One of the coolest moments of the day was the players at the time to get to the first tee had to cross the 18th fairway.

And there was just like this thunderous applause, you know, and these guys were really, really into it there in the gallery, even though we weren't gonna see these guys for four or five hours.

Just, it was a really special moment.

Kind of a, you know, make the hair on your arms stand up a little bit.

Just, you know, you're kind of heading into battle it was a little bit like walking into the Coliseum and the place went nuts.

And those guys, you know, went over to the first hole and teed off.

- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final pairing.

- [Commentator] Roger, what's the mood out there?

They really vocally for both guys or Phil or what?

- [Roger] Both guys.

I mean, I've heard many cheers for both players.

I couldn't lean one way or the other.

It sounded at the first tee as though the ovation was a little louder for Phil Mickelson.

But there are a lot of Payne Stewart fans out there.

Payne had experienced very great highs, but in many ways it was kind of remembered for the ones that got away.

At the 16th hole he had a chip shot from around the green that he did not play well.

And that really set the stage.

He and Phil now are even, going to 17, the 71st hole.

[crowd chattering] - [Commentator] Shot starts just left of the hole, cutting just right of the hole.

[crowd groaning] - [Roger] Payne stuffed it in there about four feet.

Phil followed it with another brilliant shot to about five feet.

- [Commentator] Oh, what a shot.

You're kidding me.

[crowd roaring] - [Roger] Phil missed.

[crowd roaring] - [Commentator] One hole to play.

Stewart leads ball one.

[golf club thwacks] Perfect.

He's got a chance to catch Payne.

Inside slope there.

The ball below his feet.

- [Jim] Phil had an eight iron in there as he pulled it a little bit, but the greens were softer now because of the mist.

And the ball hung up on the right side of the green rather than releasing down.

- [Mike] I was preparing myself for Monday finish, for a playoff.

- [Commentator] They're all square in all intents and purposes.

- [Commentator 2] Test of will and a test of putters, isn't it?

- Yep.

- [Mike] And he hit a really good putt.

It looked good for a long time, but it missed.

And that, you know, gave Payne the open door.

[dramatic music] [crowd roaring] - [Jim] Kids who were there will grow up remembering what they witnessed.

And those people who saw Payne Stewart battle Phil Mickelson on Father's Day in the kind of fog and mist and make that putt to win and hurl his arm into the air and rise up on one leg.

Won't forget that.

[crowd cheering] - Hey Dwayne, I really want to show you something special here.

- Okay.

- Man, this is what it was all about in 1999.

The hole location is exactly where Payne Stewart putted to in '99.

And of course here's the statue with his famous pose.

And that was just an incredibly exciting moment in the history of American golf, really.

- And you were there, watching?

- I was standing right back here in the crowd, back right at this road and- - Take me through it.

- Well, it was a overcast, foggy day in Pinehurst, probably in the low sixties.

It was a mist in the air.

I remember remarking that this was a day that a guy with knickers had to win the US open.

[Dwayne laughs] It was just that kind of a Scottish overcast day.

And then, so Payne is locked into a battle with Phil Mickelson right to the end.

And Payne birdied the 17th hole.

And then on 18th he drove it in the rough and he had to lay up.

And then he hit his third shot on about 18 feet away.

And then he made the putt to win by a shot.

- As you watched it, what were you thinking?

When did you think, "This is going in?"

- When it went in.

[Dwayne laughs] You know, he hit a great putt.

He knew what that putt would do.

He had practiced that particular putt during the practice rounds and it went in and then, again, the whole day was just so unique here from June, the weather.

And Payne cut the sleeves off of a long sleeve shirt to have the vest.

And that kind of started a fashion trend in golf really.

And then of course, several months later, Payne dies tragically in the airplane crash.

And, so that '99 Open from so many angles and ways was really an incredibly special event.

- Do you remember what you said to him afterwards?

- I just said, "Great putt."

And of course he was so excited.

Remember he grabbed Phil by kind of his shoulders and said, you know, "You'll have your time and you're gonna be a father."

A really interesting story, there was a photographer here, all week he didn't take any pictures and the final round, he positions himself up here on top of the clubhouse and he has his camera ready and he snapped the picture as the ball went in and Payne does his fist pump.

And it was a spectacular photograph.

And it's called "One Moment in Time."

Just captured the moment perfectly.

And it was the only photograph he took all week.

- Smart guy.

- Smart guy.

Exactly.

- So you could play that if you are out here playing No.2 you can get that in placement.

- Well it depends- - All the time?

- No, no.

Like one day on Sundays, they put it somewhere close to where Payne putted it in 1999.

So resort guests and members do get to play to that hole location on occasion, yes.

- So how many times have you hit that putt?

- A few times.

[Dwayne laughs] - Alright.

[gentle music] The US Open and Pinehurst now are wedded.

With the course designated as an anchor site for the championship.

And with the return of the Hall of Fame and the USGA headquarters to the resort, these have truly become hallowed grounds of the game.

Question, why here?

Why is this the cradle of American golf?

- Yes, so Pinehurst Resort, it was established in 1895, of course by the Tufts family.

And Donald Ross was hired to become the course architect for Pinehurst.

And then the World Golf Hall of Fame opened down here in 1974.

And we're just so happy to be back in Pinehurst after some time down in St. Augustine.

- I know why he's laughing.

- Yeah, I'm so old.

I remember when it was at the back of the fourth green, fifth tee back there, so.

- Yeah.

- I'm old enough to know both places now.

- Absolutely.

Well, it's so nice to have it return and be back here, again within walking distance of The Cradle and Pinehurst No.

2.

- We got the President's Cup right here.

- Yes.

Yeah, we have all of golf's greatest championship trophies on display here in the Hall of Fame.

So visitors can come and explore all of the history of the great game that we love.

- Now you've hoisted a trophy or two, but nothing like any of this stuff.

- No, I've hoisted trophies that other guys made it possible for me to hoist.

[Dwayne laughs] I just stood over on a sideline and yelled, "Run, run, run."

But this is golf.

Walking off the first tee on No.

2 and you start walking down through there and all of a sudden you start thinking about this is where Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan and all those guys.

And so it gives you a little more spring in your step as you walk down through there.

And playing No.

2 the first time, and it was very difficult, but I played pretty doggone well.

And so every time you come down here you think about golf and what it means to so many people.

And you know, if I hadn't been a basketball coach, I would've mowed greens all week long so I could play free on Thursday or something like that, so.

- You remember the best round you had here?

The best shot.

- Oh yeah.

On No.

2, I shot 72, but it just wasn't the same day I shot 36.

[Dwayne laughs] No, I'm serious.

- Obviously Tiger Woods' locker's gonna be one everyone's gonna visit here, but before they visit his, I think they should always stop and see this guy, Charlie Sifford.

- What Charlie Sifford did, came to the tour and did such a great job.

He set the stage for people like Tiger Woods.

- I've met him.

The one time I met him I was at the Golf Channel as an anchor.

I had a brief moment in a commercial break.

I jumped up, ran over, shook his hand and he had his cigar in his mouth.

And I just shook his hand and I said, "Mr. Sifford, it so nice to meet you, sir.

My name is Dwayne Ballen."

And he didn't say anything for what seemed like five hours, but it was just a couple of seconds.

And he just looked at me and he looked at the anchor desk.

He said, "Young man, it's nice to see you at that desk."

- I was probably the luckiest guy in the world.

I probably played 15 rounds with Tom Watson.

And we used to play before the senior event in Kansas City.

Tom and I would play George Brett, who had won the senior event the year before in a nine hole skins game.

And then I was, and we won all of 'em.

Let me just get that in so George knows- - So you carried it, right?

- Oh no, no, I didn't carry it, but we won all of 'em.

- [Dwayne] Coach, you gave Jack Nicklaus a tip for the swing.

- Oh, he asked a question and I answered it.

- Okay.

[laughs] There' hope for you.

You see that?

- Future inductee.

In my dreams.

[Dwayne laughs] In my dreams every night.

- [Dwayne] Hey, look over here.

- [Roy] Oh Freddy, I love Freddy too.

[gentle music] - Legends and tall tales seem to go hand in hand.

And once again, while there's plenty of nostalgia behind glass here, you can just as easily raise one and immerse yourself in it.

- Here's to the Pine Crest Inn.

[Dwayne laughs] [glass clinks] That's a lot of gin, lady.

- There's ice water with gin.

[Dwayne laughing] That's pretty funny.

- Please, what was the party like here in '99?

Because this was the spot, right?

- Well I would tell you there's a party here every night.

Whether there's a US Open champion here or not.

- I will tell you a funny story though, about the party.

And of course we had no idea with it being the first Open, how much crowd we were gonna get here or anything.

This side of the porch fell in.

There was so many people.

- Fell in?

- Fell in.

[chuckles] - I always came here because it's where you brought your friends.

Or you would sit on this porch, it's the most famous porch in golf.

And I mean that sincerely because generations, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer told me, and I'm his autobiographer, so he told me he loved the very experience of just walking in the door here.

You come out here on any spring evening, like tonight.

- It's packed.

- It's packed.

People having drinks, spinning their golf lies.

And there's no more social game on Earth than golf.

It's designed to be a game of rules and courtesy.

And this place embodies that principle.

And Dick Tufts, who was the president of Pinehurst for so many years, wrote a thing called the "Creed of the Amateur" because he believed the game of golf should be won with honor and dignity and a sense of humor, about whether you win or lose doesn't really matter.

You're not gonna find that in a lot of the golf world now.

But it lives and breathes here.

- [Dwayne] The long shadows that arrive with the afternoon often bring reflection in their wake.

And looking at what Pinehurst is today, it is only possible thanks to all the parts of the story that got it here.

- Golf is for every man.

And you know, in a lot of parts of the country, it's a elite sport.

Here, everybody plays golf.

You know, Tom Watson, famous golfer once said, "To some people golf's a matter of life or death.

But to the people of Pinehurst, it's really much more important than that."

And so that gives you a sense of everything around here revolves around the sport.

We fashion ourselves as the St. Andrews of America.

- It's funny, when you look at it now, it seems like this place is simply thriving.

But it always wasn't thus because there was a time when this was a troubled place, correct?

- Pinehurst was in bankruptcy in the early '80s.

Maintenance of the Carolina Hotel was so poor.

You know, legend has it the chef fell through the floor.

- [Dwayne] Wrung of its value by corporate interest it took vision to see that Pinehurst's heritage was its advantage.

Courses were restored, hotels refurbished.

The old powering new life.

- The Dedman family and their business ClubCorp bought it, poured a ton of money in it.

And we're all the beneficiaries of that shrewd investment.

[pensive music] [footsteps tapping] [footsteps continue tapping] - The Manor Hotel built in 1923, one of Pinehurst's most prestigious locations.

My late father-in-Law, Martin Kendrick Sr. worked here.

He was part of the vast service class that supported and helped this Pinehurst community transform.

But you can't tell the story of transformation unless you tell the story of all who contributed to it.

You see, Mr. Kendrick was only allowed in this hotel, because he was black, in his capacity as a bellman.

He probably couldn't have imagined...

I can't [indistinct].

Stop.

He could only come to this hotel in his capacity as a bellman.

It's the only way he could get in the door.

He probably couldn't imagine that decades later, his daughter Martina and I would drop his grandson Jared off where he would be a welcome guest and attend the Pinehurst Golf Academy.

[pensive music] As much as people know the name Donald Ross, what Donald Ross created wouldn't exist without the support of a very strong and vibrant service class, many of whom were black, like my late father-in-Law.

If this story is about Pinehurst's transformation, it is incomplete without that recognition.

Paul McRae is the embodiment of that transformation.

Willie McRae, his father, famously picked up his bag here at just 10 years of age.

When he started in 1943, caddying was the only way a black man could walk this course.

Now, a generation later, his son is the course pro and his grandson Darick, is a caddy as well.

- Show me the good setup.

Alright, let's see your good setup now.

Nice.

- Interrupting this lesson.

- Hey.

- Sorry ladies, I'm interrupting your lesson.

Paul.

- How you doing?

Good to see you, man.

- Good, man.

You doin' all right?

- Good to see you.

How you doing?

This is you teaching, huh?

- Yeah.

- Master Pro here.

- Yeah.

- Man, generations for the McRae family out here, right?

- That means a lot of years.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- How many, how far do you guys go back here?

- Ooh, we go back a long time.

I've been here probably over 35 right now.

And my dad was over 70 years.

- Gosh.

What about your family?

How far back does your family go here?

- His dad was a caddy here.

So it- - So your grandfather was a caddy here?

- Yes.

- And when would that have been?

- Ooh, that's back there, probably in the '30s.

In the '20s, yeah.

- You took it a step further.

He saw you become a master pro.

The first African American ever to achieve that here at Pinehurst.

- Well, you know, that's a funny thing because he was the only person that believed that I could be, you know, the first African American at Pinehurst.

And that was a great feeling.

- So he always believed in you.

How much is he still with you, Paul?

- Every day.

Every day.

Every day when I talk about my dad.

My dad, you know, he's a legend.

He tells me that every day.

- He still tells you that.

- Yeah, that's right.

He's a legend.

You know, so.

[gentle music] - [Dwayne] So who's wearing a Fitbit?

I wanna know how many steps you think you're getting in.

- Oh, nine miles easy with double bag, for 18 holes.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

Nine miles.

Where the player's only probably walking six miles.

Each of 'em are walking six, we're walking nine.

Just 'cause you're going back and forth.

- You get a bag up.

Whoo yeah.

- Yeah.

You go 36 holes, you're getting 18 miles in.

- [Dwayne] So what is it you're doing out there that most people have no idea you guys have to do while you're out there?

- A little bit of sports psychology.

A lot of talking guys off the ledge, you know.

- Definitely.

- "Oh I'm terrible."

"We're not that bad."

- Sometimes we're marriage counselors.

- You're marriage counselors?

- Oh God, yeah.

Yeah.

We gotta keep 'em in line and check and you know, make sure they understand what they're doing is right or wrong.

You know, all the good stuff.

- Oh, you mean when couples are playing together?

- Well, no, just men in general.

- Oh men, the friendships.

- Yeah, there you go.

- You hear some stuff, like "That might be a bad idea."

- Yeah, that might.

[Dwayne laughs] - So you know, it's all kinds of psychology.

- [Dwayne] When do you know it's been a good day?

- Walking up 18.

- Exactly.

- No, it is true.

It is true.

It is very true.

You can't laugh at that one 'cause we're all like that.

No, you get long days, short days, but you know.

- What makes it worth, when you come up 18 and you see all four of your guys that's been beat up on all day long by the golf course, still laughing, joking and having a good time.

That's the best part of it, when you come up 18 and everybody laughing and having a good time.

You know you did what you were supposed to do.

- Right.

- Can't beat it.

- Your grandfather.

The legendary Willie McRae, one of the greatest caddies ever.

He's been venerated and he's no longer with us, but that name has resonance.

And what do you think about, when you think about it?

- It's awesome.

I never knew he was that big time.

I mean, before I played golf, but didn't pay no attention that he was a caddy here.

I just thought it was a regular job until I started caddying out here.

Then I started seeing how everybody treated him.

I'm like, "You really a big deal then, huh?"

But to me, he was just my granddaddy.

I didn't know he was the man until I got to working here.

But I got to work 17 years with him.

So it worked out for me.

- Can you put into words what it's meant to you and what you learned?

- Oh, a lot.

I learned a lot.

I mean, as far as golf and life, he taught you on both levels, when you out there and out here.

'Cause he always told you, you wanna treat everybody like you wanna be treated.

I don't care how negative you are, I'm gonna be the most positive thing out there.

Alright, we might be in the bunker, but we'll be all right.

Let's go.

You know what I mean?

That's one of the things I learned from him.

But I learned a lot of good stuff from him.

- How much do you think about him when you're out here?

- Hmm.

A lot.

Before it was a whole lot.

But now it's calmed down more.

- [Dwayne] What was it like before?

- I didn't wanna be out here.

- [Dwayne] Why?

- I put in 17 years here with him just coming back into this room after he left, just didn't feel good.

So I left for a little bit.

- You had to take a break.

- I came back.

Yeah.

I took a little time off, but I didn't leave.

- His presence was that great that you just couldn't.

- I still have a video on my phone that whenever I get down and I wanna listen, I wanna talk to him, I go visit.

- [Willie] The doctor said she's at 1200, he said she's lucky she didn't have a stroke.

but I said, I'm gonna start praying here in the emergency room.

Then I went out in the hall and prayed.

Then they took upstairs and put her in the bed.

And the next morning it had come down from 1200 to 71.

- What happened, Willie?

- Yeah.

God worked a miracle.

He always working miracles.

And she was so happy and she been doing pretty good ever since.

- Thank you Willie McRae.

- You're welcome.

- [Dwayne] He's always with you.

- Yep.

- I have a question.

- Yeah, sure.

- First of all, I need to know, you guys were laughing.

Why is it funny that I'm sitting on this couch?

Look at him.

Look at him.

- He's laughing.

- What do I need to know?

What do I need to know?

- Like, we don't really sit on the couch from like, what it like March to really ever, but yeah.

It just, you know, you're out there.

It's 95 degrees.

And then this is the first place guys come and sit after be sweating all day.

- I don't believe a word you're saying.

- You know how some people have that nasty sweat?

And then they come in here and then it's cool.

And the first thing they want do is- - Lay down, - Stretch out on that couch.

- Lay down everywhere.

- It's also a good nap couch.

Never had one there, but- - It's not the most sanitized place, but at least it's leather.

- [Darick] We don't get housekeeping down here every day.

- [Dwayne] Thank goodness for the Pinehurst Cure.

What better way to end today here than in The Cradle itself?

A new par three course where shoes are optional and the soul of the game is always required.

- Gentlemen, welcome to The Cradle.

Your longest hole today is 116 yards.

Your course record is 18.

And I quit counting holes in one at over 2,000.

- [Dwayne] It truly has been a beautiful day at Pinehurst, but it's made even more so thanks to the places I've been.

Look at those clubs.

- Isn't that awesome?

Don Ross made those for Lillian.

- The people I've met.

Dwayne.

- Isaac.

- Nice to meet you.

- Very nice to meet you.

- You have the goods.

- Yes sir.

Yes sir.

- [Dwayne] And knowing that tomorrow will be even better.

- If I leave anything, it's just to make sure that before I leave I can get somebody else that looks like me at Pinehurst.

So that would be one of my legacies, you know, to make sure that I passed it on.

- Gents, I must tell you, this is pretty special.

Me walking here with you two, representing past, present, and thinking about the future of golf here at Pinehurst.

Doesn't get much better than this.

- [Paul] No.

- [Dwayne] Nicely done, sir.

- Enjoyed it.

Thank you.

- Enjoyed it.

Thank you.

- [Paul] That was a pretty shot you hit right there though.

[gentle music] [gentle music] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [waves lapping] [dramatic music] - [Announcer] The home of American golf and so much more.

For more about the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen area of North Carolina, visit homeofgolf.com.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music] - [Player] What are you doing, Big blue?

What do you know?

- Yes sir.

[players laughing] - [Player] No.

- [Player] No shot.

- [Announcer] Funding also provided by Mary Louise and John Burress and viewers like you.