Best Golf Courses Near Wheeling, WV

Located off the Ohio River in the Appalachian foothills of eastern West Virginia, Wheeling may be the most under-the-radar stellar golf city in the country. Situated just an hour’s drive from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the city boasts an illustrious past–in the late 19th century it was a cut iron nail manufacturing center–“the nail capital of the world”–and the wealthiest city per capita in America. In the 1920s the 9-hole executive-style Wheeling Park Golf Course (aka Bloch Memorial Golf Course) was created after the property, formerly a showplace hilltop estate, became a public park. The company that built the storied Oakmont Country Club put in Wheeling Park’s original greens. Wheeling is also home to a 63-hole golf paradise that even many avid traveling golfers haven’t heard of. Oglebay Resort, which occupies an old farm that was donated to the city for use as public recreation, boasts two championship golf courses–the highly playable Palmer Course, which has wide fairways, and the formidable Jones Course, a mountain-style Robert Trent Jones, Sr. design with narrow fairways that yield uneven and often severe lies all throughout the round. For a delightful and far more playable game, make a tee time on the resort’s shorter and easier original layout, the 1930-vintage Crispin Course. There’s also a 9-hole pitch and putt course that’s ideal for beginners or a short-game practice session. When your golf is done for the day, there’s plenty to see and do at Oglebay, including the Bissonnette Gardens, which bloom brightly in spring. Wheeling also has a nice historic downtown market district that is full of interesting architecture and a hub of dining, shopping and entertainment.