Pinehurst Plantation Now Private Mid South Club

By HOWARD WARD 

It’s a done deal. The long anticipated sale of the Plantation Golf Club has taken place and the new sign at the entrance marks the first tangible evidence of the transaction. The new name of the 640-acre complex is the Mid South Club and expectations among members and residents are running high.

A reported sale of the facility several months ago never reached fruition and left everyone concerned, disappointed and disillusioned. But that isn’t going to happen again, according to Bill Perry, president and CEO of Mid South Partners.

“We’re a group of nine businessmen, all friends and all golfers,” Perry said from his new offices at 100 Market Square in the Village of Pinehurst, “and we’ve been involved in several other successful ventures.”

Arnold Palmer, whose company designed the course that opened as Pinehurst Plantation in 1993, has been actively involved in the transaction, but isn’t one of the owners, Perry said.

Improvements scheduled to begin the first of the year include the building of a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a fitness center, a large practice facility and paved parking lots.

Plans are to make the club totally private, eliminating all outside play as of Sept. 1.

 “It’s going to be a step-by-step progression of convincing people, but we’ve invested a lot of money and put together a very strong team of local people such as David Ainslee and Bob Tufts. These are quality, experienced people who know the inside of the operation.”

Ainslee, formerly with Pinehurst Inc., is Marketing Director. Tufts, an associate of Forest Creek Golf Club whose family founded Pinehurst, will assist in management responsibilities.

Plans are to implement a revised membership structure that will affect current members as well as prospective new ones.

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Whaley Wins: Goals are nothing new for Suzy Whaley. She accomplished one earlier this summer when she became the first woman to compete in the PGA Club Professionals Championship, and she achieved another Aug. 1 at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines when she won the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Division Championship.

Whaley, a club professional from Farmington, Conn., didn’t make the cut in the CPC, shooting 80-76 and missing by five shots. But she won the event at Mid Pines in convincing fashion, opening with a 66 and coasting to a nine-shot victory over runner-up Cheryl Anderson of Stamford, Conn., setting a tournament record of seven under par in the process.

Whaley, a 35-year-old mother of two who is the head professional at Blue Fox Run Country Club in Avon, Conn., shot 66-69-74—209 to claim the title and the $13,000 first-place check.

“I’ve been trying to win this tournament for a very long time, so this is very sweet for me,” Whaley said. “I’ve come close the last four years, finishing second, third and seventh , so this is huge for me. It was one of my goals for the summer. I feel like I finally did it.”

The win earned Whaley a spot in the 2003 McDonald’s LPGA Championship, one of the LPGA Tour’s four majors. Her 7-under-par 209 broke the tournament record of 211 set by Vickie Moran in 1996.

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Hall of Fame: As the audience shouted her name, 86-year-old Goldie Bateson accepted the crystal trophy emblematic of being inducted into the LPGA Teaching & Club Professionals Hall of Fame at the Pine Needles Reception Center July 27.

Other inductees were Ellen Griffin of Greensboro, Dr. DeDe Owens and Joanne Winter, all deceased.

Griffin, who died in 1986, was one of the best-known women golf instructors in the country. The LPGA awards the Ellen Griffin Rolex Award to an outstanding teacher  each year.

Peggy Kirk Bell of Pine Needles was among the first group of inductees into the hall last year. Other inductees in that first class were Patty Berg, Betty Hicks, Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork and Louise Suggs.

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Riesen Second: Robert Riesen of Pinehurst closed with rounds of 71-69 to tie for second at 216 the 54-hole AJGA ClubCorp Junior Players Championship held at The Homestead Resort’s Lower Cascades Course in late August.

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Tin Whistles: Dick Bock won the 74th James Barber Memorial Trophy, one of the Tin Whistles major tournaments, in a playoff against Ed Higgins.

Bock and Higgins tied with net 68s in the event held on Pinehurst Resort’s No. 6 Course. Bock shot 81 with a 13 handicap, while Higgins shot 91 with a 23 handicap.

It was Bock’s second major Tin Whistles win of the year. He claimed the 51st Howard Kenworthy Memorial Trophy, another individual low net event, in June. Bock also won two major tournaments last year.