Our first installment of The Smart Play takes us to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, home of Pete Dye’s Mystic Rock and Shepherd’s Rock. From 2003 through 2006, Mystic Rock hosted the 84 Lumber Classic, a PGA Tour event that brought many of the game’s best players to the hills of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Nemacolin Woodlands was founded by Joseph A. Hardy III after purchasing the property from the Rockwells in 1987. Today, the world class resort is operated by his daughter, Maggie Hardy.
For this edition, we focus on Hole No. 16 at Mystic Rock, a demanding par 5 that plays 525 yards from the Blue tees and carries a No. 6 handicap ranking. This is a golf hole that showcases nearly every challenge the game can present.
The tee shot is framed by wooded areas on both sides, with bunkering guarding the right side of the landing area. Once players successfully navigate the drive and think the difficult part is behind them, the real decision making begins. Water comes into play on the second shot and sometimes the third, running down the left side of the hole and wrapping behind the green. Any shot hit long right can also spell trouble. Meanwhile, the right side of the approach offers no relief, as thick fescue and wooded areas await any shot that lacks commitment.
A course rater standing on the 16th tee while evaluating slope rating would have plenty to consider. Slope rating is designed to measure the difficulty of a course for the bogey golfer. Bogey golfers tend to focus on all the places they do not want the golf ball to finish, while scratch golfers typically focus on where they want to hit it. That distinction matters.
From the tee, the rater immediately notices the ravine players must carry. It is filled with rock outcroppings, tall fescue, trees, and even the occasional rattlesnake. Down the right side of the landing area sits a bunker with a high lip protecting the fairway, while additional trouble waits farther right in the form of rocks, trees, and heavy fescue. Miss left and players can find even more trouble, including bunkering associated with the nearby third hole.
Once in the landing area, the second shot reveals another layer of difficulty. Trouble still looms on the right, while the left side is dominated by a large lake ready to collect any shot pulled left, hit over the green, or pushed long right. It is a visually intimidating golf hole designed to challenge both execution and decision making. Holes like this are a major reason Mystic Rock carries a higher slope rating.
I once walked this hole during a practice round with Grant Waite prior to the 2006 84 Lumber Classic. For him, it looked fairly routine. He hit a towering drive down the left center of the fairway that caught the slope just left of the bunker and rolled out to roughly 214 yards from the hole. The pin that day sat about 12 paces from the front and only eight from the left edge with the water fully in play.
Waite then hit a towering 4 iron directly at the flag. The shot landed on the front of the green, skipped forward, and spun to a stop roughly two feet from the cup for a tap in eagle. Easy game.
Of course, most readers are not taking the same route to eagle as a PGA Tour professional, so let’s talk about The Smart Play for the rest of us.
The ideal tee shot is left center of the fairway. That line avoids the bunker on the right while setting up the proper angle for the second shot. Golfers should do the math based on the tees they are playing and determine whether they can realistically reach the bunker. If bringing that bunker into play is a possibility, The Smart Play may simply be choosing less club off the tee and removing it from the equation altogether.
The second shot is where strategy truly takes over. Depending on the tees being played, most golfers will face somewhere between 200 and 260 yards to the center of the green. The first question is simple: Do you honestly have enough firepower to get there in two? The second question may be even more important: Can you look at the water down the left side and behind the green and still make a smooth, committed swing?
For many golfers, reaching this green in two requires a career shot. If you believe you have that shot, take your chance. Just understand that even a well struck shot may still find trouble if it cannot be stopped on the putting surface.
Again, I’m going to encourage you to do some math and even if you thought you left that behind after high school. Too many golfers simply hit away without calculating yardages or thinking ahead. Take the time to determine your favorite scoring distance and play toward it. Doing so gives you the best opportunity to attack with your wedge game while still leaving yourself an excellent chance at par.
Of course, that is the straightforward version of playing this hole. Damage control is an entirely different discussion.
I have played Mystic Rock since it opened in 1995 while serving as the Head Golf Professional at nearby Hidden Valley Resort, and over the years I have seen every possible outcome on Hole No. 16. Tee shots into the ravine. Slices into the woods. Duck hooks ending up near the third green. Balls buried in the deep bunker, forcing players to wedge out and simply advance the ball. Second shots ripped into the lake or over the green into the water behind it. Shots caroming off the rocks and somehow bouncing safely toward the putting surface.
That’s golf. Anything can happen. The key is to stay composed when it does.
Don’t lose your temper. Don’t panic after one bad swing. No matter how good you become, bad shots are still part of the game. The important thing is avoiding two bad shots in a row.
There is still a smart way to play after hitting one in the water, losing one in the woods, or finding yourself badly out of position. Slow down, make a plan, and focus on hitting the next shot to a place that gives you an outside chance at par and a solid opportunity for bogey.
Golf rewards composure. Players who stay calm generally make better decisions, and better decisions almost always lead to lower scores.
And for the record, while Grant Waite made Hole No. 16 look easy during that practice round, he still missed the cut that week.
