Thank God, James Walker Tufts and Donald Ross for Pinehurst.
There are countless others along the way who have managed to cultivate the comforting embrace of a village where golf lives, but the aforementioned threesome got it started. And all these years later, it still has what can’t be bought, only felt and appreciated.
Spending a couple of days in Pinehurst last week – where the fairways are starting to turn green again and it feels as promising as spring training – was a gentle reminder of why the game matters to so many.
It was good for the soul.
Last week was one in which the money-driven business of golf shouldered its way back to the forefront and the heartbreaking reality of life stopped us all with news of the awful accident involving the University of the Southwest golf team, not to mention the soul-sapping events in Ukraine.
Even in a place as reaffirming as Pinehurst, where church bells ring on the hour and there is always a golf course around the corner, the world spins.
Walking the streets of Pinehurst, with its Bedford Falls-like charm and its pink and yellow snapdragons soaking up the spring sunshine, doesn’t scrub the world away, but it offers a peaceful, easy feeling that could be hard to find last week.
What happened to the University of the Southwest golf team was devastating beyond words. Reading the names of the six golfers killed in the accident and their ages is heartbreaking: 19, 19, 22, 21, 18, 18.
The new coach, Tyler James, was 26. They were one day into a two-day tournament. One moment they’re heading to dinner and talking about how they played, the next instant there is no tomorrow.
Because members of two golf teams were involved doesn’t make it any greater a tragedy. It just brings something that happened in west Texas a little closer to the heart because most of us can imagine who they were, what they were doing and how excited they were for a tomorrow that never came.
More encouraging has been the story of 15-year-old Ukrainian golfer Misha Golod, who through the good-hearted efforts of many in golf, escaped the war in his country and found himself inside the ropes with Jon Rahm at the Players Championship three days later.
A ray of sunshine.
The game isn’t unique in finding ways to help. But the people who play golf tend toward generosity.
Also last week, the battle over the bank accounts and playing schedules of professional golfers escalated again with revelations the Premier Golf League out of London is still intent on buying its way into the PGA Tour’s universe, while the Greg Norman-run LIV Golf Invitational series was announced with money practically dripping off the announcement.
Norman’s group announced an eight-event schedule with $25 million purses to be divided among the 48 players who sign on with the new league. It was an important step for the Saudi-backed initiative because it was the first sort of bricks and mortar announcement from the group that has been more concept than concrete until now.
The first event is in early June and at the moment, there are still no players publicly committed to play. That’s because of the PGA Tour’s promise to ban players from its events if they take the money being dangled by Norman’s group.
The narrative is disruptive even if the provocateurs insist that they are selling enhancement of the establishment. It’s likely to get legal soon with sides taken and lines drawn.
Norman says players should be able to do both. The tour says players must pick one or the other.
It’s about power and money and more money. That’s part of our world, but it’s rarely a good look. Just ask Major League Baseball. Some players will take the new league money and feel fine about it. Others won’t.
The line between money and morality must be drawn by each player for themselves.
“This whole narrative about a Saudi golf league is wrong,” Norman said last week. “The narrative is this is LIV Golf Investments, and we are investing in LIV Golf International and the LIV Golf Invitational series and there’s more to come.”
The narrative is disruptive even if the provocateurs insist that they are selling enhancement of the establishment. It’s likely to get legal soon with sides taken and lines drawn.
For all of its timeless charm, Pinehurst isn’t insulated from what’s happening everywhere else. There are local political squabbles, the price of gas is too high and maintaining the balance between old and new is perpetual.
Still, there is something about Pinehurst that feels different or maybe it’s how it makes a person feel different. St. Andrews has it, too.
In the soft spring sunshine, the village was alive with activity and from Pine Needles to Pinehurst resort, tee sheets were booked. At Mid Pines, a buddies’ trip was heading off to play another 18. And at the Cradle, there was literally music in the air and cocktails to enjoy while sitting in the Adirondack chairs watching golf at its most basic and most fun.
In Texas, the pain is still fresh and raw, and in Europe a war continues. The battle over the business of professional golf may just be getting started.
But in Pinehurst, where spring is opening the door, it feels possible to ask the world to wait, if only for a few hours.