Longue Vue Club (Verona, PA) - A Photo Tour

[astavrides]

Nice. I played Longue Vue as a kid, and hitting up those hills and across those valleys was a challenge at age 10 and 11. But they just let us go out and play, which was very cool. My recollection is that the views out over the river and the nearby towns were mostly blocked in those days. They must have done some chopping. The views add a lot.


Longue Vue and Oakmont predate Fox Chapel and Pittsburgh Field Club by a couple of decades. Both Oakmont and Longue Vue were easily accessible from Pittsburgh's East End and Squirrel Hill once the automobile arrived. These were the neighborhoods of the great and not quite so great industrial and financial leaders of the city, and the clubs were sited for their convenience and pleasure. The Fox Chapel area was not easily accessible to the east end city dwellers. This issue was slightly alleviated with the construction of the Holton Bridge crossing the river at Oakmont in 1908, but there was not robust traffic access across the river from the east end of Pittsburgh until 1938 when the Highland Park Bridge was built to cross the river near Aspinwall. It was only with the construction of that bridge that the growth of Fox Chapel as a residential area took off (slowly).


Longue Vue used to lack a first class practice area. The problem was lack of space. (Fox Chapel's isn't great either.) Have they figured out how to have a better practice facility?


It was good to see the old girl again. Thanks.

Nice Pittsburgh history lesson. I used to cross those bridges all the time, so its interesting to know when they were built. It's 'Hulton', by the way. :-). I think Longue Vue and Fox Chapel have adequate practice facilities, if not first class. I wonder if the Seniors complained when they held the Senior Players there.

[Jon Cavalier]

Tim and Dan: thanks - glad you enjoyed it.

David: the practice facility and Longue Vue includes a decent sized putting green, a short game and chipping green, and a full range -- all immediately adjacent to the 18th green and clubhouse. It's not on the level of the practice facilities at Friar's Head or Metedeconk, but it's certainly more than adequate for the membership there.

[Lester George]

Great stuff Jon!  You really do a good job of this.  Thank you.

Lester

[George Pazin]

Jon, it's interesting to me you mentioned Eastward Ho! I'm a Pittsburgher, and I once went to a wedding at Longue Vue. I hadn't - and still haven't - played there, but when we pulled it, I looked around and thought, damn, this looks like the Eastward Ho pics on gca, I gotta play here.

The pics don't look as claustrophobic to me as everyone else, but then again, I play less than anyone else, so I'm not a good judge.

Well done on the tour, many thanks. I gotta get out there.

[Tim_Weiman]

Jon, it's interesting to me you mentioned Eastward Ho! I'm a Pittsburgher, and I once went to a wedding at Longue Vue. I hadn't - and still haven't - played there, but when we pulled it, I looked around and thought, damn, this looks like the Eastward Ho pics on gca, I gotta play here.

The pics don't look as claustrophobic to me as everyone else, but then again, I play less than anyone else, so I'm not a good judge.

Well done on the tour, many thanks. I gotta get out there.

George,


Twice during my career I was posted to Piitsburgh. While there, I must have been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Nobody ever mentioned Longue Vue.......maybe because they talked about Oakmont so much.


Would also love to see this course. Jon did a great job on the tour.

[Dan Herrmann]

We are in serious need of a PGH GCA outing!

[Pete Wendt]

Josh Saunders is the Superintendent at Longue Vue and he has done a phenomenal job over the past couple of years bringing the golf course into great condition. 


Beautiful shots of the property!

[Jon Cavalier]

Pete:

Thanks for your comment. I neglected to mention Josh Saunders by name in the tour, and you're absolutely correct - he's doing a fantastic job with the conditioning at Longue Vue.

I've updated the original post to correct my omission.

Jon

[Carl Nichols]

That bunker/rough comparison between the overhead and the ground level indicates massive disparity. The overhead shows a thin line of rough, whereas the ground-level shot offers three times the width of rough 'twixt fairway and bunker. Did LV have an upcoming (or recent) event where massive rough was deemed necessary? What was the date of the google overhead, as compared to your tour?


Thanks, Jon.


RM

Ron--
I think you're looking at the wrong bunkers in the overhead.  The ones I believe Jon is referring to are the ones at approximately 9 o'clock in the overhead, and they look about 15-20 yards off the fairway. 

[Erik J. Barzeski]

CMU plays there, and I coach Penn-State Behrend and they often invite us to play in their invitational. The kids might not appreciate the architecture, but they appreciate the conditioning of the course, and I love walking around and watching the kids play the course.

Unlike a lot of Pittsburgh courses that make tedious use of the hills and valleys (one can get tired REALLY quickly of walking up hills with their push cart above their heads because of how steep the hill is), LV makes spectacular but not tiresome use of the hills. The uphill slopes tend to be gradual/subtle (#1, #4, #15, etc.) or strategic when they're steeper (like #13), and the downhill holes provide a sense of awe and a loss of scope - you're unsure of the line but you know your ball is going to get a LOT of hang time.

Great course. One of my favorites, and a true hidden gem in the Pittsburgh area.

Thanks for the picture tour.