Nagle Design Works has been appointed as consulting architect for the Pete Dye Golf Club in West Virginia, USA.
PDGC opened in 1994 after an epic 17-year build. Spread out over 250 acres amidst the Appalachian Mountains, the fairways of the 7,308-yard course weave through wildly rugged terrain and Dye’s graceful earth sculptures. It is currently 92nd in Golf Digest’s ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Courses, having been as high as 45th shortly after it opened.
“The property was original owned by the LaRosas, who were a West Virginia coal mining family,” says Jim Nagle. “That’s why the course took so long to build – when coal was in demand, and there was money, they would work on the golf course. When it wasn’t, and there wasn’t, they wouldn’t.”
PDGC has been a special place in Nagle’s career. “When I was studying landscape architecture at West Virginia University, which is only a short distance away from the golf course, one of my classmates was the daughter of Gary Grandstaff, the grow-in superintendent,” he says. “I knew I wanted to get into golf design, so I arranged to visit Gary, and, on the day of my visit, Pete was there working. I made contact with O’Brien McGarey from Pete’s son Perry’s firm that day too, and, eventually, I went to work for Perry.
“That day was the kickstart of my career, and opened many doors for me. And, a few years ago, I was at PDGC meeting with general manager Tony Kowalski, and my phone rang. It was Jeff Brauer, calling to tell me I had been accepted as a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.”
A view of the course at Pete Dye Golf Club
Nagle’s reintroduction to PDGC came through his association with West Virginia University, and specifically with the Mountaineers’ men’s golf team.
“In 2012, WVU was accepted into the NCAA’s Big 12 conference, and that meant they had to start a men’s golf program,” Nagle explains. “I was working with Ron Forse, also a WVU alum, at the time, and I started working the phones not long after the announcement, trying to reach the athletic department to tell them they needed a new golf course, and we were the people to do it. That didn’t happen, but I created a relationship with the golf coach, Sean Covich, and he started searching all around Morgantown to find land for a new practice facility.
“We did conceptual designs for a number of locations, then the university bought a mom-and-pop course locally on farmland. The design for that facility was a six-hole course of varying lengths and tee configurations that could be played to 36 different holes. That facility had a team building, a three-green short game area, and then Covid hit, and WVU had budget woes, so the project collapsed. The Mountaineers did not have a true home course. Randy Buzzo, the current owner of PDGC, is a native West Virginian, and he loves the state and the university, so he invited the team to use the course to practice. The golf team started hosting the Mountaineer Invitational event at PDGC, and it has become extremely popular.”
On moving to PDGC as their home course, the Mountaineers needed a top-class practice facility, and Nagle was asked to design it, and that has led to his appointment as consulting architect for the club as a whole.
“The initial brief is to develop a plan that continues the development of practice facilities, as well as starting to look at tees,” he says. “The amount of member play is exceeding the usable teeing space, so they are showing wear. We’re looking at expanding, joining, and adding tees, along with adjusting grass lines where appropriate. Eventually the bunkers will need to be rebuilt; now, they are bunkers are in need of a refresh. Things have shifted, and they need some attention. But we are going to go extremely carefully, and we’re going to see that is stays a museum piece, albeit one that has been kept in the best possible condition. It is a Pete Dye masterpiece, and it will stay a Pete Dye masterpiece.”
