There have been days this spring when Tom Pashley, the president of Pinehurst Resort, has looked out from the steps of the clubhouse and seen golfers scattered across the property like every other spring in the North Carolina sandhills.
It looks almost normal.
“That’s because I didn’t have to walk by our three closed hotels every day,” Pashley said recently.
“In my mind it lessened the reality of the situation because I was seeing people enjoying playing golf every day. I was hearing how great the courses are. I don’t want to say it was a mirage, but it masked the reality of the devastation on our core business.”
Three hotels closed. Ten restaurants closed. Thousands of room nights lost. Approximately 1,500 employees impacted.
That’s just Pinehurst Resort.
A few miles down the road at Pine Needles and Mid Pines, it was no different.
“This happened at our Christmas. March, April and May are our three busiest months. It’s where 60 percent of our business is but who wants to travel?” said Kelly Miller, president and CEO of Pine Needles and Mid Pines.
Like almost no place else, the Pinehurst area is built on golf. Like the sandy soil, golf is a part of the place, almost literally the reason for the place.
While the game was allowed to continue in North Carolina through this coronavirus pandemic, golf is only one half of the equation. The hospitality business which fuels much of the region’s economy screeched to a stop.
It’s not unique to the Pinehurst area but given golf’s importance there the effect has been sudden, and the recovery will likely take months, even years. In 2019, Pinehurst Resort had its most successful year by almost every metric. Now, it’s looking forward to May 22 when it plans a limited reopening for its hotels under guidelines put forth by the state’s governor. There are encouraging signs but what’s been lost isn’t going to suddenly return.
“Golf is the lifeblood of this destination,” said Phil Werz, president of the Pinehurst area convention and visitors bureau. “It’s what helps maintain our lives, our families, our careers. It’s the primary occupation here. This is a golf-based economy and it has been for more than 100 years. We’re trying to become a food destination as well. … Without golf, we are nothing.”
That’s not entirely true.
The area is emerging as a dining destination and with the Fort Bragg military installation situated a few miles away, the region has grown. Golf, though, is at the heart of what happens there.
It’s where the business for pubs comes from, where shops get their customers and it’s where so many people work, whether it’s in operations, maintenance, marketing or elsewhere.
Without visitors coming on golf trips, everything is affected. Werz said Pinehurst Resort generates half of the occupancy tax revenue for the region annually and until this spring, the area was on a roll of 17 consecutive months of record-setting months for occupancy tax collection.
“We were playing offense,” Pashley said.
Then the pandemic hit.
Pinehurst Resort was not required by law to close its hotels but when the restaurants were forced to close, the decision was made to close the hotels for safety reasons.
At Pine Needles and Mid Pines, reservations dried up. At both places, member play continued with social distancing and the other now-familiar restrictions. Often, Pinehurst Resort has hosted 700 rounds a day on its nine courses plus the hugely popular short course, the Cradle.
“The Cradle has been a glimmer of hope because it lets you know people still want to come and play golf and laugh and it reminds you of all the momentum we had heading out of last year,” Pashley said.
The tourism industry asked for a $20 million budget from the state legislature and was given $7 million due to diminished revenue. The Pinehurst area will receive roughly half of what it usually gets as it begins to rebound.
Miller and Pashley both serve on a tourism panel helping guide North Carolina through the phases of the pandemic. The state is gradually reopening with May 22 the target date for the next loosening of restrictions. North Carolina has been proactive in dealing with the pandemic and is not rushing back to normal operations.
The tourism industry asked for a $20 million budget from the state legislature and was given $7 million due to diminished revenue. The Pinehurst area will receive roughly half of what it usually gets as it begins to rebound.
“Some industries might have a V-shaped recovery but not tourism,” Miller said. “We tend to be the first affected and among the last to come back. Realistically, we’re looking at 2022 or 2023 to get back to where we were.”
Still, there is optimism.
The phone is ringing again about making reservations rather than canceling them. Next week, for example, several women who were part of a 90-person trip to Pine Needles are coming.
They will have their own rooms (any occupied room is not used for the following 48 hours Miller said) and multiple precautions have been taken around the resort and lodge for guests including taking the temperature of employees every day.
“At some point you have to start going again,” Miller said. “You do the things you can to make sure people are safe. We’ve taken throw pillows off the beds and taken out as many touch points as we can. We spray the rooms and sanitize them. Once a guest is in a room, we’re not cleaning it. Everyone so far is fine with that.
“Nothing is going to change between next week and two months from now. There’s no cure or vaccine coming in the next two months. People have to monitor the risk and make sure everyone is doing the right thing.”
As fortune would have it, it’s been a spectacular spring in the Carolinas. That led to more member play, but it was also a reminder of what – and who – is missing.
“We stand to rebound better than most areas in North Carolina because this is a globally recognized destination,” Werz said. “With things opening up, I’m optimistic it will rebound because of the brand that Pinehurst is. Each week we see more consumer confidence in people traveling.”
When the guests return, whether it’s immediately or later this year, they will be a comforting sight.
“We will welcome guests with open arms,” Pashley said, “even though we can’t hug them.”