He Says, She Says - Quicksilver GC Review

After much coding and site aesthetics, we’re finally ready for our first true review: Quicksilver Golf Club. If you’ve followed the Twitter feed, you know it was a challenging round. But at the end, Amy and Jared both appreciated the course. Here are our takes on what we’ve concurred is one of the best courses for the money in the Western Pennsylvania area.

Amy’s Red Tee Perspective

Though Jared is a much more experienced golfer, I still think it is important to provide feedback on course and golf topics from the viewpoint of the red tees. I haven’t had opportunities to golf at major resorts, or take lessons from a golf pro. But I think that’s what makes my opinions genuine and simple. Jared recently posted comments on our experiences at Quicksilver Golf Club in Midway, PA. As Jared wrote, starter Bill Weir helped send off our round on the right foot. He went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable and relaxed as we prepared to take our spot on the first tee, which is an intimidating par 4 with trees on the right and bunkers on the left, lining a narrow uphill fairway to a relatively small green guarded by several deep traps.

As Bill provided general information about yardages and course rules, he warned that this is a challenging course for women. He was not joking. The red tees play 5,003 yards, many of which are accounted for on the monstrous par 5s.

I didn’t have the best round, yet I appreciated the aesthetics of the course and it was good to get a feel for these challenging greens. Surprisingly, putting wasn’t where I struggled. The course was in great shape, though it was disappointing to see that some golfers don’t have the common courtesy to rake the sand traps and repair their ball marks on the greens. This doesn’t reflect on the course groundskeepers, but it is surprising that golf etiquette is so often overlooked at such a pristine golf course. However, the beautiful weather that Saturday welcomed surely brought out a variety of golfers with varying degrees of etiquette understanding.

Overall, I enjoyed playing at Quicksilver, although I hope to improve my game as the season progresses and I begin to iron out some flaws. For the average golfer, this course offers an exciting and scenic challenge, especially with the placement of the many bunkers and the various slopes of the fast-paced greens.

Of course, my favorite part was the GPS system in the cart. Bill Weir was correct in that this is a difficult course, however I would love to have another opportunity to play here and take revenge (and perhaps a lower score) in the fairway.

Jared’s Blue Tee Perspective

In this case, my blue tee perspective is actually from the white tees, which play to 6,389 long yards – ideal for the 10-12 handicaps such as me. The blue tees, at 6,762 yards, would have beckoned me on any other day, but I wanted to enjoy this round and didn’t have the requisite confidence in my driver to tackle the extra yardage. At 7,083, the silver tees were out of the question. So, white tees it was.

Aside from the warm welcoming from Bill Weir, I was immediately most impressed by how well Quicksilver was conditioned for early April in Western Pennsylvania. Aside from a few divots and un-repaired ball marks, the course conditions were impeccable, making for an even more challenging round than I’d anticipated.

I didn’t help myself much though, struggling to keep my tee-shots in the narrow but welcoming fairways. While the rough was kindly cut to about 3 inches, I had the misfortune of finding the many fairway bunkers and tall wooded impediments, otherwise known as trees. The course seems to set up equally well for a draw or fade, neither of which I was able to execute when needed.

When I finally got to the greens, I was amazed at how true the ball rolled and the pace of the greens so early in the season, not to mention that the greens held most low iron shots, even when played from the rough or a fairway bunker where spin is a bit more difficult to generate.

Having played a course earlier in the week that demanded Herculean strength to get the ball to the hole, I struggled with putting through the first five holes or so. But eventually I settled down and started to sink a few putts for par and bogey. That said, I shudder at the thought of Quicksilver’s stimpmeter readings once we hit mid-season – the greens will probably play like buttered glass.

I was able to salvage a decent score with some luck and creativity, but would love to give this course another shot, this time playing to the greens from the fairways. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have hit more 3-woods from the tees to keep the ball in the fairway more often, and deal with the longer approach shot.

All in all, I’d rate this course a 4-star out of a possible five. I’d give it a five out of five, but only if they raise the rates slightly (Saturday was $45/golfer) to keep away some of the less-experienced golfers who don’t understand terms like “ready golf” and “play through.” We finished the round 43 minutes off pace, and the foursome ahead of us had at least two open holes ahead of them early on the front nine. This, my only complaint, is out of the hands of the course managers. Otherwise, kudos to the grounds-keeping staff and, of course, Bill Weir.

We’ll be back to Quicksilver for sure.