Bob Farren lands Carolinas GCSA highest honor

Pinehurst’s Bob Farren, CGCS will receive this year’s Distinguished Service Award from the Carolinas GCSA. Farren learned the news in a surprise announcement in front of more than 200 golf industry colleagues at the Southeast Region Conference at Pinehurst Resort.

The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor bestowed by the 1,850-member Carolinas GCSA and will be presented at the association’s annual Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in November.

“Bob Farren has been a beacon for our profession for longer than many of our members have been alive,” said Carolinas GCSA president Alex Tolbert of Orangeburg Country Club in Orangeburg, South Carolina. “For decades, he has been a leader, at his facility, across our region, and on the national stage. We all walk a little taller in our roles because of his efforts and his example.”

Farren, who is director of golf course management at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, began his career in golf course maintenance in 1979. He joined Pinehurst three years later and led the Carolinas GCSA as president in 1995. He has been a key figure in restoring Pinehurst’s standing in the game to the point where it was designated by the USGA as the first “anchor site” for the U.S. Open Championship.

Since that designation, Pinehurst No. 2 hosted the 2024 U.S. Open and will do so again in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047. The U.S. Women’s Open returns to Pinehurst in 2029.