Peggy Kirk Bell to be inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame

The late Peggy Kirk Bell, for many years the matriarch of Pine Needles resort in Southern Pines and one of golf’s best and most beloved teachers, has been named to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The announcement was made Wednesday by the hall in St. Augustine, Fla. Bell, who will enter in the lifetime achievement category, will be inducted along with two-time U.S. champion Retief Goosen, former LPGA star Jan Stephenson, former Augusta National Golf Club chairman Billy Payne and noted golf instructor Dennis Walters.

Bell, who died at 95 in November 2016, was a founding member of the LPGA. But “Ma Bell,” as she was affectionately known at Pine Needles, devoted her life to helping others learn the swing, improve their game and enjoy the sport as an instructor.

“She made you feel special and that was her gift,” Kelly Miller, one of Bell’s sons-in-law and president and CEO of Pine Needles, said at Bell’s 2016 memorial service in Southern Pines. “She was more than a golf teacher. She was a teacher of life.”

Bell received nearly every golf honor worth having, including the prestigious Bob Jones Award from the U.S. Golf Association and the PGA of America’s First Lady of Golf Award.

Bell was proud that Pine Needles hosted three U.S. Women’s Open championships — in 1996, 2001 and 2007 -- and disappointed it was not chosen to host the 2014 Women’s Open, which was held on Pinehurst No. 2.

The USGA has announced the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open will return to Pine Needles, the golf resort Bell and her husband, Warren “Bullet” Bell, bought in 1953. The course also will host the 2019 U.S. Senior Women’s Open.

The induction ceremonies for the World Golf Hall of Fame will be held in June 2019 during the week of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

This story was originally published October 10, 2018 at 9:08 AM.