Some interesting stuff at Nemacolin/Mystic Rock

[Jay Flemma]

So I got to stay at Nemacolin Wodlands resort for the weekend of the Potomac Cup and had alot of fun bumping and running all weekend and holing puttts with two feetr of break in them.  Had a great caddy I used all wkd named Caillin (promounced Kaylynn) but he's a guy descended from Irish stock...

Really good alternating shot patterns on lots of holes nad the course moves around in its routing well.  Only once do you play two consecutive holes in the same direction, the par-3s play in four different direction and it has some good "half-holes" like the 3.5 12th (a tough par 3 with a small green and lots of water and devilish chipping areas.

As you know, its a Dye design, so lots of solid fundimentals.  

YES EVERYBODY!  I KNOW THE STATUES AND POP ART AND WATERFALLS ARE CHEESY.  And yes, its a high price tag, but you do get good value for your money here, unlike that boring lowest common denominator tourist trap six hours NE in rural NYS.  Look past all the trappings and there is a fun, reasonably interesting design with great greens and great mowed chipping areas.  Great place to practice your short game and not to narrow to confine you to hitting three wood all day.



Swinging a hybrid for the first time in 7 years...I need a new driver and three wood.

[George Pazin]

Jay, no offense, but I'm going to have to assume you also stayed at the monster hotel, got a massage at the spa and that it was all on someone else's dime.

 

I think the course does indeed have interesting greens and chipping areas, but I thought the routing felt very odd, I thought the course was overly penal, with all the water and rocks, I thought 1 & 18 felt very out of place, and there is no way in h@#$ I would ever say you get good value for your money at MR. Like I said, you either didn't pay, or you have a whole lot more money than me.

You're right about the statues, pop art and waterfalls, however.

 

[Jay Flemma]

Well, I did get treated nicely covering the Potomac Cup, but there is no question that when Pete Dye designs a tour facility and when Fazio does the same, that there is MUCH more strategy in the Dye design.  I found the fairways so wide, I was not often in the water...it only came into play if I tried for a sucker pin.

I agree the rocks are penal - most notably 7, a rock studded wasteland tee to green...most unfair fo the hacker...and the par-3s are really tough (17) and yes, too much water, but comepared to some of the crappy places the tour hosts events, this was good. Interesting holes include 8, where the expansive green actually looks tiny as heck from the fwy, 13 with its modified lion's mouth green!!! and the terrific bifurcated fwy at 14.  EXCELLENT alternating shot patterns at many holes...we like them when they are at sawgrass, we have to give them the same respect at his other tour courses too.  Its sure beats straight, straight, straight...only straight is not so great.

I agree...purists would HATE it, but as resorts go, not bad...not Kiawah, but nice none the less.

[Tim Gavrich]

Jay--

Do you have some pictures of the holes, or the "cheesy" pop art and statues?  I've always wanted to see the course, but I've never been able to watch the tournament on TV, and the Nemacolin website has nearly no pictures of Mystic Rock.

Thanks.

[Jay Flemma]

Yes, here are some.  I only took a few.  Think of it this way.  All these penal parkland courses and flavorless tour venues that survive because "we like what and marketing TV tell us" are highly toxic in large quantities.  But occasionally, amidst all the trapings, Dye gives us great angles and strategy.  Taken sparingly and occasionally they can be fun.  We all need a secret shame.



Thats way right of 18 green...EXCELLENT bunkering and chipping swales...putt, b&R, pitch and check, flop, its a menu.






also..check out the cool photo of the zebras in the pen near my three bedroom townhouse...

[Jason McNamara]

I agree...purists would HATE it, but as resorts go, not bad...not Kiawah, but nice none the less.

If nothing else, it's no more than 20 mins from Fallingwater, for all you FLW fans.

Jason

[Jay Flemma]

...and its three times the resort thatr Turning Stone Casino is...that place is loooooooooow budget...and has too few pker tables for Texas Hold 'Em...(2-3).  Foxwoods has 10-12!