Travels far and wide brought “A Taste of North Carolina” to the U.S. Women’s Open this week.
The Merchandise Tent on the grounds of the golf course has a little of that down-home feel, thanks to a vision and a lot of legwork.
It takes a Bell to create a tournament, but at the Merchandise Tent, the Bell in charge of the merchandise is not one of THE Bells. She is Judy Bell, from Colorado Springs, who partnered with Bonnie McGowan, head golf instructor at Pine Needles, to give visitors and locals alike a little taste of North Carolina.
Bell, owner of Bell Retail Group, came on board the tournament to handle the merchandising.
“I always wanted to do a section of local flavor in a merchandise tent,” she said. “She made her vision a reality the first time at the U.S. Women’s Open two years ago at Old Waverly Golf Course in West Point, Miss. There, Bell created a “Taste of Mississippi” in a tent separate from the tournament merchandise tent. It was exactly the success she had dreamed of.
Now, at Pine Needles, she has consulted with McGowan to recreate her vision. But this time, she wanted it to be a part of the Merchandise Tent.
Starting with a visit to Bob Timberlake’s Gallery in Lexington, Bell and McGowan traveled the state.
“We went to Brown’s Summit for topiaries, to Troy to visit Capel carpets, to Sedgefield in High Point for lamps, and Cabbages and Kings in Aberdeen for antiques to use as props,” Bell said, adding that the antique props, as everything in the North Carolina section, are for sale.
Photographer Bill Nelson is one of the featured North Carolina artists. A transplanted North Carolinian, Nelson had a feeling he would retire here after attending a golf instructors’ clinic at Pine Needles in the early 70s. At 42 years old, he was director of physical education at Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania and a long way from retirement.
“I went home and told my wife that I had found the place where I wanted to retire someday,” he said. “Southern Pines was a sleepy Southern town that just captured me.”
Today, 30 years later, he’s back, and resides on Pinehurst No. 6. He took up photography in 1990, perfected a technique of reproducing his photos on canvas, and enjoys his new career as an artist.
He specializes in photographing golf courses and shows off spectacular landscapes from Ireland, Scotland and Pine Needles. The photographs appear to be paintings of extreme realism, and they fool people on a regular basis.
“One lady came up to me today and asked me if these were paint-by-numbers,” Nelson said, laughing. “I said to the lady, ‘I can only count to three and there are more than three colors in these photographs.’”
Once the “Taste of North Carolina” vision took off, it assumed a life of its own.
Katie Hector, a merchandise volunteer from Altamonte, Fla., reported that she has heard comments from customers that the “Taste of North Carolina,” and the layout of the Merchandise Tent is the prettiest display they had ever seen.
Of her experience in North Carolina gathering a taste for visitors to test, Bell said “everyone has been wonderful. North Carolinians are proud of what they’ve got, as they should be.”
