Kelly Miller.

• Author: Brafford, Kevin
• Position: Marital property - Brief article

He married into one of the state's great golf families, and it's natural to assume that Kelly Miller married into money. While becoming the son-in-law of Peggy Kirk Bell and Warren "Bullet" Bell in 1982 had its perks, deep pockets weren't among them. "The golf business then, for a resort course like ours, wasn't at all easy," says Miller, who met the former Peggy Ann Bell while both were on golf scholarships at the University of Alabama. He majored in finance. "In the long haul, the business degree has helped, but it took a long time to get to that. Bullet was very much a realist, and when he heard he had cancer and wasn't going to live much longer, he became a great teacher. And just a few weeks before he died [in May 1984], he made the last payment on Pine Needles, which was probably how we survived." Miller and his wife worked every job imaginable. "I'd come in early, and Peggy Ann would work the 3-to-11s. We did that for years, learning the people side and the business side with the rest of the family."

The Bells had bought the club in 1953. His mother-in-law's reputation as a founding member...