Nemacolin (Mystic Rock)

Boulders, water and a tour pedigree in the Laurel Highlands.

Mystic Rock is the older of two Pete Dye courses at Nemacolin, a large resort in the Laurel Highlands of south-western Pennsylvania, about an hour and a half by road from Pittsburgh’s airport. It opened in 1995 and spent the mid-2000s as the home of the PGA Tour’s 84 Lumber Classic, which is why its back tees stretch past 7,500 yards. It is not a course you can simply ring and book. Nemacolin keeps its tee sheets for overnight guests and all-access members of The Woodlands Club, so the trip starts with a room.

Nemacolin (Mystic Rock) green fees and tee times.

Nemacolin’s golf pages say both courses are open to guests with an overnight stay reservation and to all-access members of The Woodlands Club; day visitors without a room are not offered tee times. Once you hold a reservation, book golf through the resort by phone (Nemacolin has listed 866.344.6957 for golf reservations) or ask the reservations team when you book the room. Golf directories list a booking window of up to 180 days for resort guests against 30 days for members, so guests can lock in tee times well before the season starts. No per-round green fee is published on the official site, so prices are on request: ask for the guest rate and any seasonal golf package when you call. Nemacolin’s booking page also says independent play is for golfers aged 18 and over; younger players need an accompanying adult.

The courses at Nemacolin (Mystic Rock).

Mystic Rock (par 72, 7,526 yards, 1995)

The tournament course and the reason most golfers come. Boulder-edged lakes and Dye bunkering refreshed by Tim Liddy in 2021. It hosted the 84 Lumber Classic on the PGA Tour from 2003 to 2006. Carts are included in the fee and fivesomes are allowed, which suits groups travelling with an odd number.

Shepherd’s Rock (par 72, 7,151 yards, 2017)

Nemacolin’s second Dye course, completed in 2017 with Tim Liddy as Dye’s associate on the project. Nemacolin describes terrain that climbs hills and drops into valleys, with views at every turn. GolfPass rates it 74.7/138 from the back, a touch gentler than Mystic Rock’s 77.0/149, and lists the blues at 6,554 yards. Play it on arrival day and save Mystic Rock for a fresh morning.

The round, in perspective.

Dye built Mystic Rock on rolling, wooded ground and lined its ponds and hazards with the large stone walls and boulders that give the course its name. It is a par 72 of 7,526 yards from the championship tees, rated 77.0 with a slope of 149 there, so most visitors will be happier on the shorter sets: GolfPass lists the blue tees at 6,818 yards (73.3/138) and the whites at 6,313. In July 2021 Nemacolin and the architect Tim Liddy, long a Dye associate, finished an extensive bunker renovation. Golfbreaks cites Golf Digest’s 2025 rankings, which placed Mystic Rock 11th in Pennsylvania.

Know before you go.

Access

Overnight guests and Woodlands Club all-access members

Booking window

Up to 180 days for resort guests (as listed by golf directories)

Carts

Included in the fee (as listed by GolfPass)

Group size

Fivesomes allowed (as listed by GolfPass)

Shoes

Soft spikes only; no metal spikes

Age

Independent play 18 and over; minors with an adult

Season

About 1 April to 15 November (as listed by GolfPass)

Make the trip work.

Two nights covers both courses without rushing, and three lets you replay Mystic Rock with a better idea of where to miss. The resort spreads across a large estate in Farmington, so check how far your hotel is from the first tee and whether shuttles run to the golf. Nemacolin has its own shooting academy, spa, off-road driving course and wildlife programme, which helps when not everyone in the party plays. The course is long and hilly from the back, so pick tees honestly: a carry over water from the wrong set ruins a round quickly.

Pittsburgh International (PIT) is about 85 miles away, roughly 90 minutes by car, and most visitors drive from there. Morgantown (MGW) in West Virginia is closer, at about 34 miles, but has far fewer flights. Hire a car: the resort is in rural Fayette County, and you will want one for Fallingwater and the state parks nearby.

Where it is.

Somewhere to settle in.

You must stay on site to play, so the room choice matters. Falling Rock is the resort’s small boutique hotel, with around 40 rooms set by the 18th hole of Mystic Rock, and the best fit for a golf-focused trip; Golfbreaks lists it as adults-only (16 and over), so families need another building. The Chateau is the formal, European-styled main hotel, and the Lodge is the more relaxed option close to the spa, restaurants and lounges. Larger groups can ask about the resort’s homes and cottages, which keep a party under one roof.

Make a trip of it.

Shepherd’s Rock is the natural second round, a few minutes away on the same estate. Off the course, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and his smaller Kentuck Knob are both a short drive into the hills, and tours sell out in summer, so book them when you book golf. Ohiopyle State Park, with waterfalls and rafting on the Youghiogheny River, is close by, and Fort Necessity National Battlefield, where George Washington fought in 1754, sits just along the National Road from the resort.

Find your season.

The courses typically open around 1 April and close around 15 November, weather permitting. April and early May can be cool in the Laurel Highlands, so late May to early October gives the most reliable conditions. Early to mid October brings the Laurel Highlands’ autumn colour, the busiest and most expensive time to stay. Winter at Nemacolin switches to skiing on the resort’s own small slopes.