Donald Ross Design To Host 2007 U.S. Women’s Open.
Southern Pines, NC – Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, the North Carolina golf resort owned and operated by golf matriarch, Peggy Kirk Bell and her family, has been included as a select member of only 10 golf clubs as a Golf Digest recipient of the prestigious ‘Best New Remodel Courses’ category for 2005. The announcement was made by Jerry Tarde, Chairman, and Ron Whitten, Architecture Editor, of the Golf Digest Companies. This is a new category for the publication that has been ranking the best golf courses in America since 1982.
The category was initiated by the publication to address courses that underwent such extensive renovation, restoration or reconfiguration that owners and members considered the course to be practically new. Such is the case with Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, the classic Donald Ross design that opened in 1928. It hosted the both the 1996 and 2001 U.S. Women’s Opens and is scheduled again for the Women’s National Championship in 2007.
Completely restored and renovated recently by former U.S. Amateur Champion and PGA TOUR player, John Fought, and Kelly Miller, president of Pine Needles Lodge & Mid Pines Inn, the award from Golf Digest is a fitting tribute to the legacy of one of America’s foremost architects. "We incorporated shot values in scale to the holes where necessary when restoring the course," said Fought. "My intention entering the project was to convert my passion about Pine Needles and Donald Ross to tangible results thereby recapturing the spirit of what Mr. Ross originally laid out," he said.
"All of us at Pine Needles are thrilled by this special recognition from Golf Digest. It is personally gratifying that our hard work and faithful restoration has been included in such elite company," said Kelly Miller.
The course plays 7,015 yards at par-71 from the championship tees and offers a stout challenge for the experienced player but is very playable for the intermediate and beginner golfer as well from the regular and forward tees – a Rossian trademark.
Attractive winter golf packages and specials are currently available through the end of February. Pine Needles Lodge is conveniently located in the North Carolina Sandhills and is easily accessible from all major metropolitan areas in the Mid-Atlantic States.
For more information, visit www.pineneedles-midpines.com or call 910-692-7111.
Contact:
Holly Bell
Vice President of Public Relations
910-692-7111
Holly.Bell@RossResorts.com
