Perhaps I should explain about the little fellow on our cover … at least to those of you who have not visited the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina. He’s the Putter Boy, arguably one of the most recognized symbols in golf. He’s been around since the early days of Pinehurst when he appeared in the resort’s advertising as the Golf Lad. The advertising depicted the small caricature of a young boy in various activities — in a train station headed to Pinehurst, playing golf, and enjoying a carefree visit.

In 1912, sculptress Lucy Richards used the lad as the model for a bronze statuette and sundial. As the story goes, she wasn’t a golfer, so Donald Ross, whose masterpiece of design is the Pinehurst No. 2 course, demonstrated the proper golf grip and stance. As you can see in the cover photo, the shaft of the club created the shadow that was used to tell the time on the sundial. In order to get the proper angle, the length of the club had to be inordinately long.

The statue was known as the Sundial Boy until the 1970s when the Putter Boy moniker caught on — mainly because the statue was situated between the two large putting greens beside the Pinehurst clubhouse. And except for a time when the statue was loaned to the PGA World Golf Hall of Fame, the Putter Boy has remained outside the clubhouse as an icon connecting Pinehurst’s rich golf history to its history-in-the-making as the venue for two U.S. Open Championships.

The symbol was prominent at the 1999 U.S. Open in a logo that recalled an early ad titled "Headed to Pinehurst," in which the Golf Lad was shown carrying his golf bag in Grand Central Station. The 2005 U.S. Open logo also features the Golf Lad. This time, his stance (facing forward in his backswing) is taken from a later ad that read: "Gee! But I’m glad to get back to Pinehurst" — a tribute to one of the quickest returns of the U.S. Open to the same site.

With this issue, we, too, have employed the Putter Boy to celebrate the return of the U.S. Open to Pinehurst. And whether golf is your favorite sport or you have never played a single hole, we think there will be something of interest to everyone within the pages of our special coverage. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the issue.

Patricia Baldwin
Editor in Chief