It began one day in 1959 as Pine Needles’ owners, Bullet and Peggy Kirk Bell, were having lunch with their friend Ellen Griffin, a physical education and golf instructor at the Woman’s College of Greensboro (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). Bullet bemoaned the fact that a business group, which had booked the entire resort for one week the following month, had just canceled.

“Bullet, let’s put in a golf school for women,” Ellen said.

“We can’t do that, no one will come,” Bullet responded.

“Well, let’s try.”

“So we took out an ad in Golf World,” Peggy remembered years later. “We charged $105 for four days and three nights. We had video equipment, which was a brand new thing then. We sent out mimeographed flyers all over the state for that first school.”

They named it a “Golfari” as a take-off on the idea of a week-long “safari into golf.” 

That first golf school for women at Pine Needles was a success. Since then, many thousands of women golfers have learned the game at Pine Needles. So have men (men’s golf schools started in 1988). Couples, families and youngsters have learned the game as well through an assortment of Family and Youth Golfaris and through the annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes golf camp. Mrs. Bell won numerous awards in the world of golf instruction and was particularly proud of a Rolex wristwatch she received in 1989 for the Ellen Griffin Award for distinguished contributions to golf instruction.

“Ellen was a big influence on my teaching career early,” Peggy said. “She knew there was a vacuum of women teaching women.”

The Golfari tradition remains strong in 2026 as groups of 75 lady golfers flock to Pine Needles in February, May and September for four days and three nights of learning and social activity. They have clinics and instruction in every facet of the game in the mornings and then take their newly enhanced skills to the golf course in the afternoon for nine-hole rounds and on-course instruction. Evenings are reserved for golf movies and special guests and enjoying one another’s company over a great game. 

Pat McGowan, a former PGA Tour pro and son-in-law of Peggy, has been the director of instruction for the Golfaris since 1994 with the able assistance of Donna Andrews, a former LPGA Tour pro, and a variety of other instructors. The staff-to-pupil ratio is always maintained at 5-1, ensuring each golfer gets ample 1-on-1 attention. For one May 2026 Golfari, McGowan noted that the total combined years’ experience in teaching was 650 years. 

Many Golfaris are sell-outs with a waiting list. 

“The formula endures year after year, decade after decade,” McGowan says. “Our motto has always been, ‘Have fun while learning.’ It’s a relaxed atmosphere and it’s very comfortable. It’s just enough golf and golf instruction without being overwhelming or intense.”