Wander the town and courses of Pinehurst, and you’ll find yourself standing nose to nose with relics from a different age. One example is a glorious 1930s-era Penfold golf ball vending machine, and it’s been on the counter at Mid Pines for as long as anyone can remember.
How that specific bit of Penfold history wound up at that specific location is lost to history. It undoubtedly, however, started its journey nearly 600 miles north in another lost-to-history relic: Penfold’s U.S. factory in the Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, New York.
The company had already set up a sales office in Manhattan in the early ’30s. Founder Albert Penfold would make the ocean voyage from England twice a year (the last of which, tragically, would cost him his life at the hands of a Nazi U-Boat in 1941). Penfold’s factory on Bromford Lane in Birmingham was making balls for both the U.K. and the U.S. markets, and it soon became evident that North American production was needed. The Penfold LL and LT, at $1 each (an extraordinary $24.75 today), were the choice for discerning golfers of that day. Thanks to Penfold’s unique dimple pattern and its proprietary rubber winding technology, the LL and LT were that era’s Pro V1 and were the longest balls you could buy.
And if there's anything golfers love then and now - it's distance.
Making the Brooklyn Connection
To meet the growing demand, Penfold opened its Brooklyn factory in 1936. Even amid the Great Depression, the well-to-do Americans still loved their golf. Every winter, thousands of them, along with northern club professionals, would hop on a train and head south.
The Carolina Florida Special, operated by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, would take these early snowbirds (and their golf clubs) from New York City to Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Tampa, Palm Beach or Miami. The service was renowned for its luxury, offering fresh seafood, champagne, and a variety of baked goods, including pies, cakes, and rolls, all prepared on board. With a nod to Florida, it also served a rarity for the ‘30s, freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast.
Along with a winter supply of golfers, these southbound trains would also roll south with a winter supply of golf balls. Cases of Penfolds fresh from the Bush Terminal factory would be loaded up and distributed at key stops along the way, including what was fast becoming the epicenter of elite amateur golf in the U.S., the community of Pinehurst, North Carolina
Sand and Pines
Mid Pines is one of a trio of Donald Ross gems right outside of Pinehurst, along with Pine Needles and Southern Pines. If you take the 12-minute ride back to Pinehurst, you’ll get a sense of how the area got its name.
There are a lot of pine trees.
It wasn’t always that way.
The area is known as the Sandhills region because, before the pines, it was sand. A lot of sand. In fact, before 1895, the area was nothing but sand. That’s when a Massachusetts soda fountain magnate named James Walker Tufts, bought up 6,000 acres of that sand for about $1 per acre. His goal was to create a health resort for middle-class Americans in the northeast. His resort would offer fresh air and pine-tree tranquility to combat early industrial-era respiratory ailments.
The problem was, there were no pine trees. Just sand.
Tufts would not be deterred. He hired Frederick Olmstead, the famed designer of Central Park in New York, to lay out a New England-style village in the Sandhills. To make Tufts’ vision a reality, Olmstead had to bring in and plant more than 200,000 pine trees.
During construction, the project was called Tuftstown. The name Pinehurst was chosen later, almost by accident. Tufts took it from a list of names submitted for a new community on Martha’s Vineyard, where he had a summer home.
Tufts had a nine-hole course built at Pinehurst in 1898 after noticing a group of early visitors knocking golf balls into the sand dunes. It wouldn’t take Tufts long to see that golf would be an integral part of Pinehurst, and in 1900, he hired Donald Ross to be his head professional and golf course architect. Ross first turned the original nine-hole course into a full 18-hole course, which became Pinehurst No.1. In 1901, Pinehurst hosted the inaugural North and South Amateur Championship, an event that continues to this day. The famed Pinehurst No.2 was next, opening in 1907, as Ross would design four courses at Pinehurst. He maintained a winter home there until he died in 1948.
Dedicated to the amateur game
Until 1980, Pinehurst was a privately-owned community. It had no municipal government, just a board of directors that ran the police and fire departments as well as utilities. As late as 1962, Pinehurst had only 600 permanent residents. During the summer months, Pinehurst made Mayberry look downright cosmopolitan.
But every year, from October through April, some 30,000 golfers would trek to the tiny village, mostly to play, but often to watch the world’s best golfers ply their trade. One year after the North and South Amateur debuted, Pinehurst created a professional version called the North and South Open. The event began as a stopover for northern pros heading south for the winter, but it would become one of the most prestigious events of the season. Some scribes of the day even considered the North and South Open to be a “major,” and its winner’s circle reads like a Hall of Fame roster. Sam Snead and Walter Hagen each won three times. Ben Hogan was also a three-time winner, including his first victory as a professional in 1940.
The pros, however, would soon learn the Tufts family’s deep commitment to the amateur game. When the burgeoning PGA Tour tried pressuring organizers to increase the prize money, it was told, very politely, to take a hike. The final North and South Open was played in 1951 and was won by Tommy Bolt.
Richard Tufts, the grandson of James, and a former USGA president, was also president of Pinehurst, Inc. “We’re trying very hard to keep things small here,” he was quoted by Sports Illustrated, “to preserve the amateur spirit of golf.”
The Tufts family kept Pinehurst small until 1970, when sold out to the Diamondhead Corporation. Over the next decade, Diamondhead fast-tracked residential development until 1980. That's when Pinehurst became an honest-to-goodness North Carolina community, known officially as the Village of Pinehurst.
Recreating the Brooklyn Connection
While it may not be the fastest or most convenient way to get to Pinehurst, you can relive (to a degree) the Penfold to Pinehurst 1930s connection today. Your journey begins in what used to be the Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, no known as Industry City. In its heyday, the Bush Terminal was a bustling shipping and manufacturing center. Everything from wire, radio parts and building materials to toy dolls and Topps Baseball Cards was made there.
Of particular interest today are the two businesses that occupy the former Penfold factory at 33 35th Street, Building 5. The first is a vintage furniture store called City Foundry that specializes in mid-century classics. Its neighbor is Grand Avenue Foot Supply, Inc, a wholesale distributor of packaged and canned foods.
From there, it’s a 10-minute walk to the 36th Street Station, where you’ll catch the D Train to Bryant Park. You’ll then walk another five minutes towards Times Square to 67 W. 44th Street. That’s the site of Penfold’s first U.S. Sales office. Next, you’ll walk a few blocks to the 44th Street Station and take the 2 or 3 train back toward Brooklyn, getting off at Park Place Station. It’s a short walk to Penfold’s second U.S. sales office location, at 11 Park Place.
After paying homage to Penfold’s New York legacy, it’s time to head south. You’ll jump the A Train uptown and head to Penn Station. The Carolinas Florida Special doesn’t run anymore, but Amtrak’s The Carolinian does. It’s a day train with no sleeper or dining cars, so don’t expect champagne or fresh seafood. It will, however, take you from New York to North Carolina’s Southern Pines station in a little over 12 hours. From there, it’s a 10-minute Uber ride to the Village of Pinehurst.
Make sure to bring a dozen Penfold Hearts along for the ride, for old times' sake. And you can stop by Pinehurst's new No.10 course at the Sandmines, where you will find a selection of Penfold's modern-day offerings.
