Moore 100 hosted Tom Pashley, president of Pinehurst Resort, at the Carolina Hotel on June 21 in a standing-room-only crowd.
Pashley said they expect to sell 40,000 to 45,000 tickets per day to the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
“Our best $500,000 investment was renting the motor coaches,” Pashley said about not using school buses like other golf resorts to transport spectators. “Spectators are future guests.”
New features for the 2024 U.S. Open are spectator focused and include a public grandstand on the left of the 18th hole and a high-end spectator’s building named the 1895 Club. The club will feature premium hospitality and large-screen TVs on the walls for close-up viewing. It will offer the finest quality food, beverage and service, and has spectacular views of the 18th hole.
The prize money for the 2024 U.S. Open is $3.6 million, with a total purse of $20 million.
When an audience member asked Pashley if he had a clue about the winning score for the 2024 U.S. Open, he laughed and said he’d asked a friend about the winning bet.
“He said four under par,” Pashley said, smiling.
Chuckles paraded down the crowded room’s aisles.
Hitting a 4-under par is called a condor and is a rarity.
Moore 100’s Executive Director, Natalie Hawkins, opened the meeting with golf statistics.
“This past quarter, golf participation increased 17%. It has an annual economic impact exceeding $226 billion,” Hawkins said about being 355 days away from the 2024 U.S. Open.
To prepare for the growing golf industry, the resort’s course No. 10 has an expected completion by spring 2024.
The course in Aberdeen, off N.C. 5, is next to Pinehurst and has a more dramatic landscape with a 75-foot elevation, several ponds, and is on 925 acres.
“We are not redoing the Pit Golf Course,” Pashley said.
In 1939, the 925-acre site was home to a sand mining operation. In 1955, the site was the Almond family’s peach orchard. In 1999, it was home to Pit Golf Links. In 2011, Robert Dedman, Jr, owner of the Pinehurst Resort, purchased the 925 acres.
The 8th hole on No. 10 under construction June 21, 2023, features a blind shot with a steep embankment on the left.
The course broke ground in January, and the lead designer is Angela Moser, who has worked worldwide.
“She said to watch out for the eighth hole and that the seventeenth hole was a wicked green,” Pashley said.
The seventeenth hole has two ponds.
The 17th hole on No. 10 under construction June 21, 2023, features ponds.
Pashley said the landscape was interesting, sandy, with wire grass.
The course’s rustic farmhouse-style buildings have a 2025 completion date and were designed by architect Jim Compton.
When asked if the U.S. Open will ever be held at No. 10, Pashley said the No. 2 course will always be the home to the U.S. Open.
Pashley is from Augusta, Georgia, is married to Susan Pashley, and they have two children, Holly, 19, and Max, 16. They have lived in Moore County for 26 years.
The next Moore 100 meeting is on Oct. 30 at the Carolina Hotel. The featured speaker is Sean Suggs, with the Toyota Battery Manufacturing Company, a $3 billion factory.
Feature photo: President of Pinehurst Resort Tom Pashley takes the stage for the Moore 100 meeting on June 21, 2023, at the Carolina Hotel.
~Article and photos by Sandhills Sentinel journalist Stephanie M. Sellers; BS Mass Communications and Journalism, MFA Creative Writing.
