North America

West Virginia

The Pete Dye golf course is located in Bridgeport, West Virginia and is a private golf club which opened in 1994. Not surprisingly, the course was originally going to be called Coal Ridge as it is built within 500 acres of what was a former coal mine in the hill country of Harrison County but it ended up being named after its illustrious architect instead.

The site is owned by the LaRosa family and it is rumoured that their “over involvement” in the construction of the golf course was the main reason why it took so long to get the project from drawing board to opening day some 16 years later. Greens were moved, lakes relocated and fairways repositioned - then sometimes put back in their original position!

In fairness, there was a fair amount of debris to be removed from the site and coal was still being extracted from seams during the development but Dye made more than 150 site visits over the years and no doubt his golfing philosophy evolved during that time so design changes were bound to have been made all along the way, costing more time and money.

Water, in the shape of ponds, creeks or streams, comes into play at nearly half the holes at the Pete Dye course. Wide landing areas and multileveled, bent grass putting surfaces are much in evidence throughout the course which enjoys such a wonderful mountain backdrop.

Several holes stick in the memory. The 435- yard par four 2nd is played from an elevated tee over Simpsons Creek to a fairway that looks a very long way away. The 196-yard par three 7th plays downhill to a large green protected by no fewer than ten bunkers. There’s the par five 504-yard 8th with a sixty feet high rock face to the right of the green. And the 18th, a par four at 500 yards from the championship tee where the drive is played over a stream which then runs down the left side of the fairway to the hole.

Some consider novelty features like the walk-through mineshaft behind the 6th green to the 7th tee and old coal wagons to the left of the fairway at the 10th hole to be in keeping with this golfing equivalent of Disney’s “Big Thunder Mountain” – others might be less charitable and whisper “only in America”.

Pete Dye

The Pete Dye Golf Club is located in Bridgeport, West Virginia and is a private club which opened in 1994. Water, in the shape of ponds, creeks or streams, comes into play at nearly half the holes.

Greer Industries in West Virginia was established as a steel company back in 1917, subsequently diversifying into mining, aggregates and publishing.

At the end of the 1990s, CEO John Raese and executive vice-president Bob Gwynne decided the best short term use for a large parcel of company owned land was to develop it as a golf course – one that they would design themselves with the help of their specialist engineers and construction crews.

Veteran professionals Johnny Pott and Dow Finsterwald were also consulted and they would drop in occasionally to offer advice and encouragement as the fairways were carved from a hilly, forested limestone landscape.

The initial 9-hole course opened in 2004, followed a full five years later by an additional nine holes to complete an 18-hole layout that, in the words of the club, offers “pure golf for purists” with no carts or cart paths and no homes visible from anywhere on the course.

Pikewood National Golf Club is set up with two sets of tees; the 7,588-yard Championship markers (par 72 rated at 79.3 with a Slope of 155) and the 6,725-yard Regular tees (par 72 rated at 75.6 with a Slope of 151) – now those figures let you know that this is a seriously difficult golf course for really serious golfers.

Pikewood National

The course at Pikewood National Golf Club literally took years to carve out of dense forest and its mountain fairways tumble over a tortuous limestone landscape, making great demands of golfers...

The Old White was the first of three 18-hole courses to be constructed at the famous Greenbrier resort, opening in 1913. Named after the Old White Hotel that was in use from 1858 to 1922, the course was designed by the legendary architect Charles Blair Macdonald. His associate Seth Raynor carried out some modifications to soften the layout a decade after it opened as resort guests deemed the course too difficult in its original format.

The course today retains much of the character of a parkland course constructed a century ago with tight, tree-lined fairways leading to small, well-guarded greens. Much of the credit for this is due to architect Lester George who carried out an extensive renovation program that was completed in 2006.

George installed new drainage and paths and, with the assistance of Greenbrier historian Bob Conte, he studied old aerial photographs of the course before embarking on a plan to plant a significant acreage of tall fescue grasses around the course and cut back a substantial number of the trees that bordered the fairways.

Par is set at 70, largely because there are only two par fives on the card, both of which appear on the back nine at holes 12 and 17. As a consequence, the strength of the layout lies in its par four holes and one of the best of these – some say the hardest – is played on the opening hole, a 449-yard, slight dogleg to the right that begins from a gun platform tee box overlooking a stream that meanders through from holes 15 to 18.

The green for the marvellous little par three 18th lies adjacent to this position and it’s a fine setting for a home hole, played uphill across water to a highly contoured putting surface in front of the clubhouse.

The Greenbrier Classic, a FedExCup competition on the PGA Tour, was held here in 2010 and it’s the first of six such annual events contracted to the Old White course. Stuart Appleby shot an incredible 59 on the final day to win the 2010 title by one shot with a total score of 22 under par for the competition.


The course won a number of golf magazine best remodel awards after Lester George’s work was carried out in 2006. A decade later, terrible flooding destroyed parts of the layout, causing the cancellation of the 2016 PGA Tour event at The Greenbrier. Within weeks, architect Keith Foster and contractor McDonald & Sons stepped in to quickly repair the damage (rebuilding green complexes and removing cross bunkering to improve playability) which allowed the Old White to host the Greenbrier Classic as normal the following year.

Greenbrier (Old White TPC)

The Old White was the first of three 18-hole golf courses to be constructed at the famous Greenbrier resort, opening in 1913.

Established as a luxury real estate venture in 2000, the Greenbrier Sporting Club lies within the 6,500-acre Greenbrier property in White Sulphur Springs. As its name suggests, residents and members enjoy a number of outdoor pursuits here but golf – in the shape of the private, 18-hole Snead course – is the main sporting activity for many with golfers also having access to the three championship layouts at the Greenbrier Resort.

It’s only fitting that Sam Snead, a golfer who had such a long association with The Greenbrier, should have the 18-hole, par 71 Sporting Club course named in his honour. As his son Jack says, “The course is a fitting tribute to my dad in a place he loved very much and where he truly took his place as golf's ambassador. It ensures that his spirit will live on among many generations of golfers to come.”

What many may not know is the valley in which the course is laid out was used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. Its airstrip was in constant use until a bigger airport was built nearby to service the Cold War Bunker that was constructed underneath the West Virginia Wing of the hotel in the early 1960s.

The opening five holes are laid out on the flat, main area of the valley, holes 6 to 8 lie across a main road up into the hills, then the 9th returns the routing back to the level again. Holes 10-13 remain on this part of the property and they are followed by elevation changes up then down from the 14th to 16th before the closing two holes return to the clubhouse.

The long par three 3rd measures 256 yards from the back tees – with water to carry most of the way – and this hole is an intimidating prospect so early in the round. The 389-yard, par four 7th is the most aesthetically pleasing on the front nine with a 200-yard carry to a plateau fairway that leads to a wildly contoured green.

The closing sequence of holes on the back nine, commencing with the 14th, is very good indeed and it’s highlighted by the tee position on the par five 16th where the shot drops almost 100 feet to the landing area below – exhilarating golf at its very best.

The Snead fairways have a neat little feature that’s unique to the course. Instead of a plain 150-yard marker pole found on many layouts, you’ll find a post with a bronze panama hat on top – the signature symbol of “Slammin’ Sam” and a very nice little touch.

Greenbrier Sporting Club (Snead)

Established as a luxury real estate venture in 2000, the Greenbrier Sporting Club lies within the 6,500-acre Greenbrier property in White Sulphur Springs.

Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park in Lewis County was an ambitious outdoor amenity project – consisting of campsite, marina and offices – that was completed in 1990 by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of flood control measures for the West Fork River.

One of thirty six state parks in West Virginia, ten of which have golfing facilities, it was one of the first in the US to combine federal, state and private interests into one ownership body, using Benchmark Hospitality International to manage the park in its re-branded format as Stonewall Resort.

As part of Stonewall’s multi-million dollar improvement program at the end of the 1990s, the resort acquired the talents of Eric Larsen, one of the most highly respected project architects at Arnold Palmer Design, to lay out a championship golf course within the property.

“Stonewall’s different than a lot of the courses we’ve designed, mainly because it’s fairly tight,” says Larsen. “It’s a very subtle course visually but it’ll bite you playing it. It’s a gorgeous site with a ton of variety but there was a small amount of usable space. We did a number of routing plans, trying to make the golf course fit the best it possibly could.”

The layout opened in the summer of 2002, quickly establishing itself as one of the best public access courses in the whole country. With fairways that play over water, cut across wetlands, weave through woodland and cling to the side of valleys, the course offers challenge and beauty in equal measure – and with no real estate development, it’s just golf and nature at one with each other.

The downhill 166-yard, par three 6th is rated the easiest hole on the front nine but it’s also the most memorable, playing across part of the lake with a carry of around a hundred yards to a highly contoured green. The 455-yard, par four 17th may be remembered for a different reason as the large, dead tree that sits in the centre of marshland between the fairway and green divides opinion on its strategic merit.

Randy Hernly Stonewall's Head Professional commented as follows:

The most challenging hole is the 17th. Driving distance is somewhat limited as the fairway ends at an area of wetland. The carry across the wetland area to the green is about 165 yards. The left side of the fairway is protected by a large tree in the wetlands area so the tee shot must be fairly precise in the middle to right side of fairway. Too far right is a lateral hazard. The putting surface is protected at the front left by a bunker with bunkers long and to the right. The green is kidney shaped and slopes from front to back and right to left. Par is a very good score here and bogey is acceptable!

As far as a “signature hole” on the course is concerned, we have around a dozen that could qualify. Hole 6 is the recognized signature hole, a par three across Stonewall Jackson Lake that is well protected in front by bunkers with a green divided into four quadrants by small ridges. The par five 7th is a very pretty hole, framed by tall trees and, from 130 yards in, is lined by bunkers that shape the fairway. Hole 12 is a par five with a split fairway in the landing area for the second shot which then plays up a valley to a tiny elevated green. Hole 17 would also qualify as described above!

Stonewall Resort

As part of Stonewall’s multi-million dollar improvement program, the resort acquired the talents of Eric Larsen, to lay out a championship golf course within the property.

Alex Findlay added a basic 9-hole golf course to the wide range of sporting activities at the famous Greenbrier spa and hotel a century ago and this initial layout has developed over the years into a fantastic 54-hole golf complex that has hosted both the Ryder Cup in 1979 and the Solheim Cup in 1994.

The two main 18-hole courses on the property are the Greenbrier and Old White but for golfers who find this pair a little too arduous, the Meadows course is just the job as it’s a less demanding course, perfect for the vacation golfer.

Uniquely, the Meadows course (formerly known as the Lakeside) actually came about as a means of spreading and disguising the spoil from construction of The Greenbrier Hotel’s Cold War Bunker which housed the then secret underground Congressional command shelter.

In 1963, Dick Wilson incorporated some of the Seth Raynor holes from The Greenbrier (now holes 8-10) into what was then called the Lakeside, a par 70 course measuring 6,336 yards. In 1999, Bob Cupp updated the layout, adding over 450 yards to the overall length as he formed the par 71 Meadows course.

Tom Fazio subsequently replaced two holes created by Cupp in 2004 due to new flood control issues when he was constructing the Snead course at the Greenbrier Sporting Club. However after sustaining significant flood damage in 2016, the Meadows course closed for restoration, managed by director of grounds Kelly Shumate and Vice President of Golf Operations Burt Baine. The Meadows reopened in 2017 with a new design and routing, using six holes from the Greenbrier course.

The six former Greenbrier holes (#9 through #14) are now holes #10 through #15 on the Meadows course and the only hole that was significantly modified was the driveable par 4 #14 (Sahara), which is now a tough 220-yard uphill par three. The new par 70 Meadows course measures 6,602 yards from the tips, but five sets of tees make this layout manageable for all levels of golfer providing Greebrier's trademark revetted bunkers are avoided.

The par five 4th hole is the longest of the three par fives on the card and is rated the toughest hole on the Meadows course. It demands accuracy, with Howard’s Creek guarding the left side and out of bounds on the right. The home hole is the second hardest on the scorecard, which requires a forced carry approach over Swan Lake to a well bunkered green.

Greenbrier (Meadows)

Greenbrier's rejuvenated Meadows course re-opened for play in 2017 with a new design and routing, using six holes from the Greenbrier course.

Austin Caperton Jnr created the Glade Springs resort in the early 1970s. A few years earlier, he had visited Hilton Head Island in South Carolina and played a couple of golf courses designed by George Cobb.

Cobb had worked alongside Bobby Jones during the 1960s when they refined many of the holes at Augusta National. Indeed, Cobb also designed its 9-hole, par three course. He also laid out a large number of resort courses in the two Carolina states during this time.

Caperton had been so impressed by Cobb’s work, he knew there was only one architect he could ask to construct the first 18-hole layout at his new West Virginian site. And so, the George Cobb-designed course at Glade Springs opened in 1973. What is now the back nine opened first with the second nine being completed a year after.

Over a million cubic yards of earth was moved during construction to shape many of the contours, with water incorporated into several of the holes. Most of the fairways are tight, bounded by mature trees, and they lead to very large, well-bunkered putting surfaces.

In fact, greens are so big, they cover a total area of 225,000 square feet (the greens on holes 6 and 8 are over 80 yards deep) which translates into an average of 12,500 square feet per green. It’s been said the course has the third biggest greens in the United States (after two courses in California) but even if that statistic is incorrect, Stonehaven certainly has the largest putting surfaces of any course east of the Mississippi.

Architect Tom Clark updated the course around the time he was adding the Stonehaven course to the property in 2003, re-outlining many of the fairways because the lines had changed substantially over time. He also installed more fairway bunkers to define landing areas and added around 300 yards in length by building new tees to stretch the course to over 7,100 yards.

The 419-yard, par four 16th hole is the signature hole on the course and danger lurks every yard of the way from tee to green. Tee shots require a forced carry across water to a landing area that lies between sizeable ponds. The approach must then be played across this second body of water to a narrow green elevated behind a deep-faced front bunker. Good luck with marking a four on your scorecard at this hole.

Glade Springs (Cobb)

Over a million cubic yards of earth was moved during the construction of the Cobb course at Glade Springs to shape many of the contours, with water incorporated into several of the holes.

The course at Guyan Golf & Country Club is a Herbert Strong layout dating back to 1922. Measuring 6,523 yards from the championship tees, it plays to a par of 71, with tree-lined fairways laid out on rolling terrain. Water comes into play on the 378-yard 13th, where a sizeable pond guards the front of the sand-protected green, also a creek meanders down the left side of #14 and it must be avoided again at the par three 15th.

The toughest hole on the card arrives early in the round at the 444-yard 2nd, with a narrow fairway leading uphill to a false-fronted, two-tiered green. On the back nine, the 561-yard 11th lies parallel to the interstate highway that runs beyond the trees bounding the right side of the fairway, with four bunkers to avoid greenside.

Guyan was the home club for one of the greatest amateurs to ever play the game, Bill Campbell, who was US Amateur champion in 1964 and winner of the US Senior Amateur title in 1979 and 1980. He also played on eight Walker Cup teams between 1951 and 1975 and took part in 19 editions of the Masters Tournament. Bill was president of the USGA in 1982/83 then the R&A honoured him with captaincy of their club in 1987.

The club has hosted a number of prestigious regional events down the years but the tournament that stands out from all the others is the US Girls’ Junior championship in 1977, when Althea Tome from Hawaii defeated Melissa McGeorge from Colorado 3&2 in the final.

Guyan

​The course at Guyan Golf & Country Club is a Herbert Strong layout dating back to 1922. Measuring 6,523 yards from the championship tees, it plays to a par of 71, with tree-lined fairways laid out on rolling terrain.

The Resort at Glade Springs boasts three 18-hole layouts, the latest of which, the Woodhaven course, was completed in 2010. Fairways on this course are routed across an undulating, forested landscape, making it the toughest of the three tracks.

The Glade Springs resort was established in the early 1970s, with George Cobb setting out the initial 18-hole course on the property. Thirty years later, Brian Ault and Tom Clark created the Stonehaven course and the same architects returned a decade later to fashion the eighteen holes of the Woodhaven.

 author Daniel Wexler writes: “Playing out of a separate clubhouse, the Woodhaven course lies across the Glade Creek Gorge from the Cobb. Utilizing more undulating terrain, it is arguably the resort’s most engaging track and, for most, its toughest.

The front nine is the centerpiece here, offering the 493-yard par five 4th (played to a green tucked behind a hillside) and the sharply downhill 211-yard 5th before approaching the gorge for a closing trio that includes the 200-yard 7th (benched spectacularly into a slope above the chasm) and the 589-yard pond-guarded 9th.

The much longer back nine opens with the 541-yard split-fairway 10th and closes with the uphill 557-yard 18th , with the lower-lying holes in between being led by the 169-yard 12th (played across rough country, with the gorge lingering left) and the 506-yard 13th, a brutal uphill par four.”

Glade Springs (Woodhaven)

The Resort at Glade Springs boasts three 18-hole layouts, the latest of which, the Woodhaven course, was completed in 2010 with fairways routed across an undulating, forested landscape...

Austin Caperton Jnr established the Glade Springs resort in the early 1970s and he commissioned George Cobb to design the first course on the estate, now simply called the Cobb course.

Thirty years later, Tom Clark’s Stonehaven layout became the second 18-hole course on the property and such was the acclaim that greeted this course, he was asked to add another 18 holes. This layout, named Woodhaven, opened for play in 2010.

Developer Cooper Communities and resort operator Bright Enterprises were the companies that combined resources to put the Stonehaven course on the West Virginian map in 2003, entrusting architect Tom Clark with its design.

The developer had been involved with the Ault, Clark & Associates design group before (when constructing similar golf projects in Arkansas) so it was fully confidant that Tom Clark would deliver a spectacular mountain course, carving fairways through mature hardwood forest and cleverly incorporating the beautiful Chatham Lake into the out-and-back routing.

Clark has kept things as natural as possible on a layout that features many dramatic changes in elevation during the round. Particularly pleasing to the eye are the many waste bunkers which contrast brilliantly with the more traditional sand traps.

Rocky outcrops – more common in the likes of the Canadian Muskoka region – are another wonderful, distinctive feature to be found on many of the holes at Stonehaven and there’s plenty of this attractive stonework to be found on the layout’s signature hole, the 221-yard, par three 6th.

Tom Clark course architect commented as follows:

The course complements the existing “Cobb” course and is built not only to be a stand alone country club, but also to enhance surrounding home sites. We have very wide corridors, which allow the golfer to experience the beauty of the surrounds and not feel trapped between rows of houses.

The course is designed with non-returning nines, but a halfway house is provided, along with shelters at the farthest extremes of the routing. The topography is more dramatic than the Cobb course featuring striking rock outcroppings, and is carved through a forest of mature oak, maple, beech, and hickory along with huge rhododendrons for understory.

The course loops around both sides of a new 70-acre lake which also provides water as a source of irrigation. “Natural rock gardens” are planted with fescue and wildflowers, “waste areas” featuring black coal slag, and “native areas” enhance the strategy and playability of the course. Rock walls and outcroppings are the theme that runs through all 18 holes.

The greens are a selected variety of Bentgrass, and average around 6,000 square feet in area, featuring “bailout, chipping, and collection areas” around their periphery. Tees are Bentgrass and the length ranges from 7,228 yards from the black to 5,290 yards from the forward tees. Spacious Bentgrass fairways provide a year round green carpet from which to play, and they’re surrounded with a visually striking bluegrass rough.

We’re happy that Stonehaven has taken its place among the top facilities, not only in West Virginia, but the entire east coast.

Glade Springs (Stonehaven)

Tom Clark’s Stonehaven layout became the second 18-hole course at Glade Springs and such was the acclaim that greeted this course, he was asked to add another 18 holes.

The Canaan Valley Resort bounds the northern edge of the Monongahela National Forest, more than three thousand feet above sea level. In an area of outstanding natural beauty, framed by the Allegheny Mountains, the course here is owned by the state park authority of West Virginia and it has been managed by a number of private companies since it opened for play in 1968.

The layout was designed by respected Canadian architect Geoff Cornish in two returning 9-hole circuits with open, forgiving fairways routed up, down and around a hill that sits in the middle of an extensive property.

The four par threes on the card are all lengthy (the 12th hole measures all of 256 yards from the back markers) and they make good use of elevation change and water to enhance their difficulty. The par four holes are nicely varied and the par fives range from the easy, 473-yard 3rd to the tough 17th with its well protected green.

Both nines conclude with testing holes. Trees bound the fairway of the 573-yard par five 9th before it doglegs left towards a hole protected by a lake to the front of the green. An aquatic hazard also appears on the 18th hole, a long, straight par four that features a sizeable expanse of water from around 100 yards in front of the home hole.

Canaan Valley

The Canaan Valley layout was designed by respected Canadian architect Geoff Cornish in two returning 9-hole circuits with open, forgiving fairways routed up, down and around a hill...

Gary Player’s design company has been involved in around 50 North American golf course projects over the years and the Raven at Snowshoe Mountain is one of their very best efforts. Nestled in a rather remote location within the scenic hills of Pocahontas County in West Virginia, the 18-hole layout was originally called Hawthorne Valley when it opened in 1993.

The original resort owners were a group of coal miners who had already started to construct the golf course by clearing several holes before Jeff Myers of the Gary Player design team stepped in.

As Myers recollects, “when you have uneven terrain, you find as many ‘natural’ holes as you can, and then build a few ‘tough’ holes to complete the layout. The 7th hole (420-yard par four, with a very tight green complex) is an example of a ‘forced’ hole. That patch of land connected holes 2-6 with 8 and 9, so we had to come up with something that would work.”

Now part of the Intrawest resort group, the course at the Raven Golf Club epitomizes mountain golf at its finest. Such is the severity of the terrain on sections of the property; one commentator described the fairways “part roller-coaster ride, part nature trail.”

Holes have certainly been laid out on a hilly landscape with cliffs, woods, ravines, creeks and rocky outcrops featuring from start to finish. The front nine is routed through forest and around water then the back nine climb into higher elevations, bringing several cliff-side tee positions into play.

Two holes give a flavour of what to expect on the front nine. The par three 3rd measures only 127 yards from the back tees but because the tee shot is played downhill to a tiered green fronted by a ravine, the hole actually plays a lot shorter than the yardage on the scorecard. It’s followed by the par four 4th hole which falls over 200 feet tee from the tee to a sliver of a fairway where anything hit left or right is gone forever.

If you think these holes are spectacular, the holes on the back nine are, if anything, even tougher and perhaps more scenic. In particular, the par four 11th and par five 13th are highly rated holes on the inward half.

You'll need to wait for the snow to melt (the course generally opens from May 1st) when golfers can obtain special green fee rates after 2.00pm and very attractive stay and play packages are available.

Raven at Snowshoe Mountain

Gary Player’s design company has been involved in around 50 North American golf course projects over the years and the Raven at Snowshoe Mountain is one of their very best efforts.

Located in the Ohio River Valley, golf at Williams Country Club was played here just prior to the club’s formation back in 1932 when Emil Loeffler – greens keeper at Oakmont – was tasked with setting out the fairways on land that was then known as “the old Griffith farm”.

Named after J.C. Williams, the president of Weirton Steel, who owned the property, the Williams course started life as a 9-hole layout and it only became a full 18-hole affair in 1937 when a clubhouse was also brought into use on top of a ridge overlooking the Ohio River, some 400 feet below.

Some of the more remarkable holes include back-to-back par fives at the 562-yard 3rd and 544-yard 4th, the water-protected par three 12th and the 497-yard 14th, played to a sand-encircled raised green.

The steel company withdrew its involvement in the club fifty years after its formation and it was successfully operated by the membership until 2015, as evidenced in the club hosting West Virginia Open competitions, Tri-State PGA tournaments and other such prestigious events.

In May of 2015, James C. Markovitz, a Pennsylvania businessman and long-term member of Williams Country Club purchased the property with the intention of restoring it to its former glory. Since then, a bunker renovation programme has completed and more than 300 trees removed.


Williams Country Club

Located in the Ohio River Valley, the course at Williams Country Club has been in play ever since the club was formed back in 1932.

There is great golf to be had in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, but West Virginia should not be forgotten about; the Mountain State inserts itself literally into the situation, poking a long strip of property up into the gap between the two aforementioned states. Located along this stretch is the Oglebay Resort, where the original golf course was created by Robert Trent Jones.

Like the rest of this state, there is wild topography to keep visitors enthralled, and Jones makes the most of trips up the slopes (carts are required) in the form of dramatic drops from the tee box. Almost every par three features such a drop, including No. 15, which offers no place to leave the ball short. Although the hole is just 160 yards from the back tees, a creek runs in front of the green.

The landforms also allow Jones to take some less conventional approaches to hole design: The green to the No. 5 par five is just barely over 300 yards from the tees. That said, you won’t be able to see it through the trees, nor will most be able to reach it across the drop-off between the two points. Therefore a drive out to the fairway and a 90-degree turn toward the green will be your best bet.

The course was home to the LPGA West Virginia Classic from 1974 to 1984.

Speidel at Oglebay (Jones)

The Robert Trent Jones Senior course at Speidel Golf Club is the original layout at the Oglebay Golf Resort which opened its tees for play in 1969.

Twisted Gun Golf Club is one of the more off-the-beaten path golf options in West Virginia, located in the far southwest corner of the state, near the border with Kentucky. It’s even a somewhat isolated internet experience, featuring no website to provide further information for potential visitors.

What we know is that it was created by Mark Nicewonder, and it’s the only 18-hole golf course in the surrounding tri-county area, due to the region’s extreme terrain. Twisted Gun became possible because it was built on a former strip-mining site, one of only two such mountain-top sites in the United States. The result is a course that, although not totally flat, is hardly “mountain golf.” Railway cars from the site’s former purpose also serve as decoration for players who make the journey out.

The course was opened during 2002, but was eventually turned over to the municipality of Mingo County, which continues to operate it at a very reasonable price (it was named one of the best courses that can be played for less than $50).

Twisted Gun

Opened in 2002, the course at Twisted Gun Golf Club occupies the site of an old coal mine near Gilbert, in Mingo County. Recently transferred to the municipal authority, it’s one of the county’s most prized sporting assets.

Situated within the Appalachian Mountain range, it is no surprise that West Virginia is nicknamed “The Mountain State”. Billed as “Wild and Wonderful” by the State Tourism Board, WV is all about the outdoors and golf is no exception.

With around 130 golf courses from which to choose, you might want to follow John Denver’s “Country Roads” and play WV’s best – a large percentage of which are open to the green fee paying public. You’ll need to befriend a member to play the top golf course in West Virginia – 

 – but, just as Pinehurst is to North Carolina and Gleneagles is to Scotland, West Virginia can proudly crow about its own iconic golf resort.

The Greenbrier is a magnet for golfers seeking spectacular scenery, crisp, clean air and great golf. The resort’s first course opened for play in 1913 and it’s as popular today as it was almost 100 years ago and the redesigned 

 played host in 2010 to the Greenbrier Classic, a new PGA Tour event… Greenbrier’s popularity is perhaps set to rise.

 were last updated in November 2020. Click the link to read the story.
