Susie's Poetry and Playing Golf at Pinehurst Sandmines!
What do the two have in common? More than you may think. Example: The lyrics to "Poetry in Motion," Johnny Tillotson’s biggest hit song
The 8th hole at Pinehurst No. 10 golf course is a par-4 at 385 yards with a green guarded by a huge sand pile. The tee is near the top of the photo and the green is at the bottom. The course is poetry in motion, some say.
To Sarah from Mother
Don’t be alarmed. Susie’s Poetry has not been replaced with a column about golf, specifically Pinehurst No. 10, the latest and greatest of the Pinehurst Resorts 10 golf courses. It’s always a great day in Pinehurst.
Writing about No. 10 right now is timely because of its initial ranking on the North Carolina Golf Panel’s Top 100 courses in North Carolina.
Before I toot Pinehurst’s horn, let’s get back to the real author of today’s JIM TALK!, Susannah Brooks Overton wrote a beautiful anthem about her fourth child, my aunt Sarah:
From my window, looking south,
Lies a meadow, near the house.
Flowers and grass and trees are there,
Birds are winging through the air.
A little brooklet singing there
Lends a charm and beauty rare.
Oft there comes into this view,
Far surpassing every hue,
Precious blue-eyed baby fair,
Come to gather flowers there.
Now I see her stooping where
Buttercups and daisies are;
Now she’s playing hide and seek,
Where the timid violets peep.
Now with bold agility
Swinging on the dogwood tree.
Woodland fairy, butterfly,
Cherub gently floating by!
Humming bird or honey bee
In and out ’mong flower and tree.
All of these, sweet baby mine,
As compared to radiance thine,
Are as clouds to bright sunshine.
Could I paint these as thou art
Stamped in love upon my heart.
All within the realms of art,
All that Masters ever wrought
To thy picture would be naught.
Happy childhood, free from care;
Flowers of childhood playing there,
Finding all of happiness
In a flower to caress.
—Susie Brooks Overton
“Poetry in Motion”
Johnny Tillotson’s biggest hit was Poetry in Motion, a 1960 45-rpm recording that reached No. 2 on a pop music list in the United States. It is said “Poetry in Motion” described movement of horses, sailboats, and the mysterious “other” things. It easily describes a mother as she observes her latest child playfully frolicking in the yard.
Tillotson sang:
Poetry in motion, walkin' by my side
Her lovely locomotion keeps my eyes open wide
Poetry in motion, see her gentle sway
A wave out on the ocean could never move that way
I love every movement
There’s nothing I would change
She doesn't need improvement
She's much too nice to rearrange
The song was written by Paul Kaufman and Mike Anthony, and those lyrics, as far as I’m concerned, can be applied also to Pinehurst No. 10. The course ranking group, North Carolina Golf Panel, played the new course, located in the Pinehurst Sandmines area of Aberdeen in Moore County, late last fall after the Tom Doak designed layout had been open less than one year.
It’s as if the golf course had been up and running for years and had grown in, matured, well beyond its first full season. When the latest NC Golf Panel rankings were published in April of this year, Pinehurst No. 10 came in 14th in the state. This lofty position is believed to be the highest-ever ranking for a new course on the list, above several golf courses capable of making the top 10. Pinehurst No. 10 surpassed great layouts such as Cape Fear County Club, Pinehurst No. 8, Charlotte Country Club, and Eagle Point Golf Club.
Currently in the works at Pinehurst is No. 11, which will be located adjacent to No. 10. It’s on the drawing board, as we speak, with the golf course design firm of Coore & Crenshaw. Projected to open in the fall of 2027, expect No. 11 to link to the top echelon of North Carolina golf courses.
As the Pinehurst Resort expands with more golf courses and other amenities to accommodate visitors, we are reminded of this Susie Brooks Overton poem:
Old Lesson - New Method
“Ambition sets the pace of life,”
My teacher said; and then
He read to us philosophies
Of wise and ancient men.
“It’s better to be first,” he said,
“Within some village small,
Than in a Roman city dwell
And not be known at all.
My son has learned that lesson, too,
In his quite modern school:
“Be a big frog in a puddle
But no tadpole in a pool.”
—Susie Brooks Overton
If you would like to read more about Bill Coore and Pinehurst No. 11, click this link: Bill Coore’s Pinehurst homecoming — again
Next post will continue with poetry from Susie Brooks Overton.
Surely you know
Those on the go
Like poetry to share
Because they care
To help my readership grow!
—Grandson Jim, 2025