Course: Quicksilver Golf Club Location: 20 Miles West of Pittsburgh, PA Par: 72 Yardage: 7013 Yards JNSE Designer: Dave Salamon What once was a strip mine became the Fallen Timber Gold Course in 1974. Fallen Timber was known for its length, tough greens and lack of character. Many reminders of strip mines remained. When I first played this course, the pond in front of #8 green was orange...Sunkist orange...from mine drainage. It looked like something from the "Toxic Avenger". No one dared put their hand into the water to retrieve a ball. Honest! The grass on the course was very thin and the shale subsurface really did a job of your clubs. In 1989, ownership of the course changed, along with its name. Under the direction of Robert W. Murphy Jr. and Sean Parees, Quicksilver was completely renovated. Dozens of bunkers were added. Greens and water hazards were reshaped. The entire course was reseeded. The course has hosted the Ben Hogan Tour in 1990, 1991 and 1992. In September of 1993, the course hosted its first Senior Tour event. The Senior Event will be televised in 1994 but the front and back nines will be switched for television. The background used for this course was designed for Afton Mountain by Gene Rodiguez III. After many feeble attempts at creating a background, I decided that Gene's background is much closer to real thing than anything I could come with. I think I changed a few pixels here and there and maybe changed the sky coloring slightly but basically the artistry is all Gene's. Soooo, THANKS Gene!! This design has more trees than the actual Quicksilver course even though in this design few, if any, come into play. The hardwoods were borrowed my mine and Willett's Oakmont. Several pines were also borrowed from Dave Dykeman's fine course design, Cole's Mill. Thanks Dave for the nice pines. Seeing that there's mostly pines on this course, they fit in very nicely. There is also a large pine that I imported but cannot find out (lost my notes) who the original creator was. One thing I'll mention about the hole quotes is that I've included the actual hole handicap in the quote. In an attempt to equate the hole difficulty with its handicap, I tried the following: Handicap holes 1 thru 6 have greens surrounded by 1 pixel of rough then heavy rough. Handicap holes 7 thru 12 have greens surrounded by a pixel of fairway then the heavy stuff. Handicap holes 13 thru 18 have greens surrounded by 1 pixel of fairway, 1 pixel of rough and then the heavy rough. I sincerely doubt there will be any correlation between the actual hole handicap and the degree of difficulty but the hole handicap may be something to keep in mind when you hitting a long iron to a pin tucked in a corner of a green. If it's a high handicap hole, a slight mistake means your putting from the fairway fringe...on a low handicap hole, going for the pin may put you in the rough. I'd like to thank Bob Polin for playtesting this design. Anybody that shoot a 54 on Nonami (even though it's his own design...ggg) can surely put anything I can come with through a thorough testing. Thanks Bob! I hope you all enjoy this course. I've really enjoyed the challenge of trying to design a hilly course that plays acceptably well given the limitations of the low ball trajectory. Also, I've playtested this course under dry conditions and trust me....when dry...it's not easy. So if you want to just enjoy a nice quiet round of golf, tone down the wind and avoid dry conditions and good luck. If you have any comments concerning this design, bad or good, and wish to express them to me, I can be reached on the National Videotex Network (NVN). My ID is DSALAMON1. Dave Salamon 641 Penny Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15235. Other course designs: Heartbreak Ridge Oakmont Country Club (with Willett).