Ladies' clubs: Pine Needles gets into the swing for this summer's U.S. Women's Open.

• Author: Brafford, Kevin

There's an old expression that most people would have invoked: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well, Peggy Kirk Bell is nothing if not a lady, so the matriarch of Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club certainly didn't utter those words aloud when her family pitched a restoration of the venerable golf course. And she's glad she didn't.

It was 2002, less than a year after the famed Donald Ross design in Southern Pines had hosted its second U.S. Women's Open in five years. The United States Golf Association had committed to holding its signature championship for a third time in Pine Needles in 2007. "The first question I asked was, 'Did we really need to do something to Pine Needles?'" says Bell, who purchased the course in 1953 with her husband, the late Warren "Bullet" Bell. "The golf course had held up to the best players in the world, so that was the first thing that came to my mind. I just wasn't sure that it'd be worth what we'd spend."

She's sure now. Come June 28-July 1, golf fans worldwide will learn what North Carolinians have known for a few years now--that the new Pine Needles is truly something to behold. "They convinced me," Bell says. "And they were right." She's talking about the Bell extended family members who own and operate Pine Needles and its sister property across the street, Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club. Her son-in-law Kelly Miller is the general manager, and his wife, Peggy Ann Bell Miller, oversees the resort's youth camps. There's a second son-in-law, Pat McGowan, a onetime player on the PGA Tour and now director of golf instruction, and his wife, Bonnie Bell McGowan, also a golf instructor. And there's son Kirk Bell, whose wife, Holly, is vice president of public relations and special projects.

The restoration, Kelly Miller says, exceeded expectations. "It's fantastic. The best women golfers in the world are in for a great treat. And in terms of everyday play, we felt the restoration was necessary to help the course fit today's contemporary game and to keep Pine Needles one of the top courses in the country."

This update should keep Pine Needles in the de facto rotation of fewer than 10 courses that host the U.S. Women's Open. "Our first two Opens were held in late May, when we were still holding on to ryegrass to have the course in championship condition," Miller says. "The USGA now holds the Women's Open two weeks after the men's, which puts it in late June. Once that was determined, we knew we needed to at least redo...