PINEHURST, N.C. – Sometimes even big events can get lost in the shuffle. That’s certainly what happened when the Pinehurst resort added a Jack Nicklaus design to its portfolio.

Adding a Nicklaus course is a big deal anywhere golf is played, but Pinehurst’s acquisition announcement wasn’t greeted with much fanfare — and for good reason. Negotiations were completed just eight days before the start of the men’s U.S. Open last June. Inevitably the focus was on the tournament at that time, and it wasn’t your ordinary U.S. Open, either.

Not only would Pinehurst host the men’s Open, it would also be the site of the U.S. Women’s Open the following week – the first time the biggest men’s and women’s tournaments in American golf were played back-to-back on the same course. Both those competitions were played on Pinehurst’s No. 2 course, a layout that Nicklaus himself had called one of his all-time favorites.

Nicklaus, though, hadn’t been idle in North Carolina’s Sandhills area. He designed Pinehurst’s National Golf Club, which opened in 1989 as a private facility owned by the Robinette family. It had always been considered one of the best courses in North Carolina, and that won’t change now that it has undergone a name change.

National Golf Club is now Pinehurst No. 9.

Resort guests started playing No. 9 in July, and that naturally boosted play on the layout. The acquisition also broadened some membership options offered by the resort. More than anything, though, it added to the variety of golf options available under the Pinehurst umbrella.

A little history is appropriate here. Pinehurst No. 1 was designed by Pinehurst resident Donald Ross in 1901. Ross was, arguably at least, the leading course architect of his era and his reputation hasn’t diminished over the years. He also designed No. 2 in 1907 and No. 3 in 1910.

Ross designed a fourth course in 1919, but it was re-designed as a tribute to him by Tom Fazio in 2000.

Ellis Maples created Pinehurst No. 5 in 1961 and George and Tom Fazio put together Pinehurst No. 6 in 1979. No. 7 was a Rees Jones design. It opened in 1986 on land used for a long-abandoned employees’ course that Ross had built.

Tom Fazio was back to create No. 8 in 1996 as a celebration of Pinehurst’s first 100 years.

And now Nicklaus is in the designer mix as well. His design has generous fairways throughout and also features huge, undulating greens, which is more of a Nicklaus trademark. The fun in playing this one also comes in negotiating the numerous bunkers and fairway contours that protect the putting surfaces. Nicklaus did some re-design and renovation work on the course in 2012, notably softening the greens.

No. 9 has five sets of tees, with the course playing 4,935 yards from the front markers to 7,122 from the tips, where the rating is 75.5 and the slope 138.

Along with the course, Pinehurst acquired a 30,000 square foot clubhouse, five tennis courts, a pool, banquet facilities and a restaurant. The acquisition announcement included plans for “enhanced maintenance practices’’ for the course and plans for a renovation and expansion of the clubhouse.

And there could be a Pinehurst No. 10 in the not too distance future as well. Pinehurst owner Robert Dedman Jr. purchased a course called The Pit in February, 2011. Already closed at the time of purchase, this one was designed by Dan Maples, son of Pinehurst No. 5 architect Ellis Maples. Though The Pit had its loyal followers, it’s remained closed for several years.

Officially Pinehurst has no plans to renovate that course or build a new one on the property, but people in the know tell me that the design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have visited and done some preliminary work on what could be done with it. Stay tuned. Coore and Crenshaw did a well-received renovation of Pinehurst No. 2 in preparation for the two 2014 U.S. Opens.

What’s most obvious about the No. 9 scenario is that the unprecedented staging of those two U.S. Opens won’t be an end-all at the storied resort. Shortly before the acquisition of No. 9 Pinehurst completed a $4 million clubhouse renovation and revealed plans for a multi-million dollar aquatics facility. Who knows what will be coming to this golf-rich area down the road?

ORLANDO, FL. – Roy Schindele, director of sales and marketing for Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge, stresses one thing before taking you on a tour of the facilities.

“This is not a resort. It’s a country club,’’ said Schindele, and that’s an important distinction to make from the outset if you’re lucky enough to visit this place.

There’s a different, very nice feeling about Bay Hill – and why wouldn’t there be? After all, it’s been at least a winter home for perhaps the most charismatic athlete of all time for nearly 50 years.

Based on our visit, Bay Hill has become more than just a winter retreat for Palmer, who spends considerable time in the summer months in Latrobe, Pa., the town where he grew up. He’s 85 now, and health issues have basically relegated him to hitting practice balls on the Bay Hill range these days. I’m told he rarely gets on the course.

Yet, Palmer has an apartment behind the tennis courts and is a frequent visitor to all the club’s facilities. Guests see him playing cards, dining with a group of friends or riding around in his golf cart. While he remains one of the most accommodating of all public figures, Palmer doesn’t spend much of his time posing for pictures or signing autographs for guests. Bay Hill is just where he enjoys life.

He operates his golf course design business from an office at Bay Hill. The two hospitals that bear his family name – the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies – are within 15 minutes. So are The Golf Channel studios. And, of course, the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard, an annual PGA Tour stop in March, has been played at Bay Hill since 1979.

Palmer’s history with Bay Hill goes back to 1965 – three years after the course opened. The original 18 holes were designed by Dick Wilson, known in Chicago circles as the co-designer (with Joe Lee) of the Dubsdread course at Cog Hill.

Bay Hill was a modest resort then, owned by a group of Tennessee investors. Many of the roads around it were dirt and the land that now shows an area of tasteful homes was then dominated by orange trees. The course opened in 1962 and Palmer saw it for the first time on Feb. 28, 1965, when he was invited to play in an exhibition with Jack Nicklaus, a local PGA Tour player named Dave Ragan and Don Cherry, the singer who was a good enough golfer to make frequent appearances on the PGA Tour.

Palmer shot 6-under-par 66 that day, and none of the other members of the foursome could break par. For Palmer the course was love at first site, and when he called wife Winnie that evening he declared Bay Hill “the best course in Florida, and I want to own it.’’

It took awhile, but he eventually did. Since 1976 it’s been officially Arnold Palmer’s club and it has blossomed because of it. His family members have taken an active interest in the private, non-equity club’s operation. The staff is friendly, the 70 rooms in the lodge are tastefully decorated and the food in the three restaurants is good. In short, it’s a comfortable place.

Bay Hill also has six tennis courts, a junior Olympic-size swimming pool, a fitness center, a marina, a salon and a spa. All are top notch without being glitzy. The Palmer touch is everywhere – from the trademark umbrella logs on the napkins and coffee cups and some of the wine bottles to the captivating movie of Palmer’s life that’s available on the television sets in the lodge rooms. The memorabilia and pictures throughout the club also stir all kinds of good memories.

And then, of course, there’s the golf. Bay Hill was an 18-hole facility when Palmer came on the scene. It now has an additional nine-holer, called The Charger, which is pretty much on par with the championship 18 (officially the Championship and Challenger nines) that is used for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The main layout was a Wilson design, but Palmer has tweaked it many times over the years and it’s now labeled as an Arnold Palmer Signature Course. I’ve played at least 20 courses that have hosted PGA Tour events, and Bay Hill is easily the most fun for the serious recreational player who tees it up from the proper tees.

That’s not to say Bay Hill is easy pickings for the PGA Tour crowd. It’s not. From the tips it’s a 7,381-yard layout, but there are six sets of tees. The 17th hole, a par-3 blocked by a pond front right of the green, is considered Bay Hill’s signature hole but I didn’t see it as an overwhelming choice.

No. 18 has a special, historical touch – a plaque in the fairway commemorating one of the most memorable shots in golf’s recent era of tournaments. Robert Gamez holed out from there for eagle with a 7-iron from 176 yards out to beat Greg Normal in the 1990 Nestle Invitational. That was one of the PGA Tour stop’s title over the years (it was also called the Bay Hill Citrus Classic, Bay Hill Classic, Hertz Bay Hill Classic and Bay Hill Invitational before Palmer’s name was most appropriately included in the title).

The course is spread over 270 acres along the shores of the Butler Chain of Lakes and all the other club facilities are just a very short walk from it, creating a warm, cozy feeling.

Getting to play Bay Hill isn’t easy. You have to either be a member (there are about 800 of them, half living within a 50-mile radius of the club), be a guest of a member or stay at the lodge. The latter option, coupled with its 9,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, has made Bay Hill a popular place for corporate retreats and weddings.

You’re not a resort guest when you stay at the Bay Hill lodge. You’re in effect a member during your stay and you can take part in all that Ball Hill has to offer. The atmosphere’s the thing here. In nearly 50 years covering all aspects of golf I haven’t experienced anything quite like it.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Now I know why so many golfers call Hilton Head their favorite get-away destination. It could easily become mine, as well.

Prior to the early 1960s Hilton Head was basically a stop for hunters and fishermen. Then, in 1962, the Ocean Course was built at the Sea Pines Resort. That opened the gates for a series of rapid-fire developments on the island that now has 38,000 residents and attracts 2.5 million visitors annually.

They don’t come just for the golf. Hilton Head also has 13 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches and eight beach parks, 51 miles of paths for hiking and biking, an extraordinary array of tennis facilities and over 300 restaurants and entertainment venues. The dining isn’t just a load of chain restaurants, either. There are a wide variety of dining options.

Golf, though, is what Hilton Head is really all about. The island’s golf guide lists 31 courses, and there are packages to accommodate about any kind of get-away you could imagine.

During our stay we experienced a good cross section of Hilton Head golf. The premier layout, of course, is Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines – the site of the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Classic since 1969. It had an interesting beginning, with then-fledgling course architect Jack Nicklaus learning on the job from the veteran Pete Dye in what turned out a joint creation by the two of them.

That course has its landmark lighthouse behind the 18th green, a popular visual for golf viewers annually when the Heritage Classic is in the golf spotlight worldwide. We found that there’s a lot more golf in Hilton Head than what’s played at Harbour Town, however, and there’s even a lighthouse that has a much more interesting history than Harbour Town’s — which isn’t a functioning lighthouse anyway.

Palmetto Dunes’ Arthur Hills Course has its Leamington Lighthouse, known officially as the Hilton Head Rear-Range Lighthouse. Built in 1879, it doesn’t come into play but is worth more than a glance. It’s haunted, or so the story goes.

An 1893 hurricane made a direct hit on Hilton Head and water around that lighthouse was reported to be three feet deep. Adam Fripp, the lighthouse keeper, and his daughter Caroline worked through the night trying to keep the lanterns burning during the storm. Fripp collapsed and died the next day and Caroline succumbed a few weeks later from exhaustion and the loss off her father.

Caroline became known as the Blue Lady, and local lore believes she still haunts that lighthouse wearing her blue dress from that stormy night. Anyway, few golf courses can claim such an unusual feature.

Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort, which has three courses, has been a Hilton Head fixture almost from the beginning and it’s still going strong — though its name, along with that of its first course, is a bit misleading. The Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Course, opened in 1969 and rebuilt in 1993, has but one hole with an ocean view.

That’s the only ocean view on any of Palmetto’s three courses, and – like the Leamington Lighthouse – the water doesn’t come into play there, either. (The ocean, however, does come very much into play at the resort’s popular beach club).

The three Palmetto courses (the others are the Arthur Hills and Fazio) are all a bit different. The Fazio, designed by George Fazio (uncle of Tom) in 1974, is a demanding par-70. The Hills layout – my choice as the best of the three – is also the newest, having made its debut in 1986.

Palmetto has a broad following. Its visitors include many who return year after year, and such longevity is reflected by director of golf Clark Sinclair. He’s been on the Palmetto staff since 1983 and is a huge supporter of the Hilton Head lifestyle.

While Palmetto has its charms, it’s at Sea Pines — on the southernmost portion of the island — where the action really is. While all the Hilton Head resorts and golf facilities have been regularly updated – over $200 million has been invested in new construction and renovations in the last few years – Sea Pines has been the clear-cut leader in that regard. That’s in keeping with the style of owner Riverstone Group of Richmond, Va.

Riverstone also owns another premier South Carolina resort, The Sanctuary at Kiawah island. One of that resort’s courses, Osprey Point, just opened after a renovation and Riverstone’s other golf facility unveiled its own spectacular new course in September. Full Cry, at Keswick Hall in Virginia, is the legendary Dye’s latest creation.

The upgrades At Sea Pines are more far-reaching, and the cost of three recent major ones hit $55 million. The Plantation Golf Club received a spiffy new 23,000 square-foot clubhouse that opened in April and its Live Oaks restaurant is considered one of the best on the island. That was a $17 million project, and the new Sea Pines Beach Club priced out at $13 million.

Plantation’s Heron Point course, designed by Dye over what had been the Sea Marsh layout, opened but seven years. Still, it was closed for eight months in 2014 for renovation work before being re-opened in September. Davis Love III will re-design Plantation’s other 18-holer, the Ocean course. That layout will be closed next October and is scheduled to re-open in September of 2016.

Harbour Town, though, is getting the most expensive upgrade – a $25 million clubhouse that was built where the old one had stood. The new clubhouse, which opened well in time for the 2015 Heritage Classic (to be played April 16-19), is a 26,000 square foot structure that has 4,000 square feet for lockerroom space.

Shortly after the new clubhouse is up and running the Harbour Town course will close. It’ll be shut down in May, shortly after the next Heritage Classic, to allow for a summer-long renovation in which the fairways will be re-grassed, the greens re-seeded and the irrigation system replaced.

These costly projects have kept Hilton Head at the forefront of American golf facilities, but that’s not to say it has everything. There are too many round-abouts for my taste and a few more streetlights would be nice, too. But learning to handle all the turns and cope with the extreme darkness in the nighttime hours is just part of the Hilton Head experience. They’re no big deal, and you get used to it.

That doesn’t take long, and then the place really has you hooked.

KESWICK, Va. – Pete Dye is in his late eighties now, but the most innovative golf course architect of this generation shows no signs of slowing down. His latest creation, Full Cry, is proof of that.

Full Cry opened informally in September at the Keswick Golf Club with the formal opening on Oct. 10. It’s been well received, but the acclaim will only grow in the coming months.

Dye has designed over 300 courses world-wide, and not all are as user-friendly and fun as Full Cry, the name derived from a fox-hunting term. The name hasn’t really made the rounds yet – it’s not even on the course’s scorecard – but it will once the staff at Keswick order the next wave of merchandise.

The course is actually the third version on the same property, 600 acres on the outskirts of Charlottesville, that has roots to a private estate built there in 1912. The estate was converted into a country club in 1948 when the late Fred Fraley, a Virginia architect, designed a nine-hole course.

Fraley added a second nine in the mid-1950s and Arnold Palmer’s design group renovated that course in 1992. Full Cry is nothing like what the other courses had been.

“It’s 100 percent Pete Dye,’’ said Eric McGraw, the club’s head professional for the last 15 years. “He had to tear everything up. Watching the earth-moving was a treat. It was like watching an artist.’’

Building Full Cry took awhile – 19 months to be exact. The finished product has all the Dye trademarks, especially the green complexes. It also has railroad ties in some places – around a pond and tee boxes — and materials from the course’s previous cart path were salvaged for similar purposes.

“A wonderful use of old material and beautiful to look at,’’ said McGraw – an accurate description.

The more pronounced eye-catcher, though, is the bridge leading to the tee boxes at No. 17. It’s a converted flatbed railroad car.

While a signature hole hasn’t been designated yet, the stretch between Nos. 3 and 7 has been dubbed The Gauntlet and they include two really good par-3s at Nos. 4 and 7.

McGraw’s favorite hole is the 18th, a great visual off the tee with water on the left. It’s not mine, however. I prefer the seventh. The green at the par-3 is surrounded by white sand, creating in effect an island green without any water. A really neat hole, though first-time players may better recall the 17th when their round is done simply because of the presence of the “railroad’’ bridge.

Dye installed six sets of tees at Full Cry, the shortest creating a 4,809-yard course and the layout measuring 7,134 from the tips. It’s not the challenge that his more famous courses – TPC Sawgrass in Florida, the Ocean Course at Kiawah in South Carolina or Whistling Straits in Wisconsin – present but it can be a serious test the further you move back in the tee box. As is the case with any well-designed layout, full enjoyment comes when you use the appropriate tee markers — and that’s especially true of Dye designs, including this one.

Keswick Hall and Golf Club was acquired about three years ago by Riverstone Group, which is based in Richmond, Va. It also includes the well-known Kiawah and Sea Pines golf resorts and two hotels – Hermitage in Nashville, Tenn., and Jefferson in Richmond. Riverstone is a family business that was founded by Bill Goodwin. His daughter and son-in-law live in Charlottesville.

While the focus here is on the golf, there’s much more to the Full Cry experience. Keswick Hall is a full-fledged retreat for golfers with its pleasantly elegant 48-room hotel, and accompanying recreational and dining opportunities. Just a few months after the Full Cry opening Keswick Hall was honored with the coveted Forbes Five-Star Award in recognition of its exceptional level of luxury and service.

The view of the course from the hotel is awesome, and it’s just a short walk from the hotel to the pro shop.

You need to be either a resort guest or the guest of one of Keswick’s 150 members to tee off at Full Cry. The plan is to increase the membership and lodging opportunities eventually and that shouldn’t be difficult once the popularity of Full Cry is in full force.

In February Keswick announced an exclusive partnership with famed sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella. He lives in the area and is now Keswick’s Mental Golf Coach.

While the central Virginia town of Keswick is small, the options around it aren’t. Monticello, the historically inspiring home of Thomas Jefferson, is just a few minutes away and two other presidential retreats from the country’s early years – the homes of James Madison and James Monroe – are also in the Charlottesville area.

They provide an ample look at the area’s rich past, while Full Cry is an indication of the good things coming down the road.

HOT SPRINGS, Va. – I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place quite like The Homestead. This resort – officially The Omni Homestead since July of 2013 — is about so much more than golf.

Located just 39 miles over windy two-lane roads from the West Virginia state line, The Homestead also offers such things as falconry, state-of-the-art snowmaking for skiers and snowmobilers, and a new Shooting Club House and Pavilion. There’s also a two-acre water park, a new spa, an equestrian center, clay courts for tennis buffs, a miniature golf course and elaborate trails for hikers, cross country skiers and mountain bikers. The Homestead’s traditions include movies every night, afternoon tea in the hotel’s Great Hall and ornamental gazebos around the naturally-heated springs, all chemically unique.

In fact, you might suspect that golf is being downsized, given that one of Homestead’s three 18-holers – Lower Cascades – was closed two years ago.

More than anything, though, The Homestead is all about history. Twenty-two U.S. presidents have visited the charmingly elegant hotel since the resort opened in 1766 – that’s 10 years before the United States declared its independence — and the golf played there is a prominent part of that history.

Golf was why we were there, and our two-day early November visit fell in less-than-ideal weather. Half of our round on the well-decorated Cascades Course was played in rainy weather and our tour of the Old Course was played in 37-degree temperatures and 50 mile per hour winds that knocked many of the pins out of the cups. Still, all was good.

Being a golf history buff, we were particularly intrigued by the Old Course. No course has quite the history this one does.

You’re informed before the round that the No. 1 tee is the nation’s oldest first tee in continuous use. The first tee shot was struck there in 1892 and head professional Mark Fry said 18-hole rounds were played almost from the outset. That suggested an historical controversy could be in the works, since Chicago Golf Club has long claimed to be the nation’s first 18-hole course. It also opened in 1892.

Fry, though, informed me that only six holes were available when the Old Course opened and that players covered 18 holes by playing it in three loops. So, Chicago Golf Club’s claim remained intact. The Old Course didn’t have 18 different holes until 1901. (By then Chicago Golf Club was six years into playing its second 18-holer. The original, in Belmont (now Downers Grove), is now down to a sporty, heavily-played nine-holer run by the Downers Grove Park District).

Donald Ross designed the Old Course and well-respected later architects William S. Flynn and Rees Jones eventually updated it, but the Old Course is still only 6,099 yards from the tips with well-contoured fairways that leave you side hill, uphill and downhill lies to relatively small greens.

The course is a bit quirky, too. I’ve never heard of a first hole being declared No. 1 handicap hole (but I don’t quibble with that choice here). The Old Course also is unusual in that it has back-to-back par-5s on both nines and a par-3 finishing hole.

All that is noteworthy, but – again – history is what really sets the Old Course apart. Not only does No. 1 have the nation’s oldest first tee in continuous use, it also is the place where the first sitting President of the United States played golf. William McKinley smacked his first tee shot there in 1901. He didn’t really take to the game, but William Howard Taft was an avid golfer and the Old Course may have been the course he played the most during his Presidency.

Cascades, once known as Upper Cascades, opened in 1923 and has a modern-day feature with a waterfall (above) beside the 17th green. Cascades has its history, too. The first head professional there was the legendary Sam Snead, who was born in Hot Springs and began his working life as a caddie at The Homestead when he was 17.

Snead eventually made hickory-shaft clubs in the Casino, the name given to the Old Course pro shop and tennis center, and worked on the construction crew that built Cascades.

In 1934 Snead and was named the Cascades’ head pro. Among his duties was giving lessons there, at a cost of $3. Naturally, he also played there frequently and had a best score of 61 that included nine consecutive threes on the back nine.

Snead passed on three days before his 90th birthday but his name, and family, remain prominent in the area. The road leading through Hot Springs is Sam Snead Highway and his son, Sam Snead Jr. (called Jackie) owns Sam Snead’s Tavern – a local hotspot.

It’s the first of 19 restaurants nationwide that bear Snead’s name, but the only one that is still owned by Sam Snead Jr. He has leased it to The Homestead but is a frequent visitor and was there the night we visited. Sam Snead’s Tavern is a most friendly dinner place with lots of great Snead memorabilia and good food. Jackie Snead – in an unsolicited but very nice gesture – sent us an autographed copy of the menu that includes some helpful historical data.

Cascades is considered one of the nation’s best mountain courses. It was designed by Flynn and has been ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses by Golf Digest. The Allegheny Mountains provide a breathtaking backdrop for the golfers. It’s never been a PGA Tour site, but has hosted seven U.S. Golf Assn. national championship ranging from the 1928 U.S. Women’s Amateur to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur of 2009.

Probably the biggest USGA event played at the Cascades was the 1967 U.S.Women’s Open, an event that resulted in Catherine Lacoste of France winning the title.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Setting foot on the grounds of America’s first golf course took awhile – four years to be exact. Finally, though, it happened. That’s the good news.

The unfortunate part is that Oakhurst Links, saved by a purchase by Jim Justice, owner of the Greenbrier Resort, was closed for the season a week into November. Playing this unique layout was not an option.

Some history: Oakhurst Links was a golf course from 1884 until at least 1912. Then Russell Montague, owner of the property, converted it into a horse farm. Just a few of Montague’s neighbors played the course way back when, and a book — “Oakhurst: The Birth of America’s First Golf Course’’ by Paula DiPerna and Vikki Keller (Walker & Co., 2002) – detailed the early history of the place.

Sam Snead, long a resident of the area, urged the restoration of the course and – with the help of architect Bob Cupp – it was re-opened as a 2,235-yard nine-holer in 1994. There was some initial curiosity about the place, and players were equipped hickory-shaft clubs to play it the way Montague and his neighbors did. The curiosity didn’t last long, however, and the course was closed off-and-on, including during our first visit in 2010.

Searching for the course then was an adventure in itself. A stop in this small town just over the West Virginia line was unsuccessful. The own is home to the Greenbrier, which bills itself as “America’s Resort’’ and hosts an annual PGA Tour event. Still, four years ago most of the locals – including some Greenbrier employees – had barely heard of Oakhurst. That was surprising, since it’s only a 10-minute drive from the big resort and there were landmark plaques in the town.

We followed the signs to Montague Road and apparently got within a mile of the place before a fallen tree on the narrow road curtailed any further travel.

Fast forward four years, to this November. Oakhurst had been closed off and on since our first visit and Justice eventually purchased it from long-time owner Lewis Keller. The price wasn’t disclosed but it satisfied a $700,000 lien on the property, according to published reports.

Greenbrier has been marketing Oakhurst to its guests, and many have played it. Our visit, though, indicated it was a tough sell.

The road to the poorly-marked course is narrow and winding, through a subdivision. We found a nearby course, Valley Lo Country Club, before we could locate Oakhurst. Once there, we saw sand tee boxes, like those used in the early days of American golf, and could spot a few greens. We couldn’t figure out the layout without tee markers, however, and the clubhouse was in need of repair, with paint peeling in several places.

A neighbor reported that golfers were playing the course again during the summer, but not enough of them to stall a mid-October closing for the season. Still, it’d be a shame to lose this piece of American golf history. Judging by the golf history books, it was about the only layout played in the U.S. prior to the opening of Chicago Golf Club – America’s first 18-hole course – in 1892.

CULVER, Ind. – Mission accomplished.

It took four years, but my attempt to play all seven courses on Indiana’s Pete Dye Golf Trail ended with a bang on a cold but sunny November afternoon – a most pleasant way to finish a most pleasant golf odyssey.

While Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is the most famous of the few such golf ventures, the Dye Trail is special, too. There may be fewer courses, but those included offer plenty of variety and an historical touch as well.

Dye – arguably the premier golf course architect of this generation — picked the seven for the Trail from the 25 courses he designed in his home state. They included his first-ever 18-holer, now known as Maple Creek, and – until just a month ago – his last course, the Pete Dye Course at French Lick.

Maple Creek was known as Heather Hills when it opened in 1961. Design-wise it was a joint effort between Dye and wife Alice. Dye’s latest creation is at Keswick Hall, near Charlottesville, Va. I’m scheduled to play there in two weeks.

French Lick has the most challenging of the courses on the Dye Trail. Brickyard Crossing, which has four holes inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is the most unusual. The Kampen Course on Purdue University’s campus in West Lafayette, was a joint effort with Purdue’s agronomy school and has hosted an NCAA Championship. The Fort, in Indianapolis, will host the Big Ten women’s championship in 2015. Plum Creek, in Carmel, is one of Indiana’s most upscale public facilities.

All those have their charm and special qualities. However, the last stop for us — at Mystic Hills in Culver – was the most fun. It didn’t hurt that we got in on the aftermath of the Big Cup Chili Open event, a scramble event in which 15-inch cups were in place and a chili cook-off competition and pink beer were part of the facilities.

It was a lot of laughs, to be sure. Golf needs more such events in these trying economic times.

Anyway, the Mystic Hills’ course is just fine. Opened in 1998, it has a links-style look on the front nine and more challenging holes on the back. It plays 6,795 yards from the tips with a 73.0 rating.

There’s some interesting sidelights to Mystic Hills. Dye has said it took only about $1 million to get this one built. He designed it while working with his son P.B., who is still a frequent visitor to the course.

Vicki Pugh is the course’s owner and her son Dave is the head professional and superintendent. They’ve just begun the process of creating a stay-and-play opportunity at the course that is in a mostly rural setting midway between Chicago and Indianapolis. Zoning has been approved for five on-site cabins and building of two has already begun.

Vicki Pugh grew up in the golf world. Her parents owned three Indiana courses and her brother, Steve Bonnell, is also a golf professional. Alice Dye’s family has owned a home near the course for over 100 years and Jim Irsay, owner of football’s Indianapolis Colts, is one of Mystic Hills’ members.

Playing the Dye Trail is both worthwhile and fun, but it takes an effort to hit all seven courses. Mystic Hills is the north most stop on the Trail, and it’s 224 miles from French Lick, the southern most facility. Vicki Pugh knows of only three golfers (two of them women) who completed the trail in 2014.

The range in greens fees is also interesting. Mystic Hills (from $25 to $45) and Maple Creek (from $20 to $49) are on the low end. The Pete Dye Course at French Lick (listed in the Trail Guide at $350 plus $30 per person for a forecaddie) is by far the highest.

As you might guess, I’m a big fan of Pete Dye courses. There are over 300 of them world-wide, and he’s done more famous ones outside of Indiana (the Ocean Course at Kiawah in South Carolina, TPC Sawgrass in Florida, Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin to name a few).

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels announced the creation of the Pete Dye Golf Trail on July 28, 2011, in an effort to make his state a golf destination. If you take on the Trail you’ll get a nice drive touching all the nice things that Indiana has to offer as well as a good dose of the golf history created by one of the sport’s foremost architects.

CHASKA, Minn. – In just a couple years a golf club that is just 52 years old will become only the second in history to host all of the top six championships played on American soil.

Hazeltine National, which opened in 1962, has already hosted the U.S. Open (1970, 1991), the U.S. Women’s Open (1966, 1977), the PGA Championship (2002, 2009), the U.S. Senior Open (1983) and the U.S. Amateur (2006).

All that’s missing is the Ryder Cup, and Hazeltine went on the clock to host that epic battle duel between the U.S. and Europe in 2016 after Europe continued its recent domination of the competition at Gleneagles in Scotland earlier this fall. Hazeltine will be the place to be from Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2016.

The only club to host all those big event is North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2, which opened in 1907 – 55 years before Hazeltine. Pinehurst, which became the first course to host both the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens in back-to-back weeks last June, also hosted the U.S. Senior Open (1994), PGA Championship (1936), U.S. Open (1999, 2005) and Ryder Cup (1951).

Medinah hosted the last domestic Ryder Cup in 2012, when the American side suffered a colossal meltdown in the Sunday singles matches to get saddled with a 14 ½ -13 ½ defeat in the 39th playing of the competition.

Team results aside, the Ryder Cup is the biggest event any club could host in golf. In landing the Ryder Cup a club is assured the global spotlight and an indelible spot in the history of the sport. Medinah was ready when its turn came, and it showed clearly when the world-wide lights were turned on two years ago, but Hazeltine – based on a two-day visit less than a month after the last putt dropped at Gleneagles — may be even better prepared this far in advance.

Medinah endured difficult times getting its No. 3 course ready in 2012. Superintendent Curtis Tyrrell battled major, weather-related conditioning problems right up until the teams arrived. That likely won’t be the case at Hazeltine. Tyrrell’s counterpart, Chris Tritabaugh, is supervising the most important anticipated potential problem a full two years before the matches begin.

“Our bunkers had been an issue for the course for a long time – long before I got here,’’ he said. “They would wash out, and we spent a lot of time fixing them.’’

So, Hazeltine’s members took on an assessment to cover a nearly $1 million installation of the state-of-the-art Billy Better Bunker system. It was developed by Billy Fuller, a former superintendent at Augusta National, to combat drainage problems. Gleneagles and Valhalla, the Louisville layout that has already hosted a Ryder Cup and two PGA Championships, previously benefitted from the system’s installation.

Having top-notch bunkers is especially important at Hazeltine, since the Robert Trent Jones design has an abundance of them. Hazeltine’s 108 bunkers have the same square footage as the putting surfaces – about three acres for each. That’s an eye-catching statistic, because bunkers typically are about one-third the size of the putting surfaces.

Even before the bunker work started word surfaced of a re-routing of the Hazeltine layout for Ryder Cup purposes. The last four holes of each nine were switched to make for a better spectator experience.

Well before that – immediately after the well-received 2009 PGA Championship – the Hazeltine membership approved the demolition of its old clubhouse and the building of a new one which was opened in the fall of 2010.

And now the controversies surrounding the U.S. team in the aftermath of the latest loss to the Europeans are working towards Hazeltine’s benefit.

“For everything that happened at Gleneagles, I never would have written the script that way, but it will turn out very good for us in a lot of ways,’’ said Hazeltine tournament chairman Patrick Hunt. “For one, it puts us in the best possible position to win and the attention will be bigger than it was.’’

Hazeltine sent member contingents to the last two Ryder Cups, and most who went said they benefitted more from what they saw at Medinah than what transpired at Gleneagles.

“On the big picture side, the best thing (Medinah) did for us was setting a high bar,’’ said Hunt. “We’re competitive. We always want to beat previous records, and they set all the records.’’

Hazeltine is hoping to have 84 corporate chalets, which would be more than Medinah had, and the Minnesota club has plenty of open space to accommodate spectators.

Asked if he anticipated Hazeltine being the best-attended Ryder Cup yet, Hunt responded: “I would.’’

“It has to do with the property we have and what we’ve learned from past events,’’ he said. “We’re very good at running championships. It’s our core mission. Our team has a good blend of experience. We’re very professional in our approach.’’

Like Medinah, Hazeltine hasn’t hosted a PGA Tour event even though it has had opportunities to do so.

“We were offered the BMW Championship,’’ said Hunt, “but it didn’t fit our brand.’’

The bigger annual events, though, do. In addition to its resume of major USGA and PGA championships, Hazeltine also took on the 1994 U.S. Mid-Amateur and 1999 NCAA Championship. The Ryder Cup, though, will be its biggest challenge yet. Part of it will be educating its populace.

“If you’ve attended a Ryder Cup you know what you’re in for,’’ said Hunt. “If you’re a golf fan you think you know what you’re in for – but you don’t really know. The general population of the Twin Cities doesn’t yet understand the bigness of this.’’

CHOCTAW, MS. – Determining the best golf options in your first visit to an area isn’t easy. We faced that situation in our first-ever visit to the state of Mississippi, and I don’t think we could have made any better selections. The state has less than 200 courses, but the ones we found were all top of the line.

The seven-day stay started with a few days at Old Waverly, generally considered the state’s best private club, then continued with rounds at two of the premier public facilities – Dancing Rabbit and Tunica National.

Old Waverly, which hosted a premier event on the LPGA Legends Tour while we were there, was in pristine condition. It was one of the best private facilities I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve had the good fortune to visit plenty of good ones over the years.

We were every bit as much taken by Dancing Rabbit and Tunica National, however.

Dancing Rabbit, a 36-hole club at Pearl River Resort near the town of Philadelphia in the central part of the state, may be the most decorated club in Mississippi. Its Azaleas and Oaks courses were both designed by well-respected architect Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate, a former U.S. Open champion. Fazio also includes Chicago favorites The Glen Club and Conway Farms in his design portfolio. That reflects the quality of the courses at Dancing Rabbit.

While I’m not one to take the various course rating systems as gospel it is interesting to note that one of the longest standing ones, published by Golf Magazine, rated the Azaleas course ahead of Chicago favorites Cantigny, The General at Eagle Ridge and Kemper Lakes in one of Its Top 100 You Can Play lists.

The Azaleas was Dancing Rabbit’s first course, built in 1997. It’s also been listed in ratings by Golf Digest, Golf & Travel, Golfweek and Mississippi Magazine. It’s a tighter and tougher course than The Oaks, which opened in 1999, but I’m not convinced that it’s any better. Both are par-72s that measure over 7,000 yards from the tips, have five sets of tees per hole and offer rounds that wind through the woods with plenty of rolling hills and streams.

Dancing Rabbit is a great selection for a golf getaway because it has plenty of lodging options. On the property is the Dancing Rabbit Inn, and there’s also eight rooms available in the clubhouse. That’s in addition to the Pearl River Resort and the Golden Moon and Silver Star casinos, which offer alternate forms of entertainment. All told, the area has over 1,000 hotel rooms and 11 restaurants.

If you’re worried about the heat and humidity that Mississippi is known for, it wasn’t oppressive at either of the courses because there’s plenty of shade around the tree-lined cart paths.

Tunica National, on the outskirts of Memphis near Robinsonville, MS., is entirely different. This course, designed by former PGA Tour star Mark McCumber, features generous fairways and is all about fun. Though user-friendly, there are plenty of challenges created by strategically placed water hazards and bunkers.

Like the Dancing Rabbit courses, Tunica National features five sets of tees per hole but – at 7,402 yards – it plays longer from the back tees than either The Azaleas or The Oaks. Tunica also features an outstanding, spacious practice area.

Tunica National, managed by Chicago-based KemperSports, is also in a casino-rich area. There are nine of them nearby, and over 40 hotels are also in close proximity. The Tunica clubhouse is also unusual in that it includes four indoor clay tennis courts.

As for Old Waverly, it’s rich in tradition as the site of the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open and it’s also been dubbed as The Country Club of Mississippi. Pate was also involved in its design, working with architect Bob Cupp prior to the course’s opening in 1988.

While not a public venue in the style of Dancing Rabbit or Tunica National, Old Waverly does offer lodging in the form of cottages, villas and condos for members and guests in the small town of West Point in the northeast part of the state. Beautiful homes are in evidence around the course and the layout has also been recognized by both Golfweek and Golf Digest.

In addition to its attractive golf setting, the club has also been a popular site for corporate meetings, weddings and other special events.

All three facilities are different and have their own special features. There was one common threat, however. Mississippi has promoted itself as “the hospitality state,’’ and that was clearly evident at all three locations.