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What: “Pinehurst: Stories of Good Times and Great Golf”

When: Thursday, 8 p.m., Channel 28

This one-hour documentary, which showcases the site of this month’s U.S. Open in North Carolina, is a must-see for golf historians and fans. It lays out the history of one of the world’s great golf resorts in an interesting and informative way.

Bob Tufts, the great grandson of Pinehurst founder James Walker Tufts, a Harvard Business School graduate and a filmmaker, teamed up with the husband-wife team of Jeff Leighton and Kim DeCoste to create a film worthy of Pinehurst.

James Walker Tufts, who made a fortune in the soda-fountain business, opened Pinehurst on Dec. 31, 1895, with 20 guests staying in the Holly Inn. The rooms had electric lights, steam heat and telephones. Within two years, guests were hitting a ball around the open dairy fields, much to the dismay of the cows, and the resort’s first golf course opened in 1898.

In 1907, Scottish golf pioneer Donald Ross, who learned his craft from master designer “Old Tom” Morris of St. Andrews, created Pinehurst No. 2, which today is ranked among the nation’s top courses.

The documentary focuses on the early years with the use of more than 1,000 photographs and some rare 1905 footage. By 1919, Pinehurst was offering 72 holes of golf, and it flourished during the ‘20s. One night in March 1929 there were 1,320 guests registered in the hotels, with 15,000 requests turned down.

Leonard Tufts, succeeding his father, ran Pinehurst for years, followed by Richard Tufts. In 1971, the Tufts family sold Pinehurst to Diamondhead Corp., which nearly ruined Pinehurst by trying to turn it into a typical modern-day resort. In 1984, Pinehurst was sold to Texas billionaire Robert Dedman’s Club Corp. of America, which restored it and recaptured its unique atmosphere.

Arnold Palmer played Pinehurst as a Wake Forest student. He lost to Harvie Ward of North Carolina in the semifinals of the 1948 United North-South Amateur Championships, Pinehurst’s signature event.