No more sleeps. No more delays, we are about to board a big bird that will take us to Dallas and then an internal flight to Raleigh Durham.  We arrive in Raleigh Durham at 10:30pm and then have a 90 minute transfer to the Pinehurst Resort.  You may recognise this little guy – Putter Boy.  Like the Claret Jug one of the most iconic golfing images.    The fact that this icon is here, that Pinehurst is one of the Top 10 public courses in the world, Top 3 public courses in the US I think and I am going to have the opportunity to play it!  It has been one of my dreams for about 25 years.  I cannot wait….

Putter Boy

In 1912, sculptress Lucy Richards used the lad as the model for her bronze statuette in sundial form. Since Richards wasn’t a golfer, Ross demonstrated the proper grip and stance for her—but the image is not of Ross, who was a grown man at the time.
The shaft of the club created the shadow that would be used on the sundial to tell time, and in order to get the proper angle, the length of the club had to be inordinately long.

The statue was known as “The Sundial Boy” until the 1970s, when “The Putter Boy” name caught on. For many years the statue sat on a concrete base between the two large putting greens beside the clubhouse. It was moved in 1978 to the PGA/World Golf Hall of Fame but returned to Pinehurst around 1990 and now is displayed prominently once again outside the clubhouse.

When Pinehurst’s marketing and retailing officials were trying to decide what components to use for the logo for the 1999 Open, Stephen Cryan believed “The Golf Lad” was a natural choice. Cryan, then the director of retail operations at Pinehurst, felt the image from old advertisements was classic and respected and an ideal graphic to associate with the Open at Pinehurst.

Source Pinehurst website.

Another reason that Pinehurst is on my Bucket List is that when I was struck by tragedy and threw myself into golf, there was an American Pro Golfer who had jeux de vie and made me want to watch golf again – his name was Payne Stewart.  You may wonder what the hell this has to do with Pinehurst, please bear with me.

Payne Stewart

Payne was the 80’s and 90’s version of Ian Poulter, we all wanted to know what he was wearing.  I thought that he looked really cool with his flat caps and Plus Fours or Knickerbockers, he wasn’t bad looking either.  In a very exciting finish to the 1999 US Open, held at Pinehurst No. 2 (which we will play).  In a nail biting finish, Payne sunk a 15′ (5m) putt on the last to win by 1 shot from Phil Mickleson.  Sadly 4 months later he and his crew were killed when his jet lost cabin pressure and they passed out.

His celebration of that putt is how he is remembered at Pinehurst and there is a statue to celebrate his life.  I cannot wait to see it and to sink a putt and mimic the pose.

I am so excited……

Categories: Holidays The Masters Trip

Shaz Thompson

Mad about golf, enthusiastic about life, totally in love with my husband and just having fun.