For nearly 20 years, girls from the Carolinas and beyond have gotten the opportunity to test their golf games and show off their skills on the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour (PKBGT).

This Tour, which started with just 65 members, has grown into a full-fledged operation with over 100 tournaments across the country each year and thousands of girls looking to follow in the footsteps of PKBGT alumni turned LPGA Tour players like Lauren Coughlin, Amanda Doherty, Lauren Morris and Bailey Tardy.

The PKBGT has played a vital role in keeping girls engaged with the game, and as the official tournament arm of the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf program, the circuit has been a key piece of the pipeline for girls who dream of playing collegiately and professionally one day.

In its latest effort to increase opportunities for junior girl golfers, the PKBGT jumped at the opportunity to run the operations for the inaugural LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Championship in 2024. This event came about from the LPGA Foundation’s One Million MORE Girls campaign, which seeks to build on the first one million members in Girls Golf history in hopes of reaching the next million girls by 2030. The Girls Golf Championship is meant to serve as a showcase of the global growth of the program, featuring 144 players from around the world.

“The PKBGT is so proud to be involved with the LPGA in developing these global opportunities to recognize excellence within the Girls Golf program,” said Mike Parker, Executive Director of Girls Golf of America and Tour Director for the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour. “We’ve seen the competitive space grow so much in 20 years, and to be able to partner with the LPGA to bring attention and a spotlight to the hard work and dedication that these girls have is something we’ve aspired to for a long time.”

The non-profit Triad Youth Golf Foundation founded the Tour in 2007 in hopes of creating more effective playing opportunities for girls in the Carolinas. This may have seemed like a simple concept at the time, but the vision was a grand one, as Parker and two local PGA pros as well as an LPGA Professional set out to change the entire landscape of junior girls’ golf.

First, they utilized innovative yardage-based divisions as opposed to the traditional age-based format. This allowed players to develop tournament experience at their own pace. Second, they created a six-event, girls-only series in the Triad region sponsored by two North Carolina-based Girls Golf chapters (Greensboro and Winston-Salem).

Parker and team hoped that by creating a girls-only environment, these local players would feel more comfortable coming on-site and competing. They also wanted to create a space where girls could lean on each other and create meaningful friendships.

“It meant so much to have a tour dedicated just to girls,” explained Riley Smyth, a PKBGT alum and current Epson Tour player. “It’s just so rare to see. I grew up in New Jersey where I would enter tournaments with a girls’ division, but there would be only one, two, three, maybe four girls in the field. It was an afterthought to a boys’ event versus being able to have something so well-organized as an all-girls tournament on PKBGT. It’s really a game-changer for women’s golf.”

The PKBGT era officially kicked off in 2008 when LPGA major champion Peggy Kirk Bell became the honorary chairwoman of the Tour. This sparked a four-year expansion of the circuit that brought with it a year-round schedule, including the addition of multi-day events and the move into all parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The membership soon followed, quickly growing to 240 members from 10 states.

This growth soon attracted the attention of the LPGA Foundation, which named the PKBGT its first “Approved Tour” in 2012. Through this partnership, all PKBGT members were officially welcomed into the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf program, which afforded them various benefits, including free tickets to LPGA Tour events and scholarship opportunities.

“That balance of competition and camaraderie is central to why girls-only golf programs, like the Peggy Kirk Bell Tour and LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, are so effective – they nurture both skill development and personal growth, all within a friendly, girls-first environment,” explained Nancy Henderson, Chief Teaching Officer and President of the LPGA Foundation.

Since then, LPGA*USGA Girls Golf and the PKBGT have worked closely together to elevate the Tour and create more opportunities for girls, both on and off the course. This includes additional tournament opportunities and activities like college golf recruiting workshops and summer Leadership Academies. With so many benefits available, it should come as no surprise that memberships for Girls Golf and PKBGT continued to skyrocket.

“It helped me a ton,” Smyth shared. “The PKBGT is how I found my swing coach who I work with to this day. Just the Tour in general gave me such great opportunities for development, especially being able to stay close to home for tournaments with great fields of players from North Carolina and across the country.”

Smyth is just one of countless girls who have benefited from the PKBGT over the years. In fact, hundreds of players have gone on to play collegiate golf, with 43 achieving their dreams of playing professionally on the Epson and LPGA Tours.

“We’re very proud of what this Tour represents in the Girls Golf and junior golf communities as a whole,” Parker explained. “Giving girls equal representation in the competitive space and providing opportunities they have historically lacked has meant so much to us. We’ve really made it a point to provide those high-level opportunities for the most talented junior golfers over the years, and to have over 40 girls come through our Tour and reach the LPGA is something we don’t take for granted.”

As of today, the PKBGT averages 1,200 members a year from over 30 states and five countries. The circuit has 140 events lined up in 2025 and is looking to expand in the future.

Of these events, the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Championship is the newest. The tournament is held at the home of Peggy Kirk Bell, Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., a historic venue that has hosted four U.S. Women’s Opens and several other USGA events.

The LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Championship is the flagship event of the LPGA Foundation. It takes everything the Girls Golf program has built since 1989 and presents it on a huge stage at an iconic property that has seen some of the female game’s greatest talents hoist major championship trophies. But, most importantly, it features girls of all ages, from all backgrounds and places around the world.

The 2025 edition of the tournament is set for July 8-10 and will feature 144 players across three divisions. Players hail from 25 states and 14 international countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Japan, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Venezuela and Wales. These players qualified via PKBGT qualifiers, sponsor exemptions and several LPGA*USGA Girls Golf chapter tournaments.

It may only be year two of the championship, but qualifying for this tournament is already a major motivation for PKBGT players and Girls Golf members alike. This is due to the quality of the event and the focus on treating it like an LPGA Tour stop. But none of that would be possible without the hard work of the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour, which serves as the tournament operator.

“The PKBGT has an incredible team that knows what they are doing in the tournament space,” said Stephanie Peareth, Director of Operations for the LPGA Foundation. “It’s clear to anyone who has attended one of their tournaments how much effort they put in. They have given this championship, especially, a Tour-level feel that will only continue to grow. We are proud to partner with them as a Girls Golf program and know they are having a huge impact changing the face of golf and helping us reach the next million girls.”

From the digital scoreboard and tournament gifting to the gorgeous venue and well-run operations, this championship is already earning rave reviews from players and parents.

“The course was beautiful, and the people were so nice, but what really stood out to me and my mom was the first day,” explained Alexis Faieta, who competed at the inaugural championship in 2024. “They had a panel with NCAA champion Emilia Migliaccio and Women’s British Open champion Mo Martin talking about their journeys from junior golf to collegiate golf and even the LPGA Tour. That was the first we’ve seen something like that.

“I think tournaments like this where it’s specifically focused on girls and their development in the game, are so important. I’ve been playing for 11 years, but this was a special one because it really felt like the game is heading in the right direction for girls especially.”

While the young athletes loved getting to tee it up Pine Needles and have fun with their friends, the parents appreciated the professional level at which the tournament was run.

“My first impression was this event was done right,” said parent Kevin Cox. “From the welcome banquet to the swag, they really rolled out the red carpet for the girls, and I know my daughter Kay was in heaven getting to play a championship like this. I know she’ll never forget being able to play a venue that has hosted several U.S. Women’s Opens either.”

There are obviously endless junior golf events in this day and age, but one would be hard-pressed to find one with as much heart as the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Championship, mostly because this event is about more than just golf. It is the culmination of years of time spent growing the game and creating an environment where girls can excel on and off the course.

“To be able to recognize participants from across the globe in a championship setting at a U.S. Women’s Open venue creates a unique and uplifting environment for the girls to really see themselves in the shoes of those players,” Parker said. “From watching it last year, it’s great to see the building blocks of what keeps girls in the game and how passionate they are about competing in tournaments like this.”

Despite having already impacted more than 6,500 girls, Parker and his team have no plans of slowing down, and even though the junior golf landscape remains one that is constantly changing, girls should take solace in knowing the PKBGT will continue to champion them for years to come.

The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour Has Lasting Legacy in Junior Golf

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