Bell is responsible for helping more women learn the game of golf than any other person. In 1953, she and her husband, NBA star Warren “Bullet” Bell, bought the Pine Needles Resort in Southern Pines and they ran it until their deaths. They later added the neighboring Mid-Pines Golf Club. Peggy died in 2019, but the family business has continued to grow. In 2020 Southern Pines Golf Club was added to the fold as the third course in the family’s golf holdings. But back in her early days Bell was the coach for the University of Findlay’s women’s golf team. There were no formal women’s golf competitions. In fact, women’s sports were frowned upon. Women’s Collegiate Golf began in Northwest Ohio Before they were famous, two Hall of Fame women golfers, Peggy Kirk Bell and Shirley Spork, one of the 13 co-founders of the LPGA Tour, were responsible for early collegiate golf tournaments for women. Peggy Kirk Bell grew up in Findlay, was a top amateur, played on the fledgling LPGA. She spent her life playing and teaching golf, as well as building Pine Needles into one of the finest golf resorts in the country. By Fred Altvater Ohio Golf Journal
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