Oglebay Park (RTJ) West Virginia

[mark chalfant]

Has  anyone  played either the Trent Jones Sr.  golf  course here, or the course by Palmer Design. If you've played both of them which do you prefer. ? Any great greens, nice short par fours, or solid risk/ reward par fives on either layout ?


Thanks

[mark chalfant]

As a youngster I played the par three course here which was very  fun and very short, several  drop  shots under 120 yards.  Any feedback  about the RTJ  course will be appreciated

thanks

[Matt_Ward]

Mark:

I've been to the facility a few times when heading out on I-70.

The Palmer Course has its moments -- but the original RTJ is still worth a play. I really enjoy the rolling terrain and and par-3 course you mentioned is a real hoot to play too!

Hard to beat the fees charged -- I am also a fan of their unique old style driving range that overlooks the entire property. What a blast to hit balls from that location.

[Greg Tallman]

If you like drop shot par 3s you'll love the Jones course Speidel.

Three one shotters dropping between 50 and 100 feet.

Interesting mix of strange holes and excellent holes.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

I played  the RTJ Speidel Course at Oglebay Park Resort in Wheeling, WV today. Unfortunately, there was a major downpour of at least 2" yesterday afternoon. I was told that the course suffered from heavy spring rains and the summer heat and humidity and it showed. The bunkers were virually unplayable.Some fairways were spotty. Nevertheless, the course, the site of a LPGA event in the 1970s to mid 1980s, showed itself as a very interesting RTJ design. As noted above, there was a good mix of holes- drop shot par3s, short and long par4s&5s. The greens were sloped left to right or right to left with only about 2 or 3 from back to front. Here are the numbers:

Black 7001y 75.1/140
Blue  6605y,72.5/134
White6046y69.8/126

The course needs a lot of TLC and $$$. Tees were not close to level. Bunkers needed a lot of attention. From what I heard, the owners seem to be paying more attention to the newer Klieves Course, a Palmer design. It appeared to be in much better condition. I guess it's a sign of the times- the Palmer brand,particularly in the western PA and WV area, sells and the RTJ brand no longer sells.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

From the lack of response to this thread, I can only conclude that the RTJ "brand" as a marketing tool is dead.

Instead of spending big bucks to restore this 1971 course, Oglebay Resort should spend those bucks elsewhere and hire the usual suspects to supplement their Palmer course- Fazio or Nicklaus or Dye if they want to attract the modern golfer...or Doak or C&C to attract the members of gca.