In Pittsburgh, you
can find Andy Warhol, an Electric Banana
and some decent golf
By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor
(Sept. 7, 2005), How long does it take for a city to lose its bad reputation?
About the same amount of time it takes for a temporarily wayward woman.
Pittsburgh may forever be associated with the hellish landscape of the
industrial age, with its steel mills, factories and mines, and its belching
smoke and suffocating smog.
But, anyone who has visited there recently knows the City of Champions is
now more cerebral than brawny.
There's a hot nightclub area in the Strip District, and they even
have a cultural district, which they call, not totally unimaginatively,
the "Cultural District."
And, it was one of only 13 cities to be named a "Super Solid Metro Area" in
the 2000 edition of the "Places Rated Almanac," and has scored well
since.
On the other hand, it ranked among the worst places in the U.S. for dating
by Sperling's. The weather can be nasty, but they don't get that many
earthquakes or tornadoes and, besides, the UV index is low.
But, then there is the fact that Pittsburgh is losing nine percent of its
population annually, compared to the national average of plus-12. Its per
capita income is less than the national average, as is its anticipated
future job growth.
Violent crime is about twice the national average, but hey, enough of the
bad: you're there to play golf. And if you don't mind driving a little bit,
you'll find some excellent courses.
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Old Stonewall
1551 Mercer Rd, Ellwood City, PA. 16117;
(724) 752-0577
www.oldestonewall.com
Quicksilver Golf Club
2000 Quicksilver Rd., Midway, PA 15060;
(724) 796-1811
www.quicksilvergolf.com
Grandview Golf Club
1000 Club House Drive N. Braddock, PA 15104
(412) 351 5390.
Cedarbrook Golf Course
215 SR 981 , Belle Vernon, PA 15012
(724) 929-8300
www.cedarbrook
golfcourse.com
Riverview Golf Club
97 Golf Course Drive , Bunola PA 15020
(412) 384-7596
www.riverviewpa.com
Armstrong Farms
(724) 352-2858
Barley Sheaf Farm Bed and Breakfast
(215) 794-5104)
Olde Fogie Farm
(717) 426-3992.
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Must plays
DAY ONE: You can start the week by visiting The Olde Stonewall Golf
Club, 40 minutes from Pittsburgh. It was rated the state's top
public golf course of 2003 by Golf Digest, and finished 53rd among the top
100 by Golf Magazine.
There is an impressive list of other accolades, but you get the picture:
this is a great course available to the public - although pricey. Greens
fees are $135 in-season from May through October, though not many golfers
seem to complain.
Visitors are usually agog as soon as they pull onto the grounds and see the
medieval-like clubhouse and restaurant, complete with a knight in shining
armor.
The course is more of the same: the owner imported giant, limestone boulders
for $2 million, and they are strewn around tee boxes, cart paths and
elsewhere. The 6,944-yard track features holes with rock formations, bunker
complexes, waterfalls and cascading ponds.
Designed by Ohio architect Michael Hurdzan, the layout is a combination of
links, modern and traditional holes, with five sets of tees for all levels.
The bent grass fairways are wide, with a small amount of rough, and the
greens, also bent grass, are rolling, with breaks on nearly every putt.
The front nine sits in a valley, while the back side climbs around the side
of a mountain for the most part, with a great view of the surrounding
Pennsylvania countryside.
Highlights include No. 16, a 479-yard par-4, with its dramatically elevated
green, 80 feet above the fairway; some say this ranks among the top holes in
the country.
The 434-yard par-4 fourth hole starts with an elevated tee, has water
running along the right side of the fairway, and leads to a green famed in
stonework.
The service is excellent; your bags will be whisked from your car to your
cart, and your clubs will be cleaned at the end of the round.
- DAY TWO: The Quicksilver Golf Club, 30 minutes from
downtown and 15 minutes from the international airport. Quicksilver offers
Pittsburgh-area golfers a bit of target golf.
The course was built in 1971 from a design by Don Nagode, and re-designed in
1990 by Bob Murphy and Sean Parees. It's a rural, hilly course with not many
trees and in which ponds and creeks come into play on eight holes. The
fairway widths vary, but most of the greens are sloping and fast.
Open March through December, the 7,120-yard par-72 course has hosted a PGA
Senior Tour event.
Greens fees are $55 weekdays and $65 weekend in the peak season of May
through September and $40 weekdays and $45 weekends October through April.
There are also twilight and senior rates.
Solid
seconds
- DAY THREE: You've played the best, now play the rest in your
week of Pittsburgh golf. Grandview Golf Club offers,
as you would expect, a grand view. The course sits atop a 160-acre
woodland hilltop, overlooking the Mon Valley, including the Edgar
Thompson facility, the first and last major steel mill in western
Pennsylvania.
The 6,111-yard par-71 course is a relatively flat course with water on nine
holes, and bunkers scattered throughout. It features level target areas and
a number of elevation changes from tee to green .
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DAY FOUR: The Cedarbrook Golf Course was built
in 1962 with architecture by James Harrison, then redesigned and
expanded in 1986 by Hurdzan.
The course offers the "conditioned quality of a country club available to
the public," and features two, 18-hole daily-fee courses. The gold course,
at 6,701 yards with a rating of 71.6, is longer and more challenging. The
red course, at 6,035 yards, is shorter, but requires more accuracy. Both
courses have wide and hilly fairways; there are five water holes on the
gold, four on the red.
The longer course is consistently ranked among the top five in western
Pennsylvania. With its $20 and less greens fees, this course is a popular
one and one of the most heavily played in the area.
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DAY FIVE: The Riverview Golf Club is a military
course with public membership, about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh.
Built in 1959, architect Royce Hewitt put together fairways of average
width, but tricky and small greens.
There are other obstacles, such as trees and sand bunkers that come into
play on most holes.
The most challenging is the 549-yard par-5 fifth hole, with dogleg right that
narrows considerably as you enter the small, undulating green.
The club spent five years upgrading the grounds, and finished a
clubhouse renovation in 2002.
Off course
If you're a sports nut, there are always the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins.
If you have to get your culture fix, there is a symphony, an opera, a ballet
and the Andy Warhol Museum, including daily screenings of his movies, as
well as his death and disaster paintings.
For nightlife, try "industrial dancing" at Metropol, stage diving at the
Electric Banana and the Carson Street Pub Crawl.
There is always the "Incline, the working museum that features two, original
1877 cable cars, and for something mildly wild, do the Ultra Violet Bus
Tour, named after one of Andy Warhol's favorite movie actresses. Also, the
Gateway Clipper Riverboat Fleet is a nice way to see the sights.
Dining out
At Old Stonewall, try the Shakepeare Restaurant and Pub. But, in Pittsburgh,
you should try at least one of the following: The Original Hot Dog Shop on
Forbes Avenue or the Primanti Brothers Bar and Grill on South Market
Place.
If you're a fireplace lover, try the Chesapeake Steak & Seafood, with its
stone and oak hearth, the Shiloh Inn, which has four working fireplaces or
the Stone Mansion Restaurant, which has eight.
Stay and play
What better way to get a taste of real Pennsylvania life than
farm bed and breakfasts? Try Armstrong Farms, Barley Sheaf Farm
Bed and Breakfast or the Olde Fogie Farm.
Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.
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