New Bites at Pine Needles

The golf offering at the sister operations of Pine Needles, Mid Pines and Southern Pines Country Club is rock solid as the 2026 spring golf season ensues. A trio of vintage Donald Ross-designed courses with the old master’s traditional design qualities married with modern agronomics provide golfers with three of the Sandhills’ top experiences. The courses are owned and operated under the umbrella company, Mid Pines Development.

The lodging component is somewhat in flux as the marriage of Mid Pines (established in 1921) and Pine Needles (1928) with new joint-venture partner Marine & Lawn Hotels evolves. The hotel at Mid Pines is closed at the moment and rooms across Midland Road at Pine Needles will be gradually upfitted during the off-season, but the lodge will operate this spring and into the summer as business as usual.

Of primary interest to the traveling golfer this spring is the overhaul of the dining operation at Pine Needles. Cory Owen took over as executive chef in November and has been busy rewriting the menus for the lodge’s upscale Crest Dining Room and casual In The Rough Lounge.

The properties have a new general manager in Matt Chriscoe, who came in September 2025 after 24 years at Pinehurst Resort (most recently as director of hotel operations), and a new director of sales in Jonathan Campbell.

“The property itself is in a great position,” Chriscoe says. “Some of the things Cory and our staff are doing is to refine it and take it to another level. We want our guests to have enough variety in the menu and the experiences to be happy to dine multiple times. One of the things we noticed was we had one menu and one dining experience. There was not a lot of creativity and options.”

Guests will find the biggest changes in the Crest Dining Room.

“We’ve basically remade it from scratch,” Chriscoe says. “It’s very exciting what’s going on there. Our guests are enjoying it, and local residents are taking notice.”

“We see In the Rough as kind of that pre- and post-round experience,” says Chriscoe. “It’s for the casual night with the family, the local market that wants to get out and get a good burger or get a good appetizer or smaller dish, that’s where we see the vision of that restaurant going.”

Age-old favorites such as fried chicken with banana pudding for dessert are served for special occasions, including during the resort’s women’s golf schools known as Golfaris.

“I think it’s going to change the dynamics of this town,” says Kellyann Miller, marketing director at the resorts and granddaughter of the resort’s longtime owners, Peggy and Bullet Bell. “There are not many places where you get that cozy and inviting southern hospitality right when you step in. It’s inviting, it’s comfortable. That will always be our differentiator.”