DORMIE STORY: A Nebraska publishing family extends a lifeline to an acclaimed Sandhills course.

• Author: Pace, Lee

As a piece of art, the Dormie Club near Pinehurst was a purist's success from the moment it opened in 2010. The golf course was created 6 miles northwest of the village by the esteemed design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and laid quietly on rolling terrain, skirting three ponds and winding through pine forests and hardwoods.

"By no means did we envision a copy of Pinehurst No. 2," says Coore, who with his partner authored a significant restoration of that famous course in 2010-1 1. A native of Davidson County, Coore lives in Scottsdale, Ariz. "But we wanted to take some of the principles we felt applied to No. 2 and other courses Donald Ross had done in the Sandhills and say, 'This is our interpretation of what golf in the Sandhills might look and feel like.'"

As a business, though, the club was doomed out of the gate.

Conceived in 2007 as an elite enclave of national scope with a total golf focus--no pools, tennis courts or wedding planners--the neophyte club was wracked by the financial crisis of 2007-09. It endured a construction stoppage and never generated any momentum toward its original vision in the recession's aftermath. Still, most golfers who have played the course applaud it: It is ranked No. 3 among the best courses open to the public in North Carolina by both Golf Magazine and Golfweek and the 12th best in North Carolina by Golf Digest. It is ranked 49th In Business North Carolina's Top 100 courses, which includes private clubs (Page 54).

"The fact that the course never closed during some tough times says volumes about how good it is," says Mike Phillips, the club's membership director from 2009-13. "The site is hard to match in terms of peace and tranquility. But the operations and service certainly left much to be desired."

In January, the Peed family of Lincoln, Neb., acquired the course from MKH Ventures Inc. for $7 million as part of a plan to assemble a network of elite courses. Tom and Rhonda Peed started a publishing business in 1978 with a single magazine in Webster City, Iowa. Sandhills Publishing Co. now produces more than a dozen trade journals and related websites for the heavy machinery and agricultural sectors. The Peeds' three sons work for their businesses, including Zach, who played collegiately at Nebraska Wesleyan University and now runs the family's golf business.

MKH Ventures created the club when it purchased a 1,028-acre parcel in late 2007 for $15 million and spent approximately $10 million on...