Pete Dye designs 9-hole addition to Nemacolin’s Mystic Rock

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pa., held a groundbreaking event July 8 to announce plans to expand its Mystic Rock golf course with a $6 million nine-hole addition. Pete Dye, who designed the original Mystic Rock course, has designed and will oversee the new addition.

(L to R) Maggie Hardy, Nemacolin’s president and owner; Pete Dye, legendary golf architect; and Jospeh Hardy, Nemacolin’s founder, answer questions from press at the groundbreaking event for Nemacolin Woodlands Resort’s nine-hole addition to Mystic Rock.

Host to the 84 Lumber Classic, a PGA Tour event from 2003-06, Mystic Rock opened for play in September 1995 and underwent extensive renovations in 2004. The course, with a rating of 77 and slope of 149 from the championship tees, was ranked the number one “Best Courses You Can Play in 2015” for the state of Pennsylvania by Golfweek and one of “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses” by Golf Digest.

Jennifer Jubin, Nemacolin Woodlands’ general manager; Pete Dye; Jospeh Hardy, Nemacolin’s founder; and Maggie Hardy, Joseph’s daughter and president and owner of Nemacolin, sat in front of the press at the groundbreaking event to answer any questions on the project. Alice Dye, his wife and the “First Lady” of golf architecture, accompanied Pete at the event.

“It’s fitting that as we celebrate Mystic Rock’s 20th anniversary the resort continues to experience an increase in golf activity, which was the catalyst for this expansion,” Jubin said. “Last year we recorded a record number of 42,000 rounds, with 24,000 of those being played on Mystic Rock, and the balance on the original Links course. Despite national trends that saw golf rounds falling and courses closing, golf at Nemacolin is trending in exactly the opposite direction.”

Pete Dye takes an inaugural swing into the grounds where the new nine-hole addition to Nemacolin’s Mystic rock will begin.

The nine-hole addition will stay true to the architectural design of Mystic Rock’s original 18 holes, Pete Dye said, which placed heavy focus on incorporating the natural topography and terrain.

“Environmentally, we’ve set this thing up on a mountain like nothing that has ever been done in this state,” Pete Dye said.

The greens, tees and fairways will be seeded with improved varieties of bentgrass, the primary rough will be sodded with bluegrass, and the secondary rough will be seeded with a low-maintenance fine fescue blend — meaning 80 percent of the golf course will be established from seed.

Ground work on the addition began in December 2014, and construction is scheduled to begin next month. The new nine holes are scheduled to open for play in July of 2017.

Photos: Joelle Harms