The Sandhills Story Keeps Growing

By Lee Pace

The Maples Family is renowned in Sandhills and Carolinas golf circles for its imprint on the industry — from Frank Maples being Donald Ross’s right-hand man in the early 1900s to Ellis Maples designing five area courses in the mid-1900s...

to Ellis Maples designing five area courses in the mid-1900s … and a handful more family members in recent times designing, building and maintaining courses and even operating a golf travel agency.

Two of Ellis’s designs are at the forefront of the Sandhills golf world as a New Year beckons with the Pines and River Courses at The Country Club of Whispering Pines undergoing substantial overhauls amidst new ownership.

Golf architect Kyle Franz worked for Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw on the restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 and later was in charge of overhauls of the courses at Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Southern Pines. Now he’s at work at Whispering Pines.

“We’re going to honor Ellis Maples,” Franz says of the 1959 Maples design. “He’s one of the most underrated architects ever.”

Caption: Kyle Franz

“In the mid-1900s, Robert Trent Jones was getting all the credit,” says Kelly Miller, head of the group that bought Whispering Pines as well as Foxfire in the summer of 2025. “Ellis was under the radar. He didn’t get the accolades. Maybe if one of his courses had had a U.S. Open, he’d have gotten more attention. But he certainly did a lot of great work.”

Miller is managing partner of Mid Pines Development Group, an offshoot of the ownership consortium behind the Pine Needles, Mid Pines and Southern Pines Golf Club destinations. MPDG made the purchase in July 2025 of 72 holes between the two clubs, Whispering Pines opening in 1959 with two Maples-designed courses, and Foxfire following in 1968 with a pair of Gene Hamm-designed courses.

“Overall, it’s pretty remarkable what we’ve been able to do at both properties,” Miller says. “The first priority has been at Whispering Pines. We’ve made fantastic progress there. I’ve watched it over the years, as close as it is to Pine Needles. You’d drive through on Hardee Road, see the gently rolling, beautiful land. You’d look left and right at the golf holes and think, ‘Man, this is really cool looking.’ It’s just needed some resources and attention.”

The Pines Course has gotten the bulk of work, with Franz working for several weeks in October with a team of shapers to reform the bunkers, tees and the ground around greens in preparation for an irrigation system overhaul in early 2026.

“We’ll put the irrigation system in this winter, be open the spring season, then close in mid-to-late May to redo the greens,” Miller says. “They’ll reopen in September. That course is going to be spectacular.”

Miller is the son-in-law of the late Peggy Kirk Bell, a founding member of the LPGA and a pioneer in golf instruction, and brother-in-law of Pat McGowan, a regular for two decades in the 1980s and ‘90s on the PGA Tour. They have watched closely over four decades the growth and evolution of the Sandhills golf universe.

Caption: Kelly Miller

Their bullishness on Pinehurst, Moore County and the state of North Carolina prompted their decision to buy Foxfire and Whispering Pines.

“We see great opportunities in both properties,” Miller says. “Our goal is to make significant improvements on all four courses and get them on an upward trajectory.

“There has been very little new golf built in Moore County in the last 20 years. This is a chance to polish some classic golf courses from outstanding designers and make them available to the public at a reasonable price.”

Haresh Tharani lives in New York, runs multiple businesses and has been a partner with Miller and his family since 2017 in their local golf enterprises.

“I have people frequently complaining about New York,” Tharani says. “I tell them to look at North Carolina. We have four seasons, low taxes, and a healthy business climate. We’re close to the mountains and the coast. And in the middle is the Sandhills, one of the great golf destinations in the country.”

They look around and see positive signs.

The U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 2024 drew more than 225,000 people coming to town and, according to a USGA study, generated a $200 million economic impact.

The USGA is now one year into operating its Golf House Pinehurst headquarters along with a new World Golf Hall of Fame on a site near the Pinehurst resort and members clubhouses.

Caption: Tom Doak

Pinehurst Resort opened its new No. 10 course designed by Tom Doak in May 2024 and has announced a companion No. 11 course to be designed by Coore & Crenshaw with projected completion in the fall of 2027.

And on the economic development front, Amazon announced in January 2025 plans to build a 65,000-square-foot distribution facility in Southern Pines, and The First Tee of the Sandhills followed in March with news of Community Hub on 35 acres in Cameron.

“The Sandhills area is growing, North Carolina is growing, and Raleigh, Sanford and Fort Bragg seem to be getting closer and closer to us,” says Miller.

Lee Pace is a freelance golf writer who has written about Sandhills area golf for four decades and is the author of club histories about Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Forest Creek.