Tar Heel Profile _
By Mary Elk* Hunter
Giving Back
To The Game
Peggy Kirk Bell's Pine Needles Resort in Southern Pines
will host this month's l \S. Women's Open.
She pulled up at the clubhouse and
announced that she was there to play
in the North-South and wanted to pay
her entry fee. Much to her embarrass¬
ment. she was told that it was an invi¬
tational event. As she turned to leave,
tournament officials, being apprised
of the situation, extended her an imi¬
tation to play in the North-South
championship. She qualified for the
event and won one match. She came
back a few years latei and won the
tournament.
P*ggy Kirk Bell continues to play and teach golf
with a passion.
P«-ggv Kirk Bell recalls that she
wasn't exactly a natural when
she lit st Net foot on a golf course.
I he ioniK-i women's champion, who
will seise a> host for the 51st l .S
Women’s Open later this month at
fine Needles Resort in Southern
fines, rec ogni/ed early on that she was
going lo need some help to he su< •
< esslnl on the links.
Ibis recognition came shortly after
graduating from high school.
Гоо
old
to go to camp in New Hampshire,
where she had spent many iiappv sum-
ineiv >he t«K»k advantage of a countrs
«
luh membership her father had pur-
chased from a business associate who
was transferred to Oklahoma from
then hometown in Findlay. Ohio.
Armed with a hag containing a wood,
three irons, a putter and three golf
halls, she went to the club and asked
where she should start. She had been
voted best athlete in high school and
thought goll was just anothei game
that she could easily conquer.
I hit the hall off the first tee and lost
it in the woods, and the same thing
hap|K*ncd to the second and third
balls. I never made it to the green,"
Bell rcmemlK-rs. “So I went into the
clubhouse and inquired who the
tea» bet was."
I bill person was Leonard Schumtic.
who look an interest in Bell when she
told him that she was serious about
learning, and planned to spend the
whole summer practicing.
"He was a real inspiration to me."
Bell recalls. "I practiced very haul and
he would c«>me over and help me
between Ins other lessons. He was a
great guy. and I called him ‘The
frofessor.” fhe following year Bell
won the club championship and start¬
ed plaving in district matches.
Iwo years later, she played hi the
first national intercollegiate golf tour¬
nament in Columbus, Ohio, where she
met future champion fatty Berg. Bell
attended Sargent Physical Education
S< bool of Boston University and latei
graduated from Rollins College in
Winter Park. F.orida. Her first intro¬
duction to Pinchurst came while she
was at Rollins. She had read about the
North-South Amateur tournament at
Pinchurst. so she jumped in her car
and drove lo North Carolina.
.Alter college, she
worked lor her father in
sales, which allowed her
time to play golf, enough
to take off an entire win¬
ter to play the Florida cir¬
cuit. She bumped into
Warren Bell, an cistwhilc
childhood sweetheart and
pro basketball player,
when she returned from
the South. I le leased her
about being a hotshot
golfer, and bet that he
could heat her. even
though he had never
played. The result of that
match, which he lost, is. as
they say. history, and the
two were married shortly
afterward.
Peggy Kirk Bell went on
to establish herself as one
of the great names in
amateur and professional
women’s golf, winning a
long list of titles, includ¬
ing the Ohio Amateur,
North-South Amateur.
International Four-Ball.
Everglades Two- Ball. Palm
Beach Amateur. Eastern Amateur and
the Titleholdcrs. She was also named
to the 1950 Curtis Cup Team and 1951
Weathervane Team (the fust LPGA
golf team) and was honored as LPGA
Teacher of the Year.
fhe Bells bought fine Needles, one
of the great Donald Ross goll courses,
with Julius Boros and the Cosgrove
family back in 1953. "Buttons”
Cosgrove Boros had been a friend of
Peggy's from her <la\s in amateur golf.
When they purchased the course,
there were no buildings, not even an
equipment barn. After two years the
I'lMXllllUIUn ij I'mr Urvifl
The State/May 1996
34
