I can still remember the first golf course I ever played.
I was either in eighth grade or a freshman in high school when I first took up playing golf.
My dad started playing golf about one year prior to this. I would see him out in the yard practicing and then I started practicing myself.
The first course I ever played was this little public course in Pineville. I don’t remember if it was part of the state park system at the time.
It was this pretty short fun little course. Almost everyone walked this course because it was a short distance.
I think the longest hole on the course was hole number nine, which came in at a whooping 280 yards (sarcasm intended) with an elevated green. It had a little creek/ditch in front of it, which sometimes came into play. Back in the mid-1980s when I first started playing this wasn’t a hole most people could drive off the tee.
Many times, this hole gave me fits.
They tore up this little course to replace it with Wasioto Winds at Pine Mountain, which was built in 2001.
There is almost nothing left of the old course.
The old number one green was still there last time I looked. It is now at the end of a long parking lot. They appear to use it for sod today.
There was also an old little shelter house with a bench from the old course, which may still be there unless they have torn it down since the last time I played at Wasioto Winds.
The course was designed by golf architect Dr. Michael Hurdzan, who, according to the Kentucky State Parks website, “created a layout that embraces the properties bottomland terrain and scenic Appalachian surroundings.”
Wasioto Winds is an 18-hole championship course. It differs from most Kentucky golf courses in it is a links style course you would more commonly see in Europe. Where many American golf courses typically have a lot of trees to contend with, links courses tend to be flatter with rolling fairways and well-placed bunkers and water features.
I used to always use old balls when I played this course as the water hazards tend to swallow a few golf balls.
The course features five tee boxes to choose from, making the course length range from 6,821 yards to 4,720 yards. In other words, you can choose your level of difficulty to some degree by deciding which tee boxes to use.
The easiest hole on the course is the first one. It is a short little par 4, which measures 320 yards from the longest tee. I am sure some better golfers out there can drive this hole.
The hardest hole is the last one. It is a long par 5, which measures 639 yards from the longest tees.
You can see this hole from US25E as you drive by the golf course.
This hole tends to flood when the water gets up in Pineville. There is a good reason for this.
There used to be a decent size little creek (maybe a small lake), which ran parallel to hole number five on the old Pineville course. They drained this body of water when they built Wasioto Winds, and much of the current 18th hole is now in what was the old creek bed.
One unique thing about Wasioto Winds, which always stood out to me, is the fact the front nine has three par 3s, three par 4s and three par 5s.
This is a municipal course, which is open to the public. It features bent grass fairways and bent grass greens.
This is a beautiful course to play, which doesn’t take too long to get to if you live locally, or if you are visiting the area.
