The Club at Nevillewood
Designed by Jack Nicklaus
History
The story of The Club at Nevillewood begins in 1992, when the rolling farmland of Collier Township in Allegheny County gave way to one of the region’s most ambitious private club ventures. Presto, Pennsylvania — a small community with roots in the region’s industrial past — became the unlikely setting for a golf course bearing the signature of one of the game’s most storied names.
Jack Nicklaus, already decades into his transition from champion golfer to sought-after designer, took on the Nevillewood property at a point in his career when his design firm was refining its approach to member-driven private clubs. The Golden Bear’s design philosophy in this era favored strategic variety over pure difficulty, and Nevillewood offered him a canvas of western Pennsylvania topography — the same hilly, wooded terrain that has shaped golf course design throughout Allegheny County since the sport arrived there generations earlier. His involvement lent the club immediate credibility in a golf market already crowded with private options in the Pittsburgh suburbs.
Since opening, Nevillewood has maintained its identity as a private membership club rather than pursuing the tournament hosting or public exposure that some Nicklaus designs have embraced elsewhere. The course has remained under private ownership structure typical of clubs of its era, serving the golfing community of the South Hills and western suburbs of Pittsburgh. Its history, now over three decades deep, reflects a steadier trajectory than dramatic reinvention — a private club built once, by a major design name, and maintained since as a fixture of the local golf landscape.
Playing Notes
Expect a round that leans on the region's natural topography — this is rolling, hilly Allegheny County terrain, so uneven stances and blind approaches are part of the deal. Carts are the practical choice here given the elevation changes between holes, though the routing itself isn't cramped, so you won't feel boxed in off the tee. Bring extra focus for club selection on approach shots, since elevated and depressed greens will mess with your normal yardages, and pack a rangefinder if you've got one. Water and bunkering show up at key moments rather than constantly, so the bigger test is adjusting to the ground itself — uphill lies that steal distance, downhill lies that add it, and greens that can run away from you if you're not reading the slope off the fairway before you even get there.