THE HOME HOLE AT PDGC

This is the second part of my review and video on Pete Dye Golf Club. Normally when a course takes sixteen years to build, the end result is not good. Pete Dye GC though proves that sometimes the wait is worth it. The back nine is not as strong or compelling as the front, but it is a very good nine holes of golf. (Video after the jump)

The back starts out with a cape hole that plays to a green that has a waterfall in front of it. This is  a natural stream that has been diverted to pop out below the green. It then disappears into a pipe. This is one of the few areas of the course that could use a little work as I believe it could be made to look more natural. The next tee shot is a little awkward as it appears that they correct line is over the large bunker oon the left. There is actually no fairway over the bunker but a deep, rough filled hollow. A little local knowledge helps on the eleventh.

THE INTIMIDATING FIFTEENTH

The middle stretch on the back is a little weak with the short twelfth, a fairly generic Pete Dye par three thirteenth. The fourteenth is a good par four playing downhill to a large green. The fifteenth is a good par five with a lake running the length of the hole on the right. This again is fairly typical Pete Dye but it is a good hole.

The sixteenth is a good downhill par three that can be played with a running shot. The seventeenth is another short four, but features the most undulating green on the course. This one of the dew greens where one would want to spend a lot of time just goofing around. The course then finishes with a another strong cape hole.

All in all the back nine is a solid nine holes of golf. While the front is clearly the class of the course, the two nines combine to create a stunning golf experience. So is it better that Ballyneal or Friars Head? Probably not, but it may be Pete Dye’s best golf course. It deserves its spot near the top of the Golfweek’s modern rankings. This is a course worth going out of your way to try to get to and play.

For the front nine video and review, click here.

LOOKING BACK DOWN THE SHORT SIXTH AT PDGC

I traveled up to Pete Dye Golf Club deeply skeptical about its lofty perch near the top of Golf Week’s modern rankings (#4). I have long admired Pete’s work, but a could a course in the mountains of West Virginia that took sixteen years to build really be better than Friars Head, Ballyneal and Chambers Bay? (Video and review after the jump)

After playing the course on a beautiful spring morning, I can tell you that the Pete Dye Golf Club belongs in the upper echelon of courses built since 1960. At that rarefied air, it is tough to differentuate which course is better than the other, but PDGC is a spectacular course, beautiful, challenging, and strategically interesting. The front nine has to be mentioned in any discussion on the best nine holes in golf. Its that good.

It reminds me of Yale, a course that I am obviously fond of. It is big and bold, but not in a contrived way. It has a defenite sense of place that other architects have achieved by using native vegetation. Pete instead uses the streams, rocks, exposed mining areas, a mine shaft, and the nuclear/coal plant that poke above the horizon on number five. All of this combined with well thought out holes full of strategy, interesting greens, and the ability to walk the course, make the front nine a unique and compelling golfing experience.

Standout Holes:

No. 2

No. 2- A great cape hole playing over a natural creek. Two bunkers sit on the far side of fairway right where the natural spot to bail out would be. A good drive is a must on this hole. The long green is perched above two deep bunkers and the creek. This is a solid golf hole. It sets the tone for the rest of the golf course in its bold use of the terrain and massive features.

No. 5

N0 5- The fifth is a great par five with a stream that runs along the entire right side of the hole. A good tee shot forces the player to make a decision between attacking the green that is set hard above the stream or laying up over a set of bunkers to a blind landing area. The line for this lay-up is often one of the towers from the coal plant in the distance.

No. 8

N0. 8- This is another great par five. Mr. Dye does a great job throughout the course of giving the player a defined landing area but hiding the area that may be the ideal spot from which to attack the hole. here he shows the plyer the right side of the fairway, but the ideal line which can’t be seen, is down the left along a line of bunkers. From this angle the player can run the ball up to the green which sits below them guarded by a massive bunker to the right that sits next to exposed rock that has been mined. The setting is quite beautiful and unique.

THE GREEN ON THE EIGHTH