NEMACOLIN WOODLANDS RESORT in Farmington PA., new Nemacolin Woodlands Resort Director of Golf and Activities Mike Jones (L) with Hall of Fame golf architect Pete Dye, on site at the new second course being built at Nemacolin. Open’s in 2017.     ______________________________________________________________________

THE GOG BLOG by Rory Spears. Editor and Director of Content. Follow Rory to places like the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, and on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy.

***EDITORS NOTE***                              Just when you thought you have seen it all in the golf world, you soon realize you haven’t.

I have been to resorts in and out of the country, from the far west Islands of Hawaii, all the the way to Long Island, Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon and around back to Washington. So how did a destination like the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort slip under my radar, that’s a question I keep asking myself.

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort might be the best resort in America you have never heard of, but that is quickly changing and it won’t be that way for very long. This Farmington Pennsylvania resort just over an hour south of Pittsburgh, is now thinking big instead of small.

The credit starts at the top with the ownership the Hardy family. Joseph A. Hardy III the founder of the 84 Lumber Company, and his daughter Maggie Hardy-Magerko have taken a property he bought at auction in 1987, and have continued to expanded it, while enhancing the guest experience to levels of 5-Stars and 5-Diamonds.

Former Illinois PGA and Kapalua Maui Golf Professional Mike Jones, is the resorts new Director of Golf and Activities.

Within the last year the Hardy’s have started to put together a team of top resort managers to take the resort to a new level, and make it more of a national destination. The personnel at the top level of the resort now include high-level directors from properties like Sea Island in Georgia, the Greenbrier in West Virginia, The American Club in Kohler, and Kapalua on Maui in Hawaii.

For Chicago golfers that have traveled to Kapalua, or have played clubs in the Chicago area like Stonebridge CC, Steeplechase GC, The Golf Club of Illinois, Thunderhawk, or Cantigny Golf in Wheaton they might recognize the name Mike Jones. Jones has returned to mainland USA after 8 years at Kapalua, and yes he does admit he knows there is such a thing as winter in Pennsylvania. That being said he is looking forward to the new challenge at Nemacolin.

If the resort name is one you have heard of only recently, there might be a chance that you watch the Bachelorette on ABC. A recent episode that was filmed at the resort brought so many hits to the properties website, that it almost crashed. But 65,000 hits in one day can do that on the world wide web. Just credit the resorts Director of Marketing and PR Ashli Mazer for creating some real major buzz for Nemacolin.

The 9th hole on the new Pete Dye Course, will see stunning rock walls nestled around water that golfers will need to avoid.

While Jones is new to Nemacolin, golf on the property is not.

Pete Dye arrived in 1995 and the resorts second course Mystic Rock opened. A small course called the Links Course was put in by previous ownership in 1972-73.

But it was the Dye-designed Mystic Rock that started attracting golfers to the to resort. It also attracted the PGA Tour for several years starting in 2004 when the 84 Lumber Classic was the newest tournament on tour.

The 84 Lumber Classic scoreboard still stands to the left on the 18th green on Mystic Rock.

Players like VJ Singh, Ben Curtis, Chris Dimarco, Jason Gore and Robert Allenby were winners of the 84 Lumber Championship that ran from 2000 to 2006. The resort even had a sponsorship deal with two-time major winner John Daly.

But after the tournament left, some of the big time golf played there did as well.

While there are no immediate plans to bring back the PGA Tour, some high level tournaments could be headed back in the direction of Nemacolin in the years to come. With the construction of a second course by Dye, the resort would have the #1 course in Pennsylvania “You can Play”, in Mystic Rock, but a second course still not-named that could rate very highly as well.

Tomorrow as part of a series of stories on Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, the Gog Blog will look at the new Dye course that will open in 2017. Only 76 days remain in the construction phase, and then all that will be left to do, is let the grass and greens grow in and mature.

Stay with us and stay clicked in. RS