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Richard Hetzel

  • Karma: +0/-0
On my way out to the East Coast my son and I stopped and played Wanango CC near Oil City, PA. The original 9 was designed by Donald Ross, the next nine was designed by Bendelow and it was reworked (not sure how much though) by Tillinghast. The course was private until last year when another course owner purchased it. It is public, with membership options.  At one time, this place must have been something special. Don't get me wrong, the place is still quite special, but for where it is located (in the middle of nowhere) and the era in which it was built, it is a neat golf course. Not long, the score card lists it as 6088 from the tips, but their website has it over 6100. Very short by today's standards, but it still has some teeth. If they made it fast and firm, it's teeth could be a LOT sharper. Anyway, for both my 7 year old son and I to play 18 with cart it was $40 total. And everyone there was happy to see my son on the course. The round took us 2 hours and 15 minutes. A real steal. It was a VERY foggy morning, so the pictures could be nicer, but I am sure from an architectural view, you'll enjoy them just the same. The course sits upon a nice variety of topography and really has some excellent golf holes. In my opinion the weakest holes were #4 and #5. The best holes were #3, #8, #10, #11, #13, and #15. Overall a VERY SOLID golf course that if in the area, you SHOULD play.

Here is an aerial of the course:


Hole #1 is a narrow, short Par 4 of 310 yards. A nice start to your round as well.



This bunker serves both the 1st and 9th holes at the same time, but you wouldn't know it looking at it like this. I liked it.

Note close proximity of greens and tee areas. Liking it. The course also DOES NOT have continuous cart path; liking that too!

# 2 Fairway, uphill par 4, 397 yards. Notice the fairway disease. Victim of the humidity here.

May have been a sand trap at one time, but no longer.



#3 FUN hole. Short par 4 295 yards, a straight drive leads to a short uphill second shot.

The dip is more pronounced in person.


On such a short par 4, I don't know if I would have allowed the player to be able to run the ball up to the hole. I would run that bunker across the front of the green  and force you to make a good wedge shot.


We skipped #4 due to very, very slow play with a group of women. Taking over 35 minutes for each hole. It was the number one handicap hole (good one to skip, right?). Basically a tight par 4, 388 yards with a bend going right to left. Kind of boring actually and too foggy to even see the hole anyway.
#5, IMO, was the weakest hole on the course. Par 3, 121 yards, yawn. No picture, too foggy.
#6 is another right to left par 4, fairly tight with a slope running down from the left side to the right. Neat hole. 410 yards. No pic from the tee, too foggy.
#6 green.


View back from the green on #6.

#7, Par 5, 534 yards. Fun driving hole. Pair of bunkers on left to collect errant right tee shots.

View back to the #7 tee box.

Two bunkers to right side of fairway, The second one up also has sand.

An oil pump, still pumping out oil, along the 7th fairway. These were visible just off the course in several areas.

#7 fairway ripples.

100 yard marker.

7th green, somewhat boring compared to many others here.

A gentle slope from back to front on #7 with some benign bunkering.


#8, par 3, 152 yards. Maybe the BEST hole on the golf course. Awesome.


My birdie made the hole even better.





View of rear of #8 from forward tee box on #2.

#9, short par 5 to a small not so receptive green. 475 yards.


That bunker on the right is the back side of the same bunker on hole #1.





I will post the back nine in a little while...





« Last Edit: August 12, 2010, 10:42:47 PM by Richard Hetzel »
Best Played So Far This Season:
Crystal Downs CC (MI), The Bridge (NY), Canterbury GC (OH), Lakota Links (CO), Montauk Downs (NY), Sedge Valley (WI)

Ronald Montesano

  • Karma: +0/-0
Questions:  How foggy is too foggy!?!?!?  I love days like this one, although they are tough on the camera.

How much does your son love golf?  Love his follow through on the one shot.

If a hole is a 475 yard par five (#9), the green can never be too small.  What made it unreceptive?
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Richard Hetzel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Questions:  How foggy is too foggy!?!?!?  I love days like this one, although they are tough on the camera.

How much does your son love golf?  Love his follow through on the one shot.

If a hole is a 475 yard par five (#9), the green can never be too small.  What made it unreceptive?

Too foggy is when you hit your drive and have NO IDEA where it is. It was a blanket! Yes, hard on the camera, for when we left it became quite sunny!

Ryan actually plays the holes he wants and asks to drive the cart. He probably played 12 holes total, not bad for a 7 year old.

Agreed on the 475 yard par 5. I was about 75 yards out on the left for my third shot which brought the left trap into play and also squeezed the side of the green. It was a good hole. I guess my angle of approach made it tougher.
Best Played So Far This Season:
Crystal Downs CC (MI), The Bridge (NY), Canterbury GC (OH), Lakota Links (CO), Montauk Downs (NY), Sedge Valley (WI)

Phil McDade

  • Karma: +0/-0
Rich:

Another great thread -- I've actually been to Oil City; feels a bit like the edge of the known world up there. Didn't know the course existed; looks pretty cool. I actually like that little run-up corridor on the sub-300-yard par 4 -- it's so narrow, yet so tempting. I like to see that in a course!

Looking forward to the back nine.

Ronald Montesano

  • Karma: +0/-0
As Dave Pelz notes, a shot hit into an upward incline will bounce up, not forward.  A great way to defend a short par four hole.  I also love pitch-shot, drop-shot par threes...looks like Wanango has a few of them.
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Richard Hetzel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Wanango's back nine begins with a nice 160 yard par 3. It sports a skinny bunker to it's rear. Sandy par.


#11 is a left to right 414 yard par 4 that I thought Bill Brightly had some influence on (note all the cut down tree stumps). Bill and I agree on tree deforesting. I inquired about why the trees were axed and was told they had issues with the 11th fairway dying. The stumps do need to go though. This hole afforded a downhill shot to a neat circular shaped green. Great character.


Another oil well.

Back (or front) of fairway bunker on #11. Dual purpose bunker served #14 as well. Nice touch.


Look at the green for the second shot. Nice fairway sloping to the left. It smells (nice smell mind you) of Bendelow.

Green with #12 tee box in close proximity.







Forgot to take picture of tee shot for #12, blind uphill par 4 303 yards. A much easier hole the second time around.

View back to tee from fairway.



#13, par 3 171 yards. Another nice par 3 situated near the #15 green. Plays harder than it looks. Don't go long here, although there is ample landing area behind the green.




#14 is only 385 yards, a left to right shot that demands accuracy. Even with a good drive the second shot is tough as well. Notice bunker from hole #11 to the right.


Although not readily apparent, you must carry the small valley about 25 yards short of the green.

18th green/putting green behind #14.


I really enjoyed the 15th hole as it gave you myriad options off the tee. Short, dogleg left, uphill par 4, 314 yards.



Too straight of a drive and you end up here.

View back to the 15th tee box.

Notice proximity of the previous par 3 green. Makes for a nice visual.




#16, par 5 straight out and then downhill. 520 yards.

This was most likely sand filled at one time. Abutted the tee box for the par 3 # 13. Fence added in for longer hitters after drives got longer I suppose.




#17 was an uphill, par 3 of 170 yards that seemed to play much longer.



#18, 569 yard par 5 straight way. The 18th green was actually attached to the putting green. A little weird (and scary) when hitting into the green while people are back there putting.










All in all, a great course that was stimulating to the eye, with a thoughtful design. I would like to know what the routing of the original 9 holes was. My guess is that #4, #5 and #6 were added later. #3 to #7 appears to be a natural progression with #4, #5, #6 playing through the woods. The rest of the course does not play through corridors of trees nor is it routed through trees as such.







« Last Edit: August 12, 2010, 10:33:17 PM by Richard Hetzel »
Best Played So Far This Season:
Crystal Downs CC (MI), The Bridge (NY), Canterbury GC (OH), Lakota Links (CO), Montauk Downs (NY), Sedge Valley (WI)

Phil_the_Author

Richard,

As far as the original routings go, one can't go by trees. Take a look at the aerial I posted on the Philadelphia Cricket thread. It is from 1938 or 13 years after the course opened and there are almost no trees to be seen anywhere. Today they just finished a tree removal program that was preceeded by a very long and contentious debate, shall we say, on whether it should be done or not. If you haven't read it Gib Carpenter's wonderful In MY Opinion piece about the Philly Cricket Club tree debate you should because there are more aerials and modern day comparative photos showing the staggering growth since then.

This is roughly the same time period as when Tilly worked at Wanango and today. How much of the forest is original or replacement growth I couldn't tell you. Maybe the Pennsylvania Geological Survey Aerial Photographs archives has some pictures from back then. I'll see what it shows.

Chris_Blakely

  • Karma: +0/-0
Richard,

How did you and your son play the course in 2 hours and 15 minutes with people in front of you??

I play fast, but I also like to savor new courses that I play!! ;D

Chris

Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Is it a little unusual to have Bendelow follow Ross?  I was under the impression that Ross frequently was called in to enhance the early, sometimes rudimentary work of architects like Bendelow and Foulis.

A  lot to like about these photographs.  A very nice day-in-day-out golf course.  Thanks for taking the time to post.

Mike
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

Richard Hetzel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Chris, I was trying to get 18 in AND makt it to Norhern NJ by 5pm...mission accomplished!
Best Played So Far This Season:
Crystal Downs CC (MI), The Bridge (NY), Canterbury GC (OH), Lakota Links (CO), Montauk Downs (NY), Sedge Valley (WI)

Michael Huber

It seems like one of the questions brought up in this thread (and the other thread on NW PA) is:

Why is there a golf course here in the middle of nowhere?

But really, not all that long ago, Northwestern PA was the place to be for oil.  Penzoil, Wolfshead, Quaker State, and I believe a few others all were headquartered in Oil City.  So at one point, there were a lot of really rich dudes hanging around up there, and I guess those dudes wanted golf courses and so forth. 

Unfortunately for the economy of that area, a lot of the oil business has gone away.  However, there are still a handful of refineries in NW PA. 


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