Pinehurst Resort will miss Corso's strong presence

By Shane Sharp,
Contributor

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- When Pat Corso blazes his trail out of the Sandhills -- by car or golf cart or whatever mode of transportation he chooses -- the good people of the Village of Pinehurst will look up from what they are doing (probably putting) and say, "there goes a man who really got it."

Corso announced last week he was resigning as Pinehurst Resort's CEO -- a position he had held since 1986. Theories abound as to why. Some say he felt it was time to move on. Others say corporate budget cuts sliced too close to home. Corso himself remains mum on the subject. One thing is for sure: the Resort, the Village, and North Carolina golf in general won't be the same without him. If there was ever a CEO who understood his product, it was Corso.

Pinehurst Resort always has been and always will be bigger than any one man. Corso understood this from day one. When he took over his post, he made it a point to study the resort's storied past. He aligned himself with locals like the late golf instructor Don Padgett and real estate guru Marty Mckenzie to gain a sense of what the property meant to the community.

What he discovered was it meant everything.

Before Club Corporation of America International (Club Corp) bought it, Pinehurst Resort had fallen on hard times. The original owners, the Tufts family of Boston, had sold the resort and it's cadre of courses to an ownership group that nearly ran it into the ground.

Donald Ross' famed No. 2 course fell into disrepair and dropped out of state and national top 10 lists. The Carolina Hotel was a shell of the stately facility it once was, reaching an all-time low when a chef fell through a termite-infested floor in the kitchen.

A collective depression fell over the village. What was once the pride and joy of a town was gradually becoming the bane of its existence.

But by 1991, the smiles were back on the faces of resort guests and locals. That was the year Corso and resort officials unveiled the bronze statue of Ross in the small garden behind the Pinehurst Country Club. That was the beginning of the renaissance.

Over the next decade, under the leadership of Corso, Pinehurst Resort would reestablish itself as one of the world's great bastions of golf. The No. 2 course returned to glory and hosted the 1999 U.S. Open, won by the late Payne Stewart. Tom Fazio reworked the No. 4 course into one of the best tracks in the state. And near the end of Corso's tenure, Rees Jones returned triumphantly to revamp the No. 7 course.

But it was the No. 8 course that would come to define the Indiana native's stint as CEO. Corso went head-to-head with his billionaire boss, Robert Dedman, over the need for a new centennial course to honor the resort's place in golf history.

He fought so hard for the course, he figured his firing was imminent. After one particularly nasty exchange, Corso was sitting in the bar at the Homestead Resort in Virginia sipping some red wine when Dedman tapped him on the shoulder, took him aside, apologized, and told him to go ahead with the course.

And go ahead he did. Corso hired Fazio to design the centennial No. 8 course as a tribute to Ross' legacy. The layout was immediately recognized as one of North Carolina's best. Fighting the good fight had paid off.

Corso was as adept at external relationships as he was internal management. He helped foster and solidify relationships with the USGA and the PGA of America that will carry on in perpetuity. The resort is set to host the U.S. Open again next year and the U.S. Amateur in 2007. Two PGA Tour Championships were held on the premises during Coro's tenure, as was a U.S. Senior Open and two U.S. Club Pro Championships.

Yet, Corso cared just as much about the little things as he did the glamorous stuff. When the not-so-famous No. 3 course needed a new irrigation system and new set of greens last year, Corso didn't hesitate to commission the project.

As the resort prepares for the 2005 U.S. Open, Corso's leadership and guidance will be missed. But just as important as the things Corso accomplished during his tenure is the position he left the resort in before leaving -- a position to succeed.

In a small garden behind the Pinehurst Country Club, a statue is smiling.

January 19, 2004

Shane Sharp is the National PR Director for Buffalo Communications, a golf and lifestyle media agency. He was a writer, senior writer and managing editor of TravelGolf.com from 1997 to 2003.