[Doug Ralston]

I do not know how many of you are aware of this course, or it's nature. Twisted Gun is a reclaimation project by Arch Coal Co and designed by a small name architect, because no big name tried would take the job. The more fools they!

They took a strip mined mountain top in VERY obscure Mingo County, WV, and made an extremely pleasing course out of it. The views are astounding, and the course is well designed, fun and quite tough. If you are ever in the area [yeah, right] and have the miraculous luck to actually find it [most out of the way course you can find in the 48 adjacent, I betcha], you will be pleasantly surprised.

BTW, Mingo County has another fame. Those Hatfields and McCoys shot the crap out of each other there  .

Take a look at this:

www.ohvec.org/galleries/reclamation/twisted_gun/index.html

Not their website, but perhaps more to the point. Whatcha think?

Doug

PS: Can you think of a better use for the land?

[A.G._Crockett]

Twisted Gun got some love here when it first opened and there was some press about the land reclamation and the quality of the course that came out of it.

I looked at trying to get there to play during an annual visit to the extreme SW corner of VA (Wytheville), but there is just NO good way to get there.  From anywhere...

It is also one of the cooler names for a golf course, and I believe there is a local story behind that, but memory doesn't serve right now.

[Joe Hancock]

The architect wasn't Leslie Nielsen, by chance?

Oh wait...sorry.....

Joe

[Billsteele]

Doug-I have been to Twisted Gun and agree that it is a great use of land that would otherwise go to waste. The concern that I had is that it is so remote and difficult to find. Like A.G. mentioned, there is no easy way to get there. I thought I had heard somewhere that a highway was going to be routed near that area but, absent that, the Hatfields and McCoys (and their progeny) may comprise the majority of people who see it.

As for the course, I thought it was solid but for the life of me, I can't remember a single hole other than #10 with its precipitous drop from the tee. As for the vistas, it was very foggy the day I played and I never got a sense of being on the top of a mountain (other than the drive up the access road to the course).

This may be a regional phenomenon but on the same trip I played Stonecrest in Prestonsburg, KY. This is another course plotted on a reclaimed coal field. Stonecrest was not as good as Twisted Gun but there are some interesting holes routed along the sides of the ridges running through the property. Both are affordable and a nice use of some land that may not have much utilitarian value beyond normal reclamation.

By the way, Doug. The best course I have seen on what could have been reclaimed coal land (and I have not seen the Pete Dye Golf Club) is Castle Shannon in Eastern Ohio (located in the garden spot of Hopedale, Ohio). It is a course in the middle of nowhere designed by Gary Grandstaff (who I believe is a Pete Dye protege). It is a terrific golf course which winds through a roller coaster piece of property (hills, ridges, wetlands). Ironically, Grandstaff is no longer in the design business...last I knew, he was the superintendent of the Pete Dye Golf Club. Very affordable and very fun. I am not sure if the land actually was mined at one time...but in that part of Ohio, it is a good bet.

[Lawrence Largent]

One of my best friends is the pro at Twisted Gun. I normally play there in the spring when the wind is up and its quite tough. The course really has some nice holes and the views are great. The course was designed by one of the Arch Coal  owners son. I can't recall his first name but last name is Nicewonder. His dad Don Nicwonder owns the Virginian in Bristol, Va. I have alot of pics of the course, If I could ever figure out how to post them. The course looks like its in Nebraska or the midwest its certianly no your typical WV terrain. I'm pretty sure the designer is based out of Houston.

Lawrence

[Chris_Blakely]

Billsteele

I do not believe Castle Shannon was on reclaimed land, but I 100% agree that it is a terrific course.  When we had the golfweek state by state rating thread recently, I put it up their as a possible top ten public course in Ohio.  At a minimum, the course was better than 3 to 4 on the list.  Other than the 7th and 8th holes (that probobaly had environmental problems) I liked all of the course!!

I hope to play Twisted Gun GC this year??

Chris

[Doug Ralston]

Chris;

Please, please, if you go to Twisted Gun, please go to Eastern Kentucky and play Eagle Ridge at Yatesville Lake State park, and Hidden Cove at Grayson Lake State Park. Both at better far!

I must get to Castle Shannon, sounds like my kind of course.

Doug

[Chris_Blakely]

Doug,

Of the far Eastern Kentucky GC's I have played, I have played Yatesville Lake SP GC and Stonecrest GC.  I have not played Hidden Cove, but plan to play it.  Twisted Gun is the course I have been wanting to play for several yars now.

As for Ohio courses that you would enjoy (I remember you posting earlier that you like "Mountain type golf:"  then Castle Shannon is one you will enjoy.  Also if in the area (Hopedale, OH where Castle Shannon is) you should play: Blackmoor GC, Red Oaks GC, Salt Fork State Park GC, Oak Shadows GC and Aumann Timbers GC.   All are good to very good on the Ohio public side, a lot of fun to play and are on hilly to very hilly sites.

Chris

[Matt_Ward]

Doug, Chris, et al:

I played TG shortly after Turboe recommended it here. The layout is located on a unique site - with all the earthmoving you are in coal country indeed. But the layout came about through an amateur designer and one can see plenty of holes that are 101 level design type stuff.

Candidly, if this site had an Engh, Doak, Tim Liddy, Forrest Richardson, and quite a few other young and successful professionals in the business the result would have been far different.

I've heard word about a second 18 down the pike but until I-77 or some other Interstate is carved relatively nearby the probability of the area striking with more golfers coming will be a tough road to accomplish.

[Chris_Blakely]

Matt Ward:

Yes, I read your review / findings of the course after Turboe recommended it several years ago.  Still I am undeterred, I want to play the course for the site alone.  Your description of Twisted Gun reminded me of how I felt after having played Stonecrest GC in Prestonberg, KY.  Great site that had some good holes, but the layout and architecture were not great.  But for Wow factor / dumb blonde factor is was not a complete waste!!

Where would this second 18 be?  Are they planning on moving I-77 because the highway is already there?  I am confused on your comment abou the highway?

Thanks,
Chris

[Doug Ralston]

Chris, Matt;

I hope you read the stuff on the site I gave. They clearly said that no upscale architect would take the job. I think they did rather well for an 'amatuer'. The course is certainly not a 'supercourse' like Pacific Dunes or Sultan's Run, but it plays quite nicely and in a stunning setting.

Chris, same apllies to Stonecrest. It plays more vertically than Twisted Gun, but Chrisman WAS designing his 1st course. He did a more than creditable job, and the course is wonderful fun to play. We also enjoyed his next effort; Clear Creek in Bristol VA.

Chris, did you enjoy Yatesville Lake? How did you like the 'easy' par-5 #4? I will not even ask if you enjoyed #13; if you did not hit a few extra balls off the tee just for fun, you would be a rare bird indeed.  

Doug

BTW: I think #4 is one of the hardest, but most fun par-5's in the World. MHO.

[Chris_Blakely]

Doug,

First and foremost, I absolutely loved Eagles Ridge GC at Yatesville Lake SP (hate the name - love the course).  There are a lot of good things architecturally going on at that course as well as some great aesthetics!!  There also some really good par 3 holes.  I really enjoyed the short par 3 12th before the 13th.  As for the 13th, I only hit one ball as I drove the green with a 3-wood.  I figured, how can I do any better.  But it was hands down the most thrilling shot I have ever hit.  I thought the par 5 4th was a weak link on the course, it is a long carry off the tee and then you are left with another long shot just to get over the dropoff or a very very short layup.  Not a good hole, but that is the only real bad one that I remember.

As for Stonecrest, there are some good things there but the mounding and holes 13 or 14 thorugh 16 are not good at all down and back with lots of mounds to seperate the holes.  The 17th and 18th holes are two good holes toclose out the course.  I like that the large scale of the bunkers on 18 mimicks the large scale of the mountains/view you have from the tee on 17 and 18.

As for Twisted Gun, as I posted, I have yet to play it.

What is the course in Bristol, VA like?

Thanks,
Chris

[JJShanley]

I played 36 at Twisted Gun on Labor Day as part of a road trip from Philadelphia to South Bend before leaving the U.S. I had a blast of a day.


Mingo County, WV is not on a straight line between Philadelphia and South Bend, as you might gather. This little trip needed to include a trip to Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. My father, who died suddenly from cancer in April, had wanted to visit the monastery as he had found Thomas Merton's writings very useful back in the day. I figured I should make the pilgrimage in his place. Looking at the map it seemed only a little more out of the way to drive to Wharncliffe, WV. (I played Virginia Tech's River Course the day before which was great fun.) My father's first words to me on the phone after the diagnosis had been "don't give up the golf." He was very proud of his father's time as a Midlothian miner, which made a golf course on an old strip mine particularly appropriate.


TG is not at all what I imagine you'd find at either Bandon or Streamsong but I had a very enjoyable day. I'd go back if I find myself in the vicinity. I think they had tried to protect the greens from a drought by leaving the cut a little higher than I might prefer but they seemed decent enough surfaces. The fairways ran out well. I'm told by someone I played with that day that the owner wants to renovate the bunkers (which needed attention); the durabunker concept might work well there.


I tried to walk, which the folks in the clubhouse and the guy I joined for Round 1 thought crazy. I got through 12 holes before I hit the wall, although I might have fared better had I looked for the cut-throughs in the tall grass between green and tee.


More importantly I encountered people who simply enjoyed their golf. I have no idea whether I'll ever get back to the area, but I'd play it again.

[Tom_Doak]

They clearly said that no upscale architect would take the job. I think they did rather well for an 'amatuer'. The course is certainly not a 'supercourse' like Pacific Dunes or Sultan's Run, but it plays quite nicely and in a stunning setting.

I hear stuff like this all the time, and it's usually nonsense.  They might have called one or two architects, heard large numbers for design fees, and opted to go another direction; or they might not even have made those one or two calls. 


I guess Doug's statement was made in 2007, when we were all much busier, but even so, I've got to believe that not pursuing such opportunities puts me in the minority of golf architects.  Especially for a project that sounds like it would have been interesting.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()