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Roger Wolfe

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Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« on: March 04, 2009, 01:54:38 PM »
Exclusive, golf only, club outside of Pittsburgh.  Is anyone familiar with it?  Can you give some insight into the membership?  the course?  the atmosphere?

Bill_McBride

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2009, 02:07:24 PM »
I have some friends who no longer live in Pittsburgh who really miss that club.  Apparently it's nice but a cut below Oakmont and Fox Chapel, but the membership is friendly and busy.  Otherwise I know nothing!

TEPaul

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2009, 02:13:42 PM »
Among other things it's the home club of the great and ultra enduring American amateur, Carol Semple Thompson. She's the recent (and successful) Curtis Cup captain and inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame a couple of months ago. Over the years she's won just about everything including something like 22 or 23 Pennsylvania State Amateur championships.

JohnV

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2009, 02:37:08 PM »
Among other things it's the home club of the great and ultra enduring American amateur, Carol Semple Thompson. She's the recent (and successful) Curtis Cup captain and inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame a couple of months ago. Over the years she's won just about everything including something like 22 or 23 Pennsylvania State Amateur championships.

Wrong oh great one.  Carol's home club is Allegheny Country Club which is located in Sewickley.

Sewickley is a good course, but very difficult.  Some people in Pittsburgh say it is harder than Oakmont.  I ran a couple of events there, but never got to play more than a couple of holes.  It definitely was a good test for US Open and US Am qualifiers.

The biggest problem with it is the greens.  A lot of them have front sections that really can't be used for competitions as they are too heavily sloped.  Not quite false fronts, but close enough.  This leads to setups where almost every hole is at the back of the green.  They were talking about rebuilding a number of greens to try to get more hole locations, but I think the economy has put that on hold.

Roger Wolfe

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2009, 03:19:53 PM »

Wrong oh great one.  Carol's home club is Allegheny Country Club which is located in Sewickley.


According to the club's web page... it looks like Carol's father or grandfather founded SHGC...

http://www.shgc.org/default.aspx?p=CourseTourDefault&NoModResize=1&NoNav=1&ShowFooter=False&A=1&sl=1&vnf=0&ssid=100&dpageid=202985

Click on "course tour"


Bill_McBride

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2009, 03:43:12 PM »
Among other things it's the home club of the great and ultra enduring American amateur, Carol Semple Thompson. She's the recent (and successful) Curtis Cup captain and inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame a couple of months ago. Over the years she's won just about everything including something like 22 or 23 Pennsylvania State Amateur championships.

Wrong oh great one.  Carol's home club is Allegheny Country Club which is located in Sewickley.

Sewickley is a good course, but very difficult.  Some people in Pittsburgh say it is harder than Oakmont.  I ran a couple of events there, but never got to play more than a couple of holes.  It definitely was a good test for US Open and US Am qualifiers.

The biggest problem with it is the greens.  A lot of them have front sections that really can't be used for competitions as they are too heavily sloped.  Not quite false fronts, but close enough.  This leads to setups where almost every hole is at the back of the green.  They were talking about rebuilding a number of greens to try to get more hole locations, but I think the economy has put that on hold.

I now realize I made the same mistake - my friends lived in Sewickley Heights but belonged to Allegheny CC. 

Jeff_Mingay

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2009, 03:49:11 PM »
I think it's Carol Semple Thompson's family who owns the course... or at least established this club?
« Last Edit: March 04, 2009, 04:11:07 PM by Jeff_Mingay »
jeffmingay.com

Jeff Tang

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2009, 03:57:03 PM »
I used to live in Pittsburgh and I've played Sewickley Heights twice.  I agree regarding the greens, they are very difficult, probably some of the fastest I've ever played.  There's just a lot of run out in them, when you think your chip is going to settle next to the hole it runs 4-5 feet on past.

Tee to green the course is very nice.  It's through the trees but not overly tight.  I remember the rough being very difficult as well.  The combination of the rough and the greens make it a really tough golf course.

In that area of the country with as hilly as it is I think some courses can get a little too wild especially when it comes to slopes on the greens but overall I thought it was difficult but fair.  The course was hilly but not out of control up and down.

I haven't played Oakmont or some of the other famous ones out that way so I can't really compare Sewickley with those.
So bad it's good!

George Pazin

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2009, 04:23:23 PM »
Someone posted a thread on Sewickley Heights about a year ago, I'll try to dig it up.

Info on Allegheny CC is also sorely lacking on here.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Brian Cenci

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2009, 04:30:45 PM »
Here's some pics...

BTW, I love the course!


















« Last Edit: March 04, 2009, 04:33:52 PM by Brian Cenci »

Joe Hancock

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2009, 04:35:57 PM »
Earbuds?
" What the hell is the point of architecture and excellence in design if a "clever" set up trumps it all?" Peter Pallotta, June 21, 2016

"People aren't picking a side of the fairway off a tee because of a randomly internally contoured green ."  jeffwarne, February 24, 2017

George Pazin

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2009, 04:39:39 PM »
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

TEPaul

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2009, 04:41:40 PM »
JVB:

You've got to remember---I've known Carol and her family since she was 14 years old---primarily from Delray Beach. The Semples apparently belonged to more than one club in Pittsburgh. Maybe I was thinking more of her mother there.  ;)

JohnV

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #13 on: March 04, 2009, 05:23:59 PM »
Tom,

While the Semples, Thompsons or Semple Thompsons have some ties, probably close, to Sewickley Heights, Carol's home course is definitely Allegheny as was her mom's.  They were both up there almost every day they were in Pittsburgh.  Carol's trophies and other historical items are on display at ACC.

The reason the WPGA Century Foursomes championship which is played annually at Allegheny is called the Semple Brothers Century Foursomes is because of the families ties to ACC.

Greg Tallman

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #14 on: March 04, 2009, 06:38:13 PM »
JVB:

You've got to remember---I've known Carol and her family since she was 14 years old---primarily from Delray Beach. The Semples apparently belonged to more than one club in Pittsburgh. Maybe I was thinking more of her mother there.  ;)

While JVB has a point I'll have to side with TEP since her father did have the club built.  I would call that strong ties.

Mike_Cirba

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #15 on: March 04, 2009, 09:20:56 PM »
I've played a number of James Gilmore Harrison courses and it seems he was a bit of a follower of Ross.

I can't say I've ever played a hole by Harrison that was awful, and many that are pretty darn good so that's saying something.

He certainly doesn't get much talk-up here, so it's nice to see Sewickley, which looks pretty sound.

Kyle Harris

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #16 on: March 04, 2009, 09:23:27 PM »
I've played a number of James Gilmore Harrison courses and it seems he was a bit of a follower of Ross.

I can't say I've ever played a hole by Harrison that was awful, and many that are pretty darn good so that's saying something.

He certainly doesn't get much talk-up here, so it's nice to see Sewickley, which looks pretty sound.

James Harrison's work on the original Penn State Blue Course is pretty darn good. His associate is Ferdinand Garbin who is still around. Amazingly, only one of the original H&G holes was destroyed in the 1994 renovations at PSU, the old 8th.

TEPaul

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #17 on: March 04, 2009, 09:28:53 PM »
"Tom,
While the Semples, Thompsons or Semple Thompsons have some ties, probably close, to Sewickley Heights, Carol's home course is definitely Allegheny as was her mom's.  They were both up there almost every day they were in Pittsburgh.  Carol's trophies and other historical items are on display at ACC."

JVB:

Oh, I know that. When I saw Sewickley Heights on this thread I was thinking about Allegheny and mixed it up as Carol's primary golf club but the point is it wouldn't surprise me if she also belonged to Sewickley Heights as that was one of the Semple family's clubs. As you know the Semples lived in Sewickley. I can't remember where Carol lives but she probably lives there too. As I said, it all went back a long way. ;)

It's funny to think of now. I knew the Semples starting back in the 1960s in Delray. Her parents and my parents were friends (my father's sister lived in Sewickley for many years) and belonged to Gulfstream in Delray. Carol was around 14 and I think I was around 16 when we started playing together now and then but more often I played with her brother, Harton. After we were teenagers down there the next thing I knew she was in the finals of the US Amateur in north Jersey when I was in Long Island in the summer so me and my parents went over to watch her win the US Amateur. As I remember, at that time her dad, Bud Semple, was the vice president of the USGA and he gave her the trophy at the award ceremony. That was the beginning of Carol's career in top flight tournament golf and the rest, as we all know, is real American amateur history! 

But none of this has to do with the subject of this thread.  ;)
« Last Edit: March 04, 2009, 09:41:43 PM by TEPaul »

Mike_Cirba

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #18 on: March 04, 2009, 09:33:32 PM »
I've played a number of James Gilmore Harrison courses and it seems he was a bit of a follower of Ross.

I can't say I've ever played a hole by Harrison that was awful, and many that are pretty darn good so that's saying something.

He certainly doesn't get much talk-up here, so it's nice to see Sewickley, which looks pretty sound.

James Harrison's work on the original Penn State Blue Course is pretty darn good. His associate is Ferdinand Garbin who is still around. Amazingly, only one of the original H&G holes was destroyed in the 1994 renovations at PSU, the old 8th.

Their third hole at PSU Blue is exquisite.

I grew up playing Scranton Municipal by Harrison/Garbin, and the 16th hole there is still one of the best I've ever played.

Kyle Harris

Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #19 on: March 04, 2009, 09:45:54 PM »
I've played a number of James Gilmore Harrison courses and it seems he was a bit of a follower of Ross.

I can't say I've ever played a hole by Harrison that was awful, and many that are pretty darn good so that's saying something.

He certainly doesn't get much talk-up here, so it's nice to see Sewickley, which looks pretty sound.

James Harrison's work on the original Penn State Blue Course is pretty darn good. His associate is Ferdinand Garbin who is still around. Amazingly, only one of the original H&G holes was destroyed in the 1994 renovations at PSU, the old 8th.

Their third hole at PSU Blue is exquisite.


Sadly, the need for length has turned that hole into a one option tee shot. From the original tee the decision to lay up to the top of the hill or try to lace Driver into the slot to get to the bottom without going through the dogleg was one of the more vexing I've encountered in tournament golf and it really was on your mind was you played the first two holes. With the tee about 75 yards behind where it was, there is no decision - just hit driver to the top of the hill.

The amazing thing about the old tee shot was how uncomfortably right one had to aim in order to find the little kicker to get to the bottom of the hill without rolling through the fairway into the woods beyond the dogleg. It was a shot I only attempted if I was feeling *very* comfortable with the Driver that day.

mike_beene

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club
« Reply #20 on: March 04, 2009, 10:17:26 PM »
Really good course and club.My cousin has been there for years and I have played two member-guests there.The next to last picture is one of several half par holes.I think the Semples founded it as a golf club when Aleghaney(sp)didnt want to toughen their course.It is just over the mountain.A good membership deal with a very affordable price for a first class setup,caddy program,etc.

Ryan Taylor

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Re: Sewickley Heights Golf Club New
« Reply #21 on: October 06, 2014, 11:18:38 AM »
Any updates on Sewickley Heights GC? I was a member several years ago and heard they were going to execute a long term master plan.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2014, 04:42:57 PM by Ryan Taylor »
"Bandon is like Chamonix for skiers or the North Shore of Oahu for surfers,” Rogers said. “It is where those who really care end up."

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