Pine Acres CC
Bradford, PA (NW PA near the NY border, about an hour from Buffalo)
1970, James Harrison (Harrison also co-designed the course Fat Guy grew up on, North Folk G&TC in Johnstown PA)
'09 Greens Fees: $50 prime time ride
Fat Guy Review: How the hell did I ever end up in God's Country Bradford Pee-Ay playing golf?
It's not like there's a ton of tourist info to talk about in a place like Bradford, so indulge me by allowing me to regale you with a couple personal stories from my experiences there.
Back in the early-mid '90's, I was working for a trucking company out of Pittsburgh. Two or three times a year I would get stuck having to run up through the massive pine-lined valleys of northwest Pennsylvania to B.F.E. Bradford for a week to fill in for the lone wolf Terminal Manager up there when he went on hunting trips. The "trucking terminal" was really just the corner of an old wood-plank tire shed on the dirt lot of some lumber company, where somebody had thrown up some dry wall, put in an old match-lit propane potbelly stove, tossed an old piece of countertop across two filing cabinets, and hooked up a computer to a satellite dish on the roof. The town of Bradford wasn't much more to look at than the terminal, about an 8 square block downtown leftover from the post-war boom days of area refineries and the Zippo lighter company being headquartered here. In the winter, it would lake-effect snow a foot at a time.
Being an early-20's bachelor at the time, it took me all of 2 nights on my first visit to figure out there was no such thing as weeknight nightlife in this town. And after spending a week alone here listening to the crickets chirp, I sure wasn't gonna hang around for the weekend to try out the local golf scene. Mostly I just ate late dinners and watched sports in my hotel room.
Matter of fact, I still remember being in a hotel room in Bradford when former Pittsburgh Pirate Sid Bream, then of the Atlanta Braves, scored while pulling an ice wagon from 2nd base on his old man's knees on a sac fly to left field, to beat the Pirates in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS. Then-skinny-but-still-a-jerk Barry Bonds couldn't manage to throw him out at home. They call Bream safe at home, and being a lifelong Pirate fan, I'm pounding on the wall of the hotel room repeatedly, cursing over and over. Of course it's a late night prime time game, and I hear an older woman's voice croak from out of a dead sleep in the room next door, "Wha-at's wro-ong?!" To which I scream, "THE F*&%ING PIRATES LOST!!!", emphasizing each word with another steady blow to the wall. (Wow... I had almost forgotten what it was like to actually care about the Pirates.)
A couple years into my occasional Bradford runs, one of my best friends from high school happened to get engaged to a girl from Bradford he met in college, so I managed to catch him in town on a summer weekend visit up there after one of my fill-in stints. We spent a Saturday four-wheeling through the plentiful woods in a jacked-up pink Jeep he'd bought just for kicks, then played a beer-soaked, cart-damaging round at Pine Acres before we retired to a local watering hole and shocked/annoyed his fiance' with high school stories for the remainder of the evening. I'd venture to guess that's about the funnest day you could have in Bradford without involving some miner's daughter... or livestock.
Needless to say, I don't recall alot of specifics about the course. It was a typical tree-lined country parkland track, with rolling elevation changes. Simple, straight forward, old school golf.
Golf.com Review: This course was built in the Allegheny National Forest. The fairways are tree lined. The greens are medium in size and fast. Water hazards (three lakes) come into play on six holes.
Where To Crash: I used to stay at a hotel on the outskirts of town called the DeSoto Holiday House, which was obviously a former Holiday Inn, complete with the classic green-arrowed sign out front, modified to the new name. Even back then it was old school (wonder if it's ever been remodeled since?). The lobby had a not-unpleasant time warp effect back to the early '60's, with faux-flagstone walls, maybe even a circular metal fireplace, and the requisite owner's dog sleeping on the floor. But it was half-decent, clean, and had a surprisingly good restaurant. There's also a Best Western and a Comfort Inn downtown (kinda hard to believe a town this small could support 3 hotels, come to think of it). Bradford's only about 5 minutes big, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding them.
Best Bar Nearby: Pine Acres has a quintessential 19th Hole, with carpet lining the bottom of the 9-seater bar surrounded by dark panelling. 56" and 32" TVs.
If memory serves, the only semblance of nightlife in Bradford was the hotel bar at the Best Western downtown (even that was dead on weeknights save for a travelling salesman or three), plus the typical sprinkling of local's dives. There are also a few sports bars and brewpubs listed in town on a recent Yahoo search. Half the "fun" of a town this small is taking an hour or two to figure out which bar is the "hotspot". Be prepared for the proverbial needle sliding off the jukebox and every head in the joint turning towards the doorway when you walk in a bar as a stranger in a town this small and remote.
Where To Grub: Pine Acres also has a restaurant with tiny 4-topper tables and hotel catering chairs. Open Monday-Friday during golf season, Friday nights all year.
I remember eating alot of Domino's Pizza when I was up here, which tells me that the dining options were also pretty slim. There's also a McDonald's in town. The restaurant at DeSoto's Holiday House served a pretty decent steak and a good house salad in a dimly-lit dining room with a Sinatra soundtrack, if I recall. Being this close to Buffalo, I'm near-certain you can probably get some damn good wings in Bradford, but I don't remember any standouts from my visits. Like I said, I ate alot of Domino's. Ask a local for a recommendation.
A foodie blog I found listed these as recommendations for restaurants in Bradford: Beefeaters- "the" restaurant in Bradford, slightly overpriced, order the beef on wyck; The Downbeat- Good food, decent ambiance, Italian and grill menu; La Herradura- Not-too-bad Mexican; Togi's- Genuinely friendly staff, fair prices, decent portions; Chu-Lee Garden- Decent Chinese; DeSoto Holiday House- Classic American & Italian, great meatloaf; The Lighthouse- Not super-impressive, but loyal customers, family atmosphere; Pizza Napoli- Best pizza in town [I also saw a nod for Tasta's Pizza online]; The Corner Bar- Awesome wings; The Farm- Fried Chicken.
Further Distractions: The Zippo Lighter Company is based here (God only knows why). Take a tour of the Zippo Case Museum (www.zippo.com).