Paradise in the Pines

This will get updated 

After 33 years as president of Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Dr. John Dempsey is stepping down at the end of December 2022. Dempsey has been president of Sandhills Community College since 1989. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and holds a master’s degree in Government from the College of William and Mary and a Ph. D. in Political Science from the Univers...

Christopher Prieto is a champion pitmaster and the self-proclaimed #BBQNerd. He is the headliner for the second annual Pinehurst Barbecue Festival, Sept. 2-4, 2022 in the Village of Pinehurst in North Carolina. Prieto is of Puerto Rican descent and was raised in Texas, a state synonymous with great barbecue. In recent years, Prieto and his family moved to the Raleigh suburb of Knightdale where he...

Lee Pace is a Chapel Hill, North Carolina based author, editor, publisher and broadcaster who has spent the last thirty years writing about golf in the Carolinas and beyond. He visited the Paradise in the Pines podcast to talk about his being in residence as a writer at the Weymouth Center and the James Boyd House in Southern Pines, NC and his passion for golf, writing and the Pinehurst area. &nbs...

David Woronoff is a legend among the world of journalism and publishing in North Carolina. He became publisher of The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines, NC on July 1, 1996 when he and a group of buyers including Frank Daniels, III and Frank Daniels, Jr. purchased it. Since then, Woronoff has led not only the growth of the publication named “Best Community Newspaper” in the country multiple times s...

Alec Allred has big plans and bigger dreams for the Sandhills. Come meet him and the field where he's planting dreams as we gear up for the first season of the Sandhills Bogeys baseball.  Allred is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Old North State League. Allred was the Director of Baseball Operations during his first three years with the league. In February of 2022, Alec was n...

John Maginnes is a former PGA Tour player who spent more than a decade and a half playing professional golf. While recovering from elbow surgery in 2004, John was offered an opportunity as a USA Network on-course commentator covering Thursday and Friday rounds on the PGA Tour. With microphone in hand, John found his second passion. He stayed with USA Network until the Golf Channel contract took ov...

Jack Nance has been executive director of the Carolinas Golf Association since 1991 and leads the second largest such organization in the country spanning both North Carolina and South Carolina. Prior to joining the CGA, Nance played golf at Wake Forest.  The CGA is a non-profit service organization that was formed in 1909 to conduct championships and tournaments for amateur golfers in North...

Katie Wyatt is living her best life and has landed her dream job. Last summer, Wyatt was named exectuive director of the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities in Southern Pines, NC.   The daughter of Army parents and raised in the Washington, DC area, Wyatt found at an early age that music presented a great opportunity to communicate among diverse races and cultures. Music, arts...

Bernie Carbo is a hero in Boston Red Sox lore. His three-run home run in Game 6 of the famous 1975 World Series against the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds is one of the most memorable moments in MLB history.   In 1965, Carbo was a first round draft pick of the Cincinanti Reds and was even picked ahead of Johnny Bench, an eventual Hall-of-Fame player and arguably the best catcher in base...

Elite golf instructor, mentor, best-selling author and Ryder Cup champion. For more than 25 years, Nick Bradley has built a enormous reputation in the golf industry and now has found a home in the Pinehurst, NC area. Bradley’s client list has included a World #1 player, several World #5 players, European Order of Merit champions, eight national amateur titles and consulting work with captain Paul...

For more than seven decades, Golf Pride has been the global leader in golf grip innovation and technology. Plus, Golf Pride can boast more professional tour and major wins than any other grip company. More than 80% of Tour professional choose to play Golf Pride grip and not one of them is paid to do so. Golf Pride’s Global Innovation Center is located in Pinehurst, NC on the campus of Pinehurst No...

If you like beer, you'll like Gerry Bateman. If its a lager, a sour, an IPA, or a stout, he can likely tell you all about it. While he doesn't make his own beer, his business allows home brewers to give it their best shot. But, his Southern Pines Growler Company is more well-known for always having 32 different beers from all over the country on tap at all times.   While a nice "beer snob", B...

Ashley Van Camp is a Sandhills of North Carolina original. Chef, restauranteur, owner, lover of the arts and equestrian, she is a woman with a passion for life. From North Carolina, but schooled in Boston and former resident of New York City, Van Camp's heart and soul now reside in quiet, yet purposeful fabric of the Pinehurst and Southern Pines, NC scene.

Kelly Miller had no idea what he was getting into when he married one of Peggy Kirk Bell’s daughters and moved to Southern Pines in 1982.  “The Bell family and Pine Needles kept me in the game of golf,” Miller says. “I wanted to get into business of some kind, I wasn’t sure what.”   Miller grew up in Indiana and attended the University of Alabama to play golf, and there he met Peggy Ann...

Janeen Driscoll is a great friend of the Pinehurst area of North Carolina and her love for the Sandhills goes back to the last century and long before she became the director of brand communications for the United States Golf Association (USGA).   Driscoll was hired by Pinehurst Resort a couple years before the club hosted its first-ever U.S. Open in 1999. Since then, Driscoll has ascend...

The debut episode of Paradise in the Pines features Tom Pashley, president of Pinehurst Resort. In his 27 years at this iconic and globally-recognized golf resort in the heart of the Sandhills in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Pashley has seen it all. From the awarding of the 1999 U.S. Open which ultimately would showcase one of the most memorable moments in championship history - Payne Stewart's putt...

Paradise in the Pines will be coming out soon.  Our first official episode will air in January.  Listen now to get an idea of what's to come in our official Paradise in the Pines Trailer. Tom Pashley, President, Pinehurst Resort Gerry Bateman, Owner, Southern Pines Growler Company Janeen Driscoll, Director Brand Communications, USGA Ashley Von Camp, Owner, Ashten's Restaurant Kelly Mille...