Commercial Truck Insurance in Pinehurst, NC

The Pinehurst-Southern Pines micropolitan not only maintained its position as the #1 micropolitan in North Carolina for the seventh year in a row, but this year it also ranked in the top 10 micropolitans in the United States, according to the 2024 Economic Strength Rankings recently released by POLICOM.

The Rankings show the Pinehurst-Southern Pines area is first out of 22 micropolitan statistical areas in North Carolina and 10th out of 543 micropolitan statistical areas in the United States. Pinehurst-Southern Pines moved up 11 places from its 2023 ranking, placing the area in the top 2 percent nationally of communities with a stable and consistently growing economy in 2024.

“Micropolitans” are statistical areas geographically defined by the U.S. Office of Management & Budget as having an urbanized area with a population of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000. They must include at least one county, and boundaries are primarily based on workforce and resident commuting patterns. The Pinehurst-Southern Pines micropolitan includes all of Moore County.

POLICOM, a Florida-based independent economic research firm, uses 23 economic factors measured over a 19-year period to analyze local and state economies annually to determine if a particular economy is growing or declining and why.

“In a world where economies constantly fluctuate and are influenced by so many variable factors, it’s extraordinary when a local economy like Moore County’s holds its place at the top year after year,” said Natalie Hawkins, President of Moore County Economic Development Partnership (MCEDP), in a press release. “I believe Moore County ranks so highly because of our consistent growth in the number of businesses, jobs and wages. We’ve seen a 28 percent wage increase in the last four years, and new business creation and expansions of the retail and construction industries suggest more money is coming into our area. Increasing wages and business expansions year over year are what make our local economy strong.”

The POLICOM report also noted that in 2023, the Office of Management & Budget announced new definitions for the statistical areas based on the 2020 census and revised commuting patterns, which resulted in changes to more than 200 areas. The 2025 Economic Strength Rankings will be based on the new definitions. To view POLICOM’s 2024 Economic Strength Rankings, visit https://policom.com/rankings-micropolitan-areas/.

Moore County Economic Development Partnership (MCEDP) is a 501c(3) not-for-profit economic development organization and public-private partnership serving all of Moore County, NC. For more information about MCEDP, visit www.moorecountyedp.org.

Pinehurst Resort President Tom Pashley joined High Point University President Nido Qubein in the Power List interview, a partnership for discussions with influential leaders. Interview videos are available at www.businessnc.com.

Tom Pashley has worked at Pinehurst Resort for 27 years and was named president in 2014. The business owned by Dallas investor Robert Dedman Jr. operates four hotels with a combined 400 rooms, nine restaurants, nine golf courses with a tenth opening in April, and employs 1,500 people. The courses cover 2,500 acres within a three-mile radius, making it one of the world’s golf meccas. Pashley has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and a Duke University MBA.

This story includes excerpts from Pashley’s interview and was edited for clarity.

What was your first job at Pinehurst? My first job was in a one-year management training program, where I spent anywhere from a week to a month in the different departments from golf course maintenance, to the kitchen, to night audit. I got to learn how all the pieces of the business work together. When that year was over, I began working on the 1999 U.S. Open, our first at Pinehurst.

What do you consider to be a good occupancy rate?An annual occupancy rate would be about 65%. We don’t look at occupancy as much. We are driven by golf. So we pay more attention to golf rounds. It’s the total package. Revenue per occupied room. In the low season, you could be as low as 30-33% occupancy during certain times. In the high season, you’re up to 100%.

What percentage of your revenues are from residency? It’s 70% or so. That includes food and beverage. The remainder of the 30% might be our membership. We have a country club that has 4,500 members. Most of them are in-town residents, people who have retired to Pinehurst.

How many business conferences do you have in a year? We probably have 200 to 250 events. The weekends are busy, but sometimes mid-week is when you need that conference business to keep your employees working, to just drive some additional revenue. It’s also a great way to bring in people to the resort. They come for business, and they return for pleasure.

Do the seasons make a difference in occupancy? Spring is our peak season. People come from all over the world in the spring and fall.

How do you adjust to the occupancy changes labor-wise? You really do have to expand when you’re busy and contract when you’re not, and so we have a lot of seasonal people who take time off. Seasonal layoffs, if you will. People who enjoy taking December through February off. And then they come back. It’s always neat when they return for the season.

It must be complicated to analyze profitability.I think the biggest change we’ve seen recently is the profitability of the leisure traveler, the golfer coming to Pinehurst for a golf trip versus a corporate meeting attendee. The golfer is much more profitable. It used to be about half and half of our business was split between corporate and leisure. Now, leisure is 70% of our business. So, we’ve seen a sea change in our margins, if you will, because they’re coming in, they’re buying retail, they’re playing golf, they’re at the bars and restaurants, whereas a meeting-goer could be in a meeting room all day. Leisure right now is really strong. Golf is booming.

What did you do during COVID? Did you just not sleep at night, worry and pray a lot? A lot of that. We closed our hotels for two months. We laid off 1,200 employees at the time and the golf courses, fortunately, stayed open so our 4,500 members still had an opportunity to come out and play. We got through it, and in the Fall of 2020 when we opened back up, golf was booming. We really haven’t seen the leisure demand slow down since then.

During the closing, did you worry about keeping things alive? Yes, anything that sits still for a while can age quickly. We still had a core level of staff who were around. The Carolina Hotel opened in 1901. I liken it to painting the Golden Gate Bridge. We’re constantly updating that hotel, and we never want to lose the charm.

By October 2020, we were seeing exceptionally high demand from golfers, and for us the challenge was staffing a restaurant, for instance. The golf part was easy. They could go outside. But now we need to feed them. One of the most difficult positions for us to fill was the culinary positions, and so we had restaurants closed. We were not able to fulfill all the demand because restaurants were not available.

We’ve brought in international visa workers who have helped keep our restaurants open, thankfully. So 2021 was a record year in terms of demand from leisure travel, but it was a tough year for us because our managers worked overtime. It was not a sustainable year. In 2022 we finally reached the point with staffing where we felt it was sustainable.

International staffers seem to offer outstanding performance. Why is that? Maybe they realize they only get to have the visa for a year, and so I think they’re maximizing their year. This is a learning visa, and so they are educating themselves. I think our team is excited because they’re coming from a different country. So, they do add a different level of vibrance.

How do you house them? We had to go out and acquire or rent townhouses in the area. We house and transport them.

What do you look for every day? I came up through the marketing realms, so the customer is most important to me — the guest. So I start my day reading an email that recaps our guest survey data, so it’s numbers, it’s scores. It’s an electronic survey and then we extrapolate the verbatim comments are really what I like to read. About 25% of our guests will fill that out. We view that feedback as a gift.

How many people do you have in marketing? We have seven. We have a person who does video only. We have a content creator. We’ve really doubled down on social media and creating new content. We have a whole other sales team calling corporations throughout the state and around the country.

What makes Pinehurst special? It’s the golf. If you were starting this resort, you’ve got to have the golf courses. You can’t just create a golf resort in any area and think people are going to come. You’ve got to have the right golf course architect, the right aesthetics.

Right now, it’s kind of a trend to be remote if you’re a golfer or a destination. Almost the more remote the better, because it’s this discovery process. People want to get away and they don’t want to see planes flying overhead necessarily.

How do you deal with special requests from patrons? There’s an acronym, HEAT. When a guest isn’t happy about something, you’ve got to take the heat.

The H is, you’ve got to hear, and listen. You’ve got to let them express themselves. Don’t interject too quickly because you want them to fully express their frustration and their concern.

The E is empathize. Now that I have heard you, I’m going to acknowledge your concerns.

The A is apologize. Apologize that you’re not happy with us. You don’t want to admit fault, but I’m very sorry this is not going the way you hoped it would be.

The T is take action. Solve the problem.

What percent of your guests are repeat customers? About 25% of our folks return within a three-year period.

How about families with children. What do you do for them? We’ve got a great pool outside at the Carolina Hotel. There’s a little putting green; but most recently we’ve added an 18-hole putting course and a par 3 course. People are going out there with one club, they’re playing barefoot, we play music on our little par 3 course, and so Pinehurst has become much more welcoming to families.

What is your tipping policy? We have a 10% service charge, a resort fee. And if you go into one of our dining outlets and you have a meal, we have an automatic 18% gratuity that’s added. The server will often be asked how much of that do you get? The majority goes to the server. What we don’t want is for people to be stressed about it. It needs to be enough that we feel good about our 18%.

Is the guy who buys 3 expensive bottles of wine charged 18%? We do. We love him.

What’s next for Pinehurst?We have the U.S. Open returning in June of ’24. The USGA named Pinehurst an anchor site for the U.S. Open, so it’s coming all the way through 2047. Four future U.S. Opens. And the USGA is building its secondary headquarters, Golf House Pinehurst, right there in Pinehurst. It will open in December.

So there’s a tremendous amount of innovation and change coming to Pinehurst. We’re not changing all the things that people love, the rocking chairs, the piano music. But we’re adding a lot. If you haven’t been to Pinehurst in the last five years, you’d be amazed at how much it’s changed. ■

PINEHURST, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's golf team wrapped up day one of the Wake Forest Invitational, and heads into the final round just two strokes back of the lead in second with the 36-hole score of 570 (+10).

The Demon Deacons have five individual players sitting inside of the top 25, with senior Daniel Sheedy tied as the top player on the individual leaderboard.

Sheedy carded five birdies during round one, and turned in a score of 68 (-2). Staying nearly even in round two, the senior will look for his first collegiate title as he is one of just two players in the 66-person field to be under par.

Collin Adams shot his best round by any Demon Deacon in round two, shooting 67 (-3), and tallying an eagle on hole No. 10. Adams is tied for eighth place which would be the best finish in his career.

Senior Michael Brennan and junior Scotty Kennon are both tied for fourteenth and 3-over. Both Deacs' shot two-under par during the second round. Overall, the Deacs' were 16 strokes better in the second round, helping them shoot up the leaderboard and are firmly in contention going into the final round on Tuesday.

The second round 277 (-3) was the lowest 18-hole score by any team Monday and was the only team under-par team score in the field.

The Demon Deacons will tee off their final round on Tuesday starting at 8:30 a.m. Wake Forest B will play alongside Duke and SMU off hole No. 10, while Wake Forest A will be paired with East Tennessee St. and No. 1 Auburn off hole No. 1.

From Coach Haas

"Very encouraged by how the guys hung in there today. Did not have a very good morning round, but ended up with the low round (-3) in the afternoon as a team. It is very bunched at the top and we will need another good day tomorrow to have a chance to win coming down the stretch. Wonderful crowds today supporting all the teams, appreciate all the Wake Forest Demon Deacon fans out there today. Also big thanks to Pinehurst number two with the U.S. Open coming up in 90 days allowing us to hold this invitational, truly amazing on their part." - Head Coach Jerry Haas

Live Scoring

Day One Team Scores

Wake Forest A Team

Wake Forest B Team

Online entry applications are now available for the 124th U.S. Open Championship, to be played from June 13-16 on Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2, in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.

Thousands of golfers are expected to qualify for the championship through a two-stage process, with a final field of 156 players advancing to Pinehurst’s Course No. 2, where one will be crowned U.S. Open champion. Non-exempt players will compete in one of 109 local qualifiers hosted throughout the United States (with one in Canada) between April 22 and May 20.

Nearly 1,000 players will then compete in 36-hole final qualifying, scheduled at 13 sites worldwide. Final qualifying is set to be contested in England and Japan (May 20) and Canada (June 3) as well as 10 U.S. sites, one on May 20 and nine on June 3.

There are 23 categories for exemption into the U.S. Open, including four exemptions that were introduced last year: 2024 Latin America Amateur champion (must be an amateur), 2024 NCAA Division I men’s individual champion (must be an amateur), 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season points leader (using points earned in KFT Regular Season and points earned in KFT Tour Finals) and the top 5 players in the 2024 FedExCup standings as of May 20, 2024, who are not otherwise exempt. With final qualifying in England back on the schedule, the DP World Tour U.S. Open qualifying series has been discontinued.

Entry applications, along with a list of qualifying sites, can be accessed at champ-admin.usga.org, and entries will be accepted through Wednesday, April 10, at 5 p.m. EDT. To be eligible for 2024 U.S. Open qualifying, a player must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 0.4, or be a professional.

Allied Golf Associations (AGAs) in the United States, as well as the DP World Tour, Japan Golf Association and Golf Canada, are working with the USGA to provide thousands of entrants from all backgrounds with the opportunity to compete for a spot in this major championship. This collaboration with AGAs allows for an open qualifying process in all five USGA Open Championships. Since 2004, the U.S. Open has averaged 74.2 players in the final field who have advanced through one or both stages of qualifying.

Entry applications for three other USGA Open championships are also now available. The 79th U.S. Women’s Open Championship Presented by Ally will be played May 30-June 2 at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club. The 44th U.S. Senior Open Championship will be contested June 27-30 at Newport (R.I.) Country Club, and the 6th U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship will be held Aug. 1-4, at Fox Chapel Golf Club, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Entries for the 3rd U.S. Adaptive Open, which will be held from July 8-10 at Sand Creek Station, in Newton, Kan., will be available at 9 a.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 22.

The U.S. Open was previously hosted by Pinehurst’s Course No. 2 in 1999 (won by Payne Stewart), 2005 (won by Michael Campbell) and 2014 (won by Martin Kaymer). As an anchor site, Pinehurst will also host the U.S. Open in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047.

Pinehurst can now add another accolade to its resume: most popular retirement town.

The Village of Pinehurst in Moore County — which will host the 2024 U.S. Open golf tournament — ranked as the "most popular retirement town" in Zillow's list of most popular housing markets of 2023. Zillow (Nasdaq: Z) defines a retirement town as one in which at least 33 percent "of the population is over the age of 65 and has no children or other relatives (other than a spouse) living in the home."

"Pinehurst was the most popular retirement town among Zillow surfers in 2023, edging out Hilton Head Island, South Carolina," Zillow said about the Sandhills community. "With warm climates and golf courses galore, it’s easy to see why both cities are popular for retirees."

Zillow said it "analyzed housing metrics that indicate consumer demand, including page-view traffic, home value growth and days on market, for more than 2,000 U.S. cities" to determine its list of most popular housing markets. Overall, no North Carolina municipality fell in the top 10 most popular markets, which was dominated by localities in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Ohio.

The Village of Pinehurst has seen explosive growth over the past decade — not only with retirees moving in, but also due to people looking for a slower pace of life or convenient location to explore golf courses. The village's population grew from a population of 13,124 residents in 2010 to 17,581 residents in 2020, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2022, that number jumped up to 18,416, a growth of roughly 4.8 percent in two years.

Moore County is attracting younger families and new business investments. The commercial real estate scene is very active with large projects like Morganton Park South, a retail destination in Southern Pines that will include the first Target store in the county.

And with the U.S. Open coming up in June, the area will be getting national attention as the United States Golf Association shows off its new Golf House Pinehurst.

Ben Tobin covers real estate and economic development in the Greater Triangle, focusing on the counties outside Wake and Durham. Have a tip? Reach him at btobin@bizjournals.com or (919) 327-1012.