Our History

The Sandhills area of North Carolina, in the 1920's, was a bustling resort enclave with golfers from the Atlantic Seaboard and points beyond visiting to enjoy its Donald Ross-designed courses and soothing way of life.  Ross, a native of Dornoch, Scotland, came to America in 1899 to forge a career in golf – a game in its infancy in a new land.  Throughout his career, Ross would design nearly 400 golf courses and become one of the preeminent course architects in the history of the game.

Two of his finest pieces of work were erected just four miles from Pinehurst, down Midland Road in Southern Pines.  Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club opened in 1921, and Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club followed in 1928.

Today, couples and families, corporations and championships are drawn to both Pine Needles and Mid Pines' gracious hospitality, personal touch, professionalism and the challenge of two Donald Ross masterpieces – gems that have been maintained to the original challenge Ross envisioned.

The Sandhills area has been a haven for competitive golf since the days when luminaries like Ben Hogan, Walter Hagen and Byron Nelson were winning the North and South Open at Pinehurst No. 2.  Pine Needles has helped carry that mantle into modern times with three U.S. Womens' Opens in 1996, 2001 and 2007, won by Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, and Cristie Kerr, respectively.

The Bell Legacy 

Probably no premier golf resort is closely associated with a family and an individual as is Pine Needles with the Bell family and matriarch Peggy Kirk Bell, a charter member of the LPGA.  Mrs. Bell is also the winner of several tournament championships and has received honors including LPGA Teacher of the Year, LPGA Master Teacher, Golf Digest's one of the six Best Women Teachers in the World, member of North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and a member of the Carolina's Golf Hall of Fame.  In 2004 she was the first woman inducted into Golf Magazine's World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame.

Peggy Kirk Bell and her husband, "Bullet", began running Pine Needles in 1953.  Gradually they bought the golf course and land around it and began building the resort as it stands today.  In the mid 1990's, the Bells acquired Mid Pines and both properties remain a family affair with Mrs. Bell's children and son-in-laws actively involved in day-to-day operations.

Mrs. Bell's presence is felt throughout the property - her generous spirit, her devotion to the game, and to our golfer's comfort - but perhaps nowhere more alive than in the resort's approach to instruction.  She still makes teaching appearances at her famous golf schools she named "Golfaris".