Two Singularly Epic Pete Dye Courses and a Top-Tier Golf Academy Await in Pennsylvania’s Majestic Laurel Highlands
For those who genuinely love golf, Nemacolin is a luxury resort that offers a dream experience.
What could be better than starting with a round on one of the most fun, challenging, and scenic courses you could imagine, followed by world-class instruction and a playing lesson, only to take what you learned back out to another incredible golf course? The answer is very little, if anything.
Nemacolin, near Farmington, Pa., about an hour and a half southeast of Pittsburgh, has 36 holes of outstanding golf, all designed by Pete Dye. The layouts include the original Mystic Rock Course, which played host to the PGA Tour’s 84 Lumber Classic from 2003 to 2006, as well as Shepherd’s Rock, which opened in 2017. They are similar in some respects but different in many others with Mystic Rock being a little more of a serious player’s tournament course and Shepherd’s Rock offering more dramatic elevation change and features. Both can be particularly challenging and enjoyable, and they offer multiple sets of tees to suit every level of player.
For anyone who is looking for the ultimate golf learning and play package at Nemacolin, the idea would be to open with a round on one of the two golf courses, take a few notes, and then see the expert teaching staff at The Nemacolin Golf Academy. There are both group and individual packages available to tailor to anyone’s needs or preferences.
The Learning Experience at Nemacolin
What can you expect? Enjoyment and improvement, that’s for sure, says Jarren Harper, lead instructor at The Nemacolin Golf Academy. Not only will golfers enjoy the instruction at the golf academy and on the course, but they will walk away with a better golf game, too.
“I would say most of the time when I’m doing these three-day golf schools, the people who are coming are true golf nerds,” says Harper, who spent a couple of years shadowing famed golf instructor Cameron McCormick at Trinity Forest in Dallas, before arriving at Nemacolin five years ago. “They play a lot of golf. They have a fairly good idea coming into a session of what their golf game is typically like.”
But any idea that you have to get worse before you get better is nonsense, Harper says.
“I’m not a big believer in that,” Harper says. “We absolutely do see improvement by Day 3,” Harper adds. “They’re not going to hit every single shot perfectly. We don’t expect that. But we want them to have a better understanding of their golf game, what their tendencies are, and what we can do to fix it is always the goal. Our goal is really to train people to be their own best coaches.”
Harper recommends that anyone who comes out to Nemacolin and is serious about improving their game start their stay with a round of golf on one of the two courses and take notes about their misses, weaknesses, and strengths. The next day – whether it’s in a three-day school with other students or an à la carte individual itinerary – the staff uses some the best tools in the industry like Trackman, Foresight GCQuad, and Swing Catalyst Balance & Dual Force Plates.
“Typically, we’ll run a player through a baseline assessment,” Harper says. “Trackman will measure where on the clubface you’re making contact, at what point is the club making contact with the ground and other kinds of measurable data points, so that when we make some progress, make some swing changes, we will be able to look at before and after.”
They also will look at students’ clubs to make sure they are fit to them, and they may suggest a club fitting to better suit their games. In the end, having baseline data and then taking measurements again after instruction can provide a clear picture of progress.
Taking it to the Course
But beyond mechanics, a playing lesson can also prove quite valuable.
“Day Three, we typically do playing lessons,” Harper says. “Out of 13 hours, we set aside two to three hours for on-course instruction.”
The playing lesson isn’t just having an instructor accompany students around the course as they play. For example, Harper says they set up different games. Maybe a group plays a scramble so they can work together as a team. But Harper said he often throws in random challenges throughout the round (usually nine holes that last a couple of hours or so), like hitting off a severe downslope (which is common at Nemacolin), executing a low bump and run, as well as a high-soft lob.
“We like to give players a chance to get creative,” he says. “And we put them in uncomfortable situations. But the bottom line is to have fun and learn how to score. We’re less focused on mechanics. It’s more about managing the golf game and figuring out how to get the golf ball in the hole.”
In other words, during the playing lesson, students can work on skills they need on the golf course that can’t necessarily be replicated on the lesson tee.
Of course, those lessons emphasize the most important parts of the game, not the least of which is getting off the tee.
“You’ve got to hit fairways,” Harper says. “There’s just no other way around it. The driver is the most important club in the bag by far. Especially in today’s game. If we can hit fairways and get the ball into play, the rest of the game becomes much easier.”
Short game and three-putt avoidance are also super important to scoring well. And a big part of the playing lessons involves course management.
“You have to avoid the big numbers,” Harper says. “Double and triple bogeys or worse will wreck a round.”
And after the playing lesson, most students head back out to the golf course for at least one more 18-hole round to see how much improvement they’ve made. With very few exceptions, they shoot better scores or at least have a better feel for their own game.
The Rest of the Experience
While the golf courses and instruction at Nemacolin are top-notch, the setting for all this is stunning. Named for Chief Nemacolin of the Delaware Nation, this wonderful resort property offers luxurious accommodation options, incredible shopping, and dining that includes 18 restaurants, lounges, and eateries. There is also horseback riding, fly fishing, off-roading trails, sporting clays, seven pools, a large casino, and the Woodlands Spa, which features 30 treatment rooms, locker rooms, an indoor and outdoor pool, men’s and women’s whirlpools, steam rooms, and sauna, and a private fireside lounge.
Nemacolin is also known for its wildlife habitats, where you can check out exotic animals on the property, such as lions, tigers, wolves, buffalo, red sheep, and silver foxes, to name a few. And there’s also an airplane museum, and The Woodlands Auto Toy Store, and several signature lounges at Nemacolin, including Nightcap, a late-night club with live entertainment, such as piano, pop covers, dance music, and the occasional cabaret show to go along with cocktails, savory bites, and delectable desserts.