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Pine Needles and Mid Pines: All In The Family

Pine Needles and Golf's 'Dean of Women' 

She barnstormed the country in her own airplane, playing in pro tournaments after a stellar amateur record. He was her high school sweetheart who had played pro basketball with the Fort Wayne Pistons before turning to business.

In 1953, Peggy Kirk and Warren "Bullet" Bell wed and settled in Southern Pines, where they bought a little piece of Heaven, Pine Needles. The trees are taller and fuller now, and the turf grasses have been updated to today’s standards, but otherwise the course has the same rustic look and routing as when it opened in 1927. It is a magnificent Donald Ross layout that remains one of the very best in the great Scottish architect’s portfolio.

The Bells bought Pine Needles in partnership with Frank and Maisie Cosgrove and the Cosgroves’ son-in-law Julius Boros, the '52 U.S. Open champion. At that time, the original clubhouse had been bought by the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh and turned into a hospital and sanitarium. In 1954, the lease on the adjacent army barracks which had been used for guest accommodations ran out, leaving Pine Needles with only the course.

While the Cosgroves were busy managing Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club across Midland Road and Boros was off playing tournaments, the Bells, ignited by an exciting vision for the property, rolled up their sleeves and started building. The first project was the clubhouse, a chalet design which they built under the pines on a slight rise overlooking the practice facility and the 18th green (the 1st green before the old clubhouse was converted).

Subsequently expanded and modernized, the clubhouse fits ideally into Pine Needles rustic themes. A pinewood lodge, it incorporates a fine dining room, spacious lounge and bar, executive suites, and completely renovated locker rooms and pro shop.

Like a callow youth who ripens into maturity almost without notice, the resort grew in size and stature over many years until now it is widely recognized as one of the country’s outstanding small golf clubs and resorts.

A total of 75 comfortable, modern rooms in 12 chalet-style lodges are complemented by communications- equipped small meeting rooms, a swimming pool (the first resort pool ever built in Pinehurst), a 16,000-square-foot conference center, and first class, award-winning instructional programs/ facilities geared to every level of player, all ages and both sexes. Golf for Women magazine has consistently rated it among the nation’s most women-friendly resorts.

During its development, the Bells were also busy rearing a family, two daughters, Peggy Ann and Bonnie, and a son, Kirk. They all grew up with the resort, literally getting their hands dirty helping to build and manage it, and learning the golf business from the ground up. Since Bullet’s passing in 1984, the Bell children and their spouses have played instrumental roles both in the resort’s management and in preserving the family atmosphere at Pine Needles that is its distinguishing trademark and a major reason why Pine Needles gets a high percentage of return visitors.

Presiding over this enterprise and infusing Pine Needles with her energy, enthusiasm, humor, and hawk-like eye for detail is Peggy Kirk Bell. A Findlay, Ohio, native, Bell started golf at 17 and by 21 was winning a fistful of amateur titles including the Ohio Women’s Amateur. With her friend, Babe Zaharias, arguably the best woman golfer who ever lived, Bell pioneered the first women’s professional tour until marriage and child-rearing intervened. Zaharias later became a god mother to one of the Bell children.

Peggy Kirk Bell would have fashioned a great career on the Tour but she played it only a few years. "I was pregnant," she said in her characteristic bluntness, when I asked her why she didn’t stay out on Tour longer. "Back then [the early '50s], we didn’t have traveling nannies and child care like they do today that makes it possible to have a family and continue to play tournaments.

"At first, we wanted to locate the LPGA at Pine Needles, but that didn’t work out. In those days, we rented rooms only to men because we felt it wasn’t appropriate to have women staying in the barracks." Bell was one of the founding members of the LPGA in 1951.

"I gave my first golf lesson in '53 and I charged $2," she continued as she drove me around the property in a golf cart.  "That was pretty good then. I was only the second woman to ever teach golf. My first student was a woman. I said to my husband, ‘I can’t teach this woman. I know nothing about teaching. I only know how to play.’ My husband said, ‘Well, you know more than she does. Just teach her what you know about the swing.’

"It turned out I really liked teaching," said Bell, who later authored several instructional books that have become bibles for women golfers. Over the years, she has taught a host of men as well as women. "I love to teach men, too," she pointed out. Even so, in the golf instructional field, Bell, now 80 and having taught the swing to thousands of appreciative women, is golf's acknowledged Dean of Women. She is also one of Golf Digest's "50 Greatest Teachers".

Under her leadership, Pine Needles has developed some of the best and most comprehensive teaching programs in the country including the unique week-long Ladies Golfaris (a trademarked name). Offered four times a year in February, May, June and September, the Golfaris combine instruction on the practice tee with classroom sessions using state-of-the-art video equipment and training devices. This program is not just about golf. Students develop a sense of community, as they eat, live and enjoy non-golf activities together throughout the week.

Pine Needles also offers custom-designed corporate clinics and individualized instruction for players of all levels at the indoor-outdoor Learning Center. "A big objective of all of our programs is to make instruction fun," explained Center Director, Pat McGowan, Bonnie’s husband and a former PGA Tour player.

The practice facilities at Pine Needles are second to none and include a huge 400-yard-wide "fairway" between the hilltop lodges and the 1st hole. Three sets of practice hitting areas are located at three different parts of the facility, providing scheduling flexibility and the ability to conduct instruction to several groups simultaneously. One of the hitting areas is sheltered. As of August 2000, the resort was nearing completion of a four-hole practice course that is Bell’s latest pride and joy, as she had a direct hand in its design. It is located behind the Learning Center adjacent to the 2nd fairway.

Peggy Kirk Bell's accomplishments are indeed many, and the warmth of this matriarch of Pine Needles is as evident as the first class facilities.

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Pinehurst Resort | Forest Creek | Pine Needles/ Mid Pines | The National
Legacy | Hyland Hills | Foxfire | Woodlake | Pine Crest Inn
Pinehurst Area Introduction  

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Alan B. Nichols is a professional golf-travel writer residing in Bethesda, MD.
He is the featured golf-travel writer for GolfLink. Alan appreciates your
comments on his features and the courses he has written about. 
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