10 great things to do in and around Pinehurst, according to our local expert
![](https://sportsareena.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/woodlakes-780x470.jpg)
Woodlake Country Club, close to Pinehurst, is permitting restricted public play in the course of the U.S. Open.
Ran Morrissett
Welcome to Pinehurst. You’ve picked a great week to go to. But sorry. No. We can’t get you a tee time on No. 2. The famed course is booked stable for a modest get-together referred to as the U.S. Open, and the resort it anchors is hopping-busy, too.
Not to fear, although. There’s lots else to do around these components, golf included. Ran Morrissett, GOLF Magazine’s structure editor, has lived in neighboring Southern Pines greater than 30 years. Here are his 10 suggestions for consuming, consuming and stress-free in the world — that can nonetheless depart time for spectating at No. 2.
![Reservoir Park in Southern Pines, N.C.](https://golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/reservoir-park08469.jpg)
Ran Morrissett
1. Reservoir Park
There is not any water on Pinehurst No. 2. But there’s loads of it at Reservoir Park, a 165-acre swath of greenery with a lake at its middle. The two-mile strolling path around it’s a scenic approach to get your steps in. The park is open day by day from daybreak to nightfall, and entrance is free.
2. An unbeatable breakfast
Since it first opened, in 2010, in a comfortable house in downtown Southern Pines, Betsy’s Crepes has grown in dimension and fame. Today, it ranks as a local establishment, best-known for its fresh-made candy and savory crepes (although it additionally serves terrific soups, salads and panini at lunch). The environment stays as heat and welcoming as ever, similar to proprietor Betsy Markey, who has run the place since day one.
![Betsy Markey at her popular crepe place in Southern Pines, N.C.](https://golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/crepe.jpg)
Ran Morrissett
3. Swing ideas from a guru
Golf is a unending quest, and I don’t know a greater information than Doug Thompson, at Hyland Golf Club, a great-value public course in Southern Pines. Thompson retains things easy, and his observations are spot-on.
4. A great spherical of golf
Woodlake Country Club, dwelling to a newly renovated Ellis Maples design, is a personal facility. But it’s open to outdoors play throughout U.S. Open week on the cheap price of $125 for walkers. If you rating inside 4 photographs of your handicap, Morrissett says he’ll purchase you a beer.
![Chapman's Food & Spirits in Southern Pines, N.C.](https://golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/chapmans.jpg)
Ran Morrissett
5. Killer cocktails
It’s 5 o’clock someplace. And even when it weren’t, Morrissett would nonetheless recommend you stomach up to the bar at Chapman’s Food & Spirits, in Southern Pines. Ask for a Marytini, made by none apart from Mary herself, with blue cheese, olives and Tanqueray gin.
6. Best burgers and canines
Best sizzling canines on the flip? That’s a toss up, Morrissett says, between Pine Needles and Southern Pines Golf Club. Try them each and resolve for your self. The burger class brings in wider competitors. But Morrissett’s quick listing consists of Ashten’s, Southern Prime Steakhouse, Chapman’s and 195 Southern Fusion.
7. The good pie
For the most effective pizza this aspect of Naples (Italy, not Florida), Morrissett factors to Vito’s Ristorante & Pizzeria, the place the cellar is stocked with hard-to-find Italian wines in any respect value factors.
8. Out-of-this-world al fresco eating
For that, seize a seat on the patio at Ironwood Restaurant, which serves spot-on trendy American delicacies in the guts of historic downtown Pinehurst.
![Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve](https://golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/nature-preserve.jpg)
Ran Morrissett
9. A primo picnic
Getting up-and-down at Pinehurst No. 2 is not any picnic. If that’s what you’re after, Morrissett recommends stocking up on meats, cheeses and crackers at Southern Whey, in downtown Southern Pines, and then heading to Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve, the place miles of climbing trails wind via a sandy panorama that lends the area its identify.
10. An immersion in Americana
In our go-go trendy age, it’s arduous to discover a industrial middle that extra approximates Mayberry than downtown Southern Pines. For the complete Opie expertise, all inside a one-block radius, seize a scoop on the Ice Cream Parlor Restaurant, get pleasure from a glass of wine on the porch at The Wine Cellar (yeah, we all know, Opie wasn’t of consuming age, however you might be), and then take in an indie film on the Sunrise Theater.
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