PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA | John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s wonderfully erudite chief championships officer, likes to refer to U.S. Open sites as “cathedrals of the game” because they have that feel about them.
On June 13, Bodenhamer’s characterization hit a little closer to home as our daughter, Molly, married her longtime boyfriend, Alex Cognac, adjacent to the first tee at Pinehurst No. 2.
Aside from the fact the temperature was hovering in the low 90s at 6 p.m. on that Saturday, there was a cathedral feeling to the big event.
The bells from the nearby Village Chapel chimed at 6 as they do every evening, adding a church-like touch to the proceedings moments before I escorted our daughter between the practice green and the first tee toward the temporary altar, and the near golden-hour sun illuminated the flower arrangements like light through stained glass.
Given my abiding affection for Pinehurst, it’s fair to assume that I chose the spot for this destination wedding but I’m happy to say the bride and groom picked it. My wife, Tamera, and I suggested they take a look around while they were visiting Pinehurst last year and it sold itself.
Molly and Alex Cognac
COURTESY RON GREEN JR.
Because the ceremony was held at one of the more famous golf courses in the world shouldn’t suggest it was a golf-themed wedding but it had its touches. The couples’ drink of choice was a Transfusion, which AI will tell you is a golf-inspired cocktail of vodka, ginger ale and grape juice, and table assignments for the reception used golf balls and tees.
As day turned to night, it was difficult not to take a moment to look out across the first and 18th holes at No. 2. It’s a feeling we get at places like that, remembering the great ones who have been there and the others who have made it a goal to visit there one day.
(Full disclosure, I kept coming back to the tee shot I pulled on the first hole into the waste area on the left, one of too many bad swings the day before the wedding, but Molly’s now-husband birdied the 18th).
As Saturday night edged toward Sunday morning, the wedding party found itself in The Deuce, Pinehurst’s perfect clubhouse pub, for a final celebratory round or two because that’s what you do there.
They like to say “It’s a beautiful day at Pinehurst” and, personally, there’s never been a more beautiful one.
Ron Green Jr.
Top photo: Scott Michaux, GGP
