Pinehurst builds communication program from scratch

After an ownership change releases the golf resort from a 220-firm conglomerate, communicators start from the ground up

When the legendary North Carolina golf resort Pinehurst changed ownership earlier this year, it went from being one of 220 properties owned by a major corporation, Clubcorp in Texas, to being privately owned by one family organization.

“We went from a family of 20,000 employees to 1,400,” says communications manager Janeen Driscoll.

They also went from being part of well-oiled, corporate-run communication system to building a new, in-house program one from scratch.

“Most people don’t realize that when you change ownership, you have a clean slate to develop new tools,” Driscoll says. “It comes with a deep responsibility to fulfill employee partner needs based on what the corporate office previously delivered.”

Or didn’t—as the case may be.

For instance, Clubcorp had a set of buzzword principles—many of which the resort maintained after the sale—but it also had a formal, corporate-focused culture that the resort altered.