In the beginning, there were scrub oaks, scrubby pines and sand. Now the oaks are majestic, the pines are stately, and much of the sand is used to fill the bunkers on the eight golf courses of Pinehurst Country Club.

It’s still called the Village of Pinehurst, but it’s come a long way since 1895, when James Walker Tufts paid a buck and a quarter an acre for 5,500 acres of what most people thought was a timber-cleared wasteland. In 1996, that former wasteland was named a National Historic Landmark.

In the 101 years between those two memorable occasions, golf came to the Sandhills, Donald Ross became a legend, and Pinehurst became one of the most renowned golf resorts in the world.

During the early days of the resort, it was against the law to own a rooster in Pinehurst because it might crow and wake people up too early. Now people leave 5 a.m. wake-up calls to ensure that they don’t miss an early tee time.

The first golf course was a nine-holer designed by Dr. LeRoy Culver, an amateur, after a frustrated farmer complained to Tufts that the hotel guests were knocking balls around in his pasture and scaring the cows.

From that humble beginning came the miracle of Pinehurst No. 2, wrought by the genius of Ross and anointed one of the world’s best golf courses by the legions of golfers who have traveled from all over to pay homage and lose Titleists in the infamous wiregrass and pinestraw.

Ross came to Pinehurst in 1900 and spent his last 48 years there, redesigning No. 1 and building 2, 3 and 4. He is credited with designing or redesigning more than 400 courses in America, two of which are Pine Needles and Mid Pines.

The Holly Inn (later owned by Tufts) opened on New Year’s day in 1896 , charging $3 per day. Guests could play tennis, croquet and lawn bowling, and they could bicycle and hike. But there was no golf, except for the unruly games in the farmer’s cow pasture.

Things boomed to the extent that the Carolina Hotel opened on New Year’s Day in 1901, was known at first as "Queen of the South," then became known as the "White House of Golf."

The famed "Putter Boy" made his appearance in 1912 advertising, known then as the "Golf Lad." Lucy Richards, a sculptress, used the lad as a model for the bronze statuette and sundial, and the "Putter Boy" label caught on in the 1970s.

Annie Oakley, she of the quick draw and the deadly aim, came to Pinehurst in 1916 and stayed until 1922, giving shooting exhibitions and lessons while her husband, Frank, managed the Gun Club.

At that time, caddies received 50 cents for carrying one bag and 70 cents if they carried double. There were so many caddies in use that they formed their own community outside Pinehurst, called Taylortown.

History took a detour in 1970, when the Tufts family sold Pinehurst to Diamondhead Corp. and drastic changes were made to the facilities and to the golf courses. The trademark wiregrass was removed from the No. 2 Course, and many of the traditional Ross features were altered. Golf purists screamed to the heavens, but Diamondhead had no interest in history, only in the future.

Club Corporation of America purchased the resort from a financially ailing Diamondhead in 1984, and the restoration of the facilities and courses became an immediate concern.

With Pinehurst Resorts president and chief operating officer Pat Corso spearheading the efforts, No. 2 was returned to its Donald Ross design and golfers everywhere celebrated. In June of 1999, the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, the Men’s U.S. Open, is being held on No. 2.

"The Open is something we worked for from the start," Corso said. "It’s taken a lot of effort, but one of our primary objectives was to bring a major championship to Pinehurst.

"One of the important people we added in that effort was Don Padgett (director of golf). Don was someone in the game who knew people and could create relationships.

"It’s critical, once you have the commitment and resources, to have people of that caliber, someone that people have confidence in what they say.

"At that time, we had already signed to hold the 1989 U.S. Women’s Amateur. That’s when the USGA says, ‘Let’s see what you can do,’ and it was very successful. Don and I traveled annually to USGA events and various other Opens and continued building relationships and exhibiting the continuity that the USGA was looking for. They have to know that you are going to be there next year. Don extended credibility to the rest of the staff."

Two PGA Tour Championships in 1991 and 1992 proved to the USGA that No. 2 could once again stand up to the world’s best players.

"The Tour Championship happened by accident," Corso said. "We had got the Women’s Amateur and the Senior Open and were building for the U.S. Open. Then the Tour Championship came along out of the blue.

"The PGA Tour was looking for a historic venue, some place that would give it a season-ending classic, the World Series or Super Bowl of golf. It was a win-win situation, giving credibility to the Tour Championship and exposing Pinehurst to a generation that might not have had a chance to see it. And it answered all the questions the USGA needed answered."