WHISPERING PINES, NORTH CAROLINA | When Kelly Miller arrived in the North Carolina Sandhills in 1981, the son-in-law of World Golf Hall of Famer Peggy Kirk Bell and her husband, Warren “Bullet” Bell, quickly found himself in a regular golf group of 15-20 players that included legendary amateur Harvie Ward and club pro Jimmy Boros, nephew of Julius Boros.
They played at several of the local courses, often at the Country Club of Whispering Pines and Foxfire Resort, each home to two layouts, as well as Pine Needles and Southern Pines Golf Club.
All these years later, Miller, his partner Haresh Tharani and their Rolling Pines LLC now own Whispering Pines and Foxfire, adding them to a portfolio that has included Pine Needles, Mid Pines and Southern Pines for many years.
“I saw them for sale. I took a look and started thinking about it. I asked [course designer] Kyle [Franz] what do you think and he was very impressed,” Miller said.
“I was more interested in Whispering Pines and the group also owned Foxfire so we decided to do all four [courses].”
Whispering Pines opened in 1959 with two courses designed by Ellis Maples, a protégé of Donald Ross who also designed highly regarded Grandfather Golf & Country Club in Linville, North Carolina, and the Dogwood Course at the nearby Country Club of North Carolina.
Foxfire came along nine years later with a pair of Gene Hamm-designed layouts and both facilities went through multiple ownership groups before Miller and his group purchased them in July 2025, enhancing an already rich portfolio of courses.
The first significant work has been completed on the Pines Course at Whispering Pines, which opened for limited play on Oct. 21. It is a semi-private facility that will remain open to public play.
Unlike the work Franz did at Pine Needles, Mid Pines and Southern Pines, where he created eye-catching sandscapes while tweaking the layouts, his work at Whispering Pines has focused on rebuilding the bunkers and greens, planting the putting surfaces with MiniVerde Bermuda.
“It’s a great test. … It kind of oozes golf as you are driving in there.” – Kelly Miller
The result is a delightful layout that has been returned to its former glory and should immediately become one of most popular tee times in the golf-rich area. The back tees measure 7,156 yards, giving it plenty of muscle, while the middle tees (6,294 yards) offer an abundance of variety and challenge. It’s the kind of place golfers will want to play regularly.
“It’s a great test. Ellis did a great job with wide corridors. I think of it like CCNC [the Country of North Carolina] with its wide corridors. It kind of oozes golf as you are driving in there,” Miller said.
“This is the longest one of all our properties. We didn’t build it to be harder but wanted it to be challenging to the better players and fun for the average player. That was the Ross mantra.
“We just kind of brought it back. It’s closing in on 70 years old and it hadn’t had a lot of attention given to it.”
Maples, whose father, Frank, was Ross’s primary assistant, applied many of the lessons he learned from his years working with Ross when he built Whispering Pines and Franz focusing on elevating the original design.
“I have a huge fascination with their family and Frank Maples’ influence on Ross and Ellis,” Franz said in a press release. “All the press in the mid-1900s went to Dick Wilson and Robert Trent Jones, but in my mind, Ellis was the best architect operating during that period.
“This routing feels like a Ross routing. He worked for Ross for 25 years, so some of Ross rubbed off on him. The routing is Ross-like, the green pads feel very Ross-like.”
The Pines course renovation is only the start for Miller and his group at their newest properties. The River course, which is adjacent to the Pines course at Whispering Pines, sits on low-lying land and Franz is working on a plan to mitigate the issue. Among the considerations is removing all of the bunkers, instead creating interesting features around the greens.
At Foxfire, which hosted multiple Atlantic Coast Conference golf championships in the early 1970s, the clubhouse has been renovated but one of the two courses is closed. The original 18 holes at Foxfire, Miller said, “can be spectacular” but no plans have been finalized.
Meanwhile, the Whispering Pines clubhouse is being updated, with some improvements having already been made with more to follow.
At Foxfire, which hosted multiple Atlantic Coast Conference golf championships in the early 1970s, the clubhouse has been renovated but one of the two courses is closed. The original 18 holes at Foxfire, Miller said, “can be spectacular” but no plans have been finalized.
“We told the memberships that these courses didn’t get to where they are overnight nor will they be fixed overnight but we will get them to better places,” Miller said.
“Here were four courses that were dilapidated. We bought them at a price where we can make improvements and golf will continue to grow. I give credit to the members that hung in there through the bad times which have been a long time.”