Pine Needles

Donald Ross laid out Pine Needles during the 1927-28 building boom in the North Carolina Sandhills. The hotel opened in January 1928, and the course debuted weeks later with the Women's Mid-South Open. Classic Ross traits, crowned greens, native wiregrass, and sandy waste areas, define the walk through the longleaf pines of Southern Pines. In 2017 architect Kyle Franz completed a restoration that widened corridors, reclaimed lost green edges, and returned Ross's original strategic intent while modernizing agronomy. The layout has become one of the great stages in women's golf, hosting the U.S. Women's Open in 1996 (Annika Sorenstam), 2001 (Karrie Webb), 2007 (Cristie Kerr), and 2022 (Minjee Lee), plus the 2019 U.S. Senior Women's Open. It sits in Southern Pines, North Carolina.