Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club

Donald Ross designed Pine Needles in 1927, tucked into the rolling sandhills just outside Pinehurst proper. Kyle Franz led a restoration in 2018 that reclaimed Ross's original bunkering intent and restored the native sand-and-wiregrass character that had been softened by decades of conditioning decisions. The result is a walkable, firm, strategic Ross design that plays like a more intimate sibling to No. 2. Pine Needles is the first golf resort to host four U.S. Women's Open Championships — 1996 (Annika Sorenstam), 2001 (Karrie Webb), 2007 (Cristie Kerr), and 2022. It also hosted the 2019 U.S. Senior Women's Open (won by Helen Alfredsson), cementing its status as the USGA's go-to venue for women's major championship golf. The course is ranked 4th in North Carolina on Golfweek's Top 100 in the USA, #44 on GOLF Magazine's Top 100 U.S. public courses, #63 on Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Public Courses, and #63 on Golfweek's own Top 100 You Can Play.