North Carolina native Brady played in 1955 U.S. Open at age 19 One of the most accomplished players in the history of North Carolina golf annals has passed away. Pat Foy Brady, who played in the 1955 U.S. Open and won the first Carolinas Golf Association North Carolina Amateur championship, died Nov. 24, 2019 at…
By David Droschak Bob Farren has never won a championship, never hoisted a trophy for a global photo op or sank a clutch putt for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In fact, many causal golfers may have never even heard of his name, let alone know his title at one of golf’s most glorious venues.…
By Brad King In the world of golf course architecture, Ellis Maples may not be as prolific or renowned as fellow North Carolinians Donald Ross or Tom Fazio. But Maples is unquestionably the centerpiece of North Carolina’s first family of golf course design, construction and maintenance. Maples was born in Pinehurst in 1909. His father,…
By Brad King Fittingly in many ways, legendary Wake Forest University golf coach Jesse Haddock passed away during the week of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Though he never coached Palmer during his historic, three-decade stint at Wake Forest, the program Haddock inherited in 1960 always benefited from The King’s cachet. Shortly after assuming control of…
(NOTE: Ed Dupree is a former columnist for Triad Golf Today and Triangle Golf Today who wrote about his adventures of playing as many North Carolina golf courses as he could. Former newspaper colleague Tim Peeler reflects on Ed’s life.) Ed Dupree couldn’t just tell you which of the 565 golf courses he had played…
A new book has hit the market about famed architect Donald Ross, who designed more than 40 golf courses across North Carolina. “Great Donald Ross Golf Courses Everyone Can Play,” written by author and former Pinehurst Resort historian Paul R. Dunn features history and photos of some of the state’s best and most unique layouts,…
While it may be true people don’t read much anymore, they do read James Dodson. So it’s noteworthy that the accomplished award-winning author from North Carolina has just released his 14th book, titled “The Range Bucket List.” It consists of 21 chapters, all of which can be read independently, and includes an interesting conversation at…
By Stuart Hall When Peggy Kirk Bell first met golf at age 17, how the wondrous, intertwining 78-year journey would unfold must have been unfathomable. In 1938, the idea of a young woman becoming a golf instructor or a touring professional or even a savvy business negotiator was likely as much wishful thinking as practical because…
By Kurt Dusterberg Willie McRae sits comfortably on the veranda at Pinehurst Resort, looking out over a golf course he knows better than anyone who has ever lived. That might sound like an overstatement, until you consider that he is in his 73rd year caddying at Pinehurst No. 2. When a man’s career endures longer…
By Steve Huffman Gillespie Golf Course is recognized as a tight nine-hole tract, as good a municipal course as you’ll find. It’s also recognized as the site of one of the battles in the civil rights movement, a place where a group of black men sought to integrate a course they weren’t allowed to play.…