Laurel Valley Golf Club
Designed by Arnold Palmer
History
The story of Laurel Valley begins not with a landowner or a real estate venture but with a golfer’s ambition. In 1959, a consortium of Pittsburgh businessmen set out to build a private club worthy of hosting national championships, and they turned to a rising star who happened to be a son of these same Laurel Highlands: Arnold Palmer. Palmer, still early in his competitive career and only beginning his long second life as a course designer, took on Laurel Valley as his first solo design credit, and the club’s founders got exactly what they were after — a course built with championship golf in mind from its very first routing.
Palmer’s design work here reflected the confidence of a young champion who understood tournament golf from the inside. He laid out a course meant to test the best players in the world, and the golfing world took notice quickly. Just three years after opening, in 1962, Laurel Valley was already hosting the PGA Championship, an extraordinary vote of confidence for so new a club. That tournament, won by Gary Player, set the tone for what would become Laurel Valley’s defining role in American golf: a private sanctuary that nonetheless opened its gates, again and again, to the game’s largest stages.
In the decades since, Laurel Valley has hosted the 1965 and 1975 U.S. Senior Opens, the 1989 U.S. Senior Open, and — most memorably for American golf fans — the 1975 Ryder Cup, when the United States team defeated Great Britain and Ireland on Palmer’s home ground. The club also hosted the 2008 Chick Fil-A Charity Championship on the Champions Tour, continuing a tradition of welcoming professional competition that dates to its founding years. Through ownership continuity and its enduring identity as a private retreat for its membership, Laurel Valley has remained tied to the man who designed it and to the region that shaped them both.
Playing Notes
Expect a walk through rolling Laurel Highlands terrain where elevation change dictates club selection more than distance off the tee. The tree-lined corridors demand accuracy over raw power, with tight sightlines putting a premium on shot shape and placement rather than aggressive driving. Greens here run true but can be tricky to read given the natural slopes of the property, so pay attention to grain and subtle breaks fed by the surrounding hills. Bring a rangefinder for the elevation changes, extra layers for mountain weather that can shift quickly, and patience for a layout that punishes impatience more than it punishes a single bad swing. Cart use is common given the terrain, though the course remains walkable for those in good condition and willing to take on the hills between holes.