Our Story
1927 Pine Needles Inc. Formed
Construction of the Pine Needles Hotel and golf course began in January 1927, and Pine Needles Inc. was formed on March 18, 1927. The venture was conceived as part golf resort and real estate development with leadership from the Tufts family of Pinehurst and a group of successful businessmen and golf enthusiasts.
1928 Golf Course Opens
The hotel opened on Jan. 28, 1928, and the first golf competition on the Donald Ross-designed golf course was held in early February with the Women’s Mid-South Open. Virginia Van Wie defeated Glenna Collett on the fourth extra hole.
1953 The Bell Family Acquires Pine Needles
The Catholic Church wanted out of the golf business after five years and sold the course to a partnership comprised of Frank and Maisie Cosgrove and their son-in-law, PGA Tour golfer Julius Boros, and a young newlywed couple from Ohio named Warren and Peggy Kirk Bell. Warren, aka “Bullet,” and his wife, a founding member of the LPGA Tour, wanted to be in the golf business, and this was their opportunity.
1959 The Golfari is Born
Peggy Bell began giving golf lessons in 1955 and found she enjoyed teaching, and golfers seemed to connect with her. One day in 1959, Peggy’s good friend Ellen Griffin suggested they run a golf school for women. Nicknamed “Golfari” on the idea the weekend would be a “safari into golf,” the first Pine Needles Golfari hosted 53 women over four days. Since then, hundreds of thousands of women have learned golf and had great fun at Pine Needles golf schools. Learn more about upcoming Golfari’s here.
1994 Mid Pines Joins the Family
The Bells had dreamed for many years of building a second golf course on land they owned to the north of the club and even talked with family friend Pete Dye about the prospect. The Gulf War of the early 1990s tabled that idea, and Pine Needles President and CEO Kelly Miller in 1994 learned that Manor Care, the owner for two decades of Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club, was looking to sell. He put together an ownership group that included the Bell family along with Sonny Ridenhour and Jack Campbell of Winston-Salem and Jim Marsh of High Point and purchased Mid Pines.
1996 Pine Needles Hosts Its First U.S. Women’s Open
The renaissance of the Sandhills area becoming a mecca for competitive golf began in the early 1990s with Pinehurst No. 2 hosting the Tour Championship in 1991, and during that week the USGA announced it would bring its 1996 U.S. Women’s Open to Pine Needles. Annika Sorenstam won the tournament in the first of four Women’s Opens to be held at Pine Needles, with Karrie Webb (2001), Cristie Kerr (2007) and Minjee Lee (2022) adding their names to the championship winners list.
2007 Peggy Kirk Bell Tour Founded
A new golf venture aimed at giving girls ages 9-18 an affordable, top-level tournament competition and development tour was created with the blessing and input from Pine Needles matriarch Peggy Kirk Bell. Former PKB Tour players who have advanced to the LPGA Tour include Katherine Perry Hamski, Jennifer Chang, Lauren Coughlin and Allison Emery. More than 100 events are held annually across the Carolinas and beyond.
2013 – 2021 Kyle Franz Golf Course Restorations
Kyle Franz came to the Sandhills in 2010 to work on the construction crew for Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw on Pinehurst No. 2 and parlayed his talents and new connections into supervising restorations of three Donald Ross designs in the area—Mid Pines in 2013, Pine Needles in 2017 and Southern Pines Golf Club in 2021. Along the way, the Pine Needles and Mid Pines ownership group expanded in 2017 with the addition of a new investment partner alongside the Bell family, further strengthening the long-term stewardship of these historic properties. In each case, Franz restored Ross’s original design intentions to match modern equipment, refurbished original design features and updated the courses with state-of-the-art agronomy.
2019 Peggy Kirk Bell Joins World Golf Hall of Fame
Peggy Kirk Bell passed away in 2016 at the age of 95, but her spirit lives on at Pine Needles, across Moore County and the game of golf. She was honored posthumously in 2019 with induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame on the basis of having been a founding member of the LPGA Tour, a winner in the North & South Women’s Amateur and the Titleholders Tournament and having mentored thousands of golfers in private lessons and Golfaris at Pine Needles.
2020 Pine Needles / Mid Pines Family Welcomes Southern Pines Golf Club
With two Donald Ross classics under their umbrella of a club and resort operation, the owners of Pine Needles and Mid Pines purchased Southern Pines Golf Club in 2020. The course first opened with nine holes in 1906 and nine more in 1912 and is routed on land some believe to be the strongest golf site in the Sandhills. Kyle Franz supervised an immediate course overhaul that included resurfacing the greens and rebuilding the bunkers and cart paths.
2025 Club Enters Joint Venture with Marine and Lawn Hotels and Resorts
Mid Pines and Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club joined forces with Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts, and both hotel facilities will undergo significant renovations and up-fittings. Marine & Lawn is a collection of hotels and resorts set along some of the world’s most coveted golf courses. Four are in Scotland—Rusacks at St. Andrews, Marine North Berwick, Marine Troon and Dornoch Station. Two are in Ireland—the Slieve Donard at Royal County Down and Portrush Adelphi.
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Our Stories
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Bonnie Bell McGowan, 1954-2023
Southern Pines, NC – Bonnie Bell McGowan, the eldest child of LPGA founding member Peggy Kirk Bell and an institution…
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Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour
The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour (PKBGT) was founded in 2007 by Girls Golf of America, a non-profit 501(c)(3)…
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Peggy Kirk Bell, Instruction Pioneer And Gallery Favorite, Joins Golf Hall Of Fame In 2019
Peggy Kirk Bell would’ve fretted over her World Golf Hall of Fame speech. She was that way with all her…