civilized ku # 1108-10 ~ the silver lining

# 5 ~ Grand View GC - Braddock, PA • click to embiggen
# 15 ~ Grand View GC - Braddock, PA • click to embiggen
# 14 Grand View GC - Braddock, PA • click to embiggenOne good thing (IMO) about our extended stay in Pittsburgh was that I got to play some golf while the wife was waiting (and waiting, and waiting) to testify in a trial (the reason we were in Pittsburgh).

One of the courses I played was Grand View GC in Braddock PA, one of my favorite courses to play when we lived in Pittsburgh. The course is a bit of an oddity (understaement) in that it is built on a hill where the front nine plays down and back up one side of the hill and the back nine plays down and back up on the other side of the hill. The fairways twist around the hillsides with some severe elevation changes making it tough test of "target" golf - lots of blind shots with very challenging tee shots to narrow dogleg fairways and greens with little room for errant shots (see #5 above).

On # 14 - the vertical pano - the tee shot drops 150+ feet into a ravine with the green not visible from the tee. The next hole, # 15 - the horizontal pano - plays down the ravine to a very narrow slot before the green. A very challenging hole but not nearly the most difficult hole on the course.

Re: elevation changes - take note in the # 5 picture of the cart path on the right side of the picture, That's the way to the next hole. Needless to say, unless you're related to a mountain goat, the course is not walking friendly, making this the only golf course I play with a golf cart. And, if you're going to play this course, you need to bring one of two things - 1) your A-game, or, 2) lots of balls (golf balls, that is).

Whoever had the imagination to built a golf course on this plot of land had, well, lots of imagination.