For those contemplating a home in the Pinehurst area, or just looking for a winter golf vacation, the folks at Pinehurst have just made it a little easier to do both.  For just $222 per person now through February 25, you can spend a night in one of the Pinehurst Resort's comfortable rooms, play a round at Donald Ross' famed Pinehurst #2, and dig into the hotel's overflowing breakfast buffet.  Additional nights are $255 per person and include room, dinner and breakfast, and one round of golf on a choice of the other Pinehurst courses (or play #2 again for a $175 surcharge).

         The Pinehurst area overflows with golf communities of the private and resort variety, with prices generally in the $300,000 to $1 million+ range and with transferable golf memberships included with some properties.  I scanned some listings today and found scores of interesting homes across a wide price range.  For example, a 4 bedroom, 4 ½ bath custom home with views of water and the fairway at Pinehurst #6, designed by Tom Fazio, is listed at $650,000.

         For more information about the special No. 2 for $222 deal, visit Pinehurst.com.  For more information about Pinehurst real estate, or any golf communities in the southern or northeastern U.S., please contact me.

         Tiger Woods certainly knows that the object is to get out of the bunker in one stroke, not to stay in it as long as you can.  By hunkering down in his mansion without explaining how he rammed his truck into a tree, why his wife took a mashie to his back window, and why he appeared to have facial injuries consistent with having been scratched and pummeled, Tiger and his handlers have committed the cardinal sin of public relations; they have left the story for others to tell.

         Tiger's no comment, it's a private matter does not rise to the level of "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski," but

Tiger has let the 24-hour media and blogosphere conjure all sorts of stories that are likely much worse than the truth.

the effect is about the same.  It shows in the super-controlled golfer and his handlers a naivete about the news media, that they might somehow get tired of camping outside the Woods mansion after just a few days.  Woods' neighbors will tire of the media's presence much sooner than the media will.  And it is only a matter of time before the "other woman" tells her story.

         You learn in the first few hours of Public Relations 101 that when something bad happens, you define the story -- you don't let it define you.  Tiger has let the 24-hour media and blogosphere conjure all sorts of stories that are likely much worse than the truth.  Really, how much worse can it be than the current conclusions that he cheated on his wife and she came after him with one of his Nike irons?  If three days ago, he and Elin had simply said something that smacked of the truth, only the tabloids would be obsessing this week over the story. ("Madonna Adopts Woods and Cocktail Waitress Love Child?")

         As of this writing, Tiger has ignored three attempts by the Florida state police to interview him and his wife; state law doesn't require the interview, but the court of public opinion will think Tiger believes he is above the law.   Tiger is right; whatever happened a few hours after the Thanksgiving turkey was put away is a private matter.  But he is the most public of persons, and the media is a hungry beast.  By hiding behind a phalanx of handlers, Tiger is trashing his aura of modesty and redefining himself as a dilettante.