Pikewood National Golf Club

Bob Cupp and Mark Hampton designed Pikewood National in West Virginia on a piece of Morgantown mountain land that the founding members had bought specifically to build one of the most-difficult private golf courses in the eastern United States. The course opened in 2007 on a property where the elevation changes through the routing exceed three hundred feet from the highest tee to the lowest fairway. The result is one of the longest American golf courses — 7,681 yards from the back markers — combined with one of the highest slope ratings the USGA has issued to a private club: 155, which is the maximum the slope rating system allows.

The scorecard reads 7,681 yards, par 72, with a slope of 155 and a course rating of 79.7. The course rating of 79.7 is among the highest the USGA has assigned to any American private course. The four par-3s sit between 169 and 257 yards. The 257-yard fourth is the longest one-shotter on the routing and plays uphill across a mountain saddle into prevailing northwest wind. The four par-5s range from 562 to 583 yards.

The number-one handicap is the 515-yard third — a long par-4 with a tee shot that drops one hundred feet from an elevated tee down to a fairway carved into the mountain side. The 433-yard second-hardest is the par-4 sixteenth; the 583-yard third-hardest is the long par-5 ninth — the only par-5 in the top-three hardest. The course's defense at mountain elevation is the combination of distance, vertical change, and the consistent ridge-line wind that pulls full-club approaches off-line.

The West Virginia Appalachian climate keeps Pikewood playable from April through October, with the firmest fairway conditions arriving in late September and through October when the autumn temperatures lock in. The course is private and access is members-and-guests only. Walking is allowed but unusual given the elevation; carts are standard.