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I BECOME excited just thinking about the Nemacolin Resort & Spa, 60 miles south of Pittsburgh. It was without doubt the most impressive resort I saw in 1999, and one of the finest ever. It is breathtaking in every respect, from the stylishly elegant hotel and its myriad facilities -- known as the Chateau LaFayette, it's a replica of the Ritz in Paris -- to its improbably luxurious spa and its new Pete Dye course.
The five storey hotel is lavish in extremis: the soaring Grand Lobby, awash with antiques, is a cascade of marble and chandeliers in the style of the French Renaissance; the 124 rooms and suites are havens of opulence, and the choice of restaurants is just short of bewildering. A chap could become quite addicted.
And then there's the golf. If the chateau hasn't knocked you sideways the Dye course, known as Mystic Rock, will soon put that to rights. Stand by to be awe-struck. When you hear that it cost $22 million to build you'll have a notion of what awaits out there.
Profligacy doesn't guarantee sound design but Pete Dye builds courses that can be fun, technically challenging and character building. If you want to better your handicap here you'd best know something about course management and options. And settle for playing from the forward tees. This is no place for bravura.
Just as Dye's Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Mystic Rock is one that will eat you up unless you have the answers to the questions he poses, beginning at the first tee where a bronze statue of Gene Sarazen awaits to oversee your introduction to a course of symphonic tempo.
There may be two holes of similar configuration but I didn't spot them and the greens will leave you either grinning or fuming. It all depends upon your degree of technique, patience and imagination. You'll get the picture.
It all languishes in 1,200 acres of wilderness in the Laurel Highlands so you can imagine the scenery. Go stay and play: you'll be excited, too.
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