Following much speculation over its status, the new Dormie Club near Pinehurst in North Carolina, has confirmed that it will be offering non-member play at least until the end of 2012.

The course, designed by the firm of Coore & Crenshaw and opened in 2010, was originally conceived as the anchor for a private, destination golf club. However, due to the downturn in the global economy and the consequences for new golf projects, the club’s developers say they have concluded that exposing the course to a wider public in the short term will provide Dormie with a much wider base to select its ultimate membership.

“Membership prices are currently being offered with two installments so the second, final payment can be deferred until 2013 when the Club goes fully private, with the expectation that today's lower membership prices will have escalated by then,” said membership chairman Mike Philips. “We have entered into an arrangement with several trusted golf packagers and four local hotels to promote play. Our non-member, in-season rate including cart and forecaddie is US$235. Our off-season rate is US$150. Of course, our members will still be able to reserve prime tee times.”

Paul Oglesby, Dormie’s head professional and director of golf, previously at Merion, walked the Dormie course after it had been centre cut. “Just being able to spend time listening to Bill and Ben, seeing what they did and what they saw on a visual tour of the property, how they came up with the routing for the golf course with all the elevation changes and all the hardwoods and the pines and the two lakes we have, it all added so much to my own knowledge,” said Oglesby. “They were here an enormous amount of time with a tremendous attention to detail because they understood the impact of what they were doing.”