Pete Dye Golf Club

Pete Dye's course on a reclaimed coal mine in Bridgeport, West Virginia, with a mine shaft you walk through, strip-mine walls, creek crossings and Appalachian views. It took 16 years to build.

The LaRosa family bought about 500 acres of mined-out land in Harrison County in the late 1970s. With Pete Dye they spent around 16 years turning it into a golf course. Dye made more than 150 site visits, coal was still coming out of seams during construction, and holes were moved and moved back. The working name was Coal Ridge, but it opened in 1994 as the Pete Dye Golf Club.

The mining history is part of the round. Players walk through an old mine shaft to reach the 7th tee. A rock face about 60 feet high stands beside the 8th green, and old coal cars sit off the left side of the 10th. Water from ponds and creeks affects nearly half the holes, starting with the 2nd, where the drive crosses Simpson Creek from an elevated tee. The greens are bentgrass and multi-tiered, and the landing areas are generous.

The 18th is a 500-yard par 4 with a stream crossing in front of the tee and running down the left side to the green. Among the best-known Dye courses, it hosted a Nationwide Tour event from 2004 to 2009. It ranks highly with both Golf Digest and Golfweek's modern-course list. The tour players who came here met a course with water on nearly half its holes and steep, multi-level greens.

Holes to know

2

Par 4 · 439 yd

From an elevated tee the drive crosses Simpson Creek to a fairway that looks a long way off.

7

Par 3 · 198 yd

Reached by walking through an old mine shaft; the tee shot drops to a large green ringed by bunkers.

8

Par 5 · 507 yd

A par 5 with a strip-mine rock wall about 60 feet high beside the green.

18

Par 4 · 500 yd

A long par 4 where the drive crosses a stream that then follows the left side all the way to the green.

Championships

• Nationwide Tour – Pete Dye West Virginia Classic / Nationwide Tour Players Cup 2004–2009