The weather was less than promising at daybreak, and Russ Wylie remembers the rain against the windshield as he and his friends drove toward South Park.

Their destination was the park's public golf course. Considering the precipitation, Russ wondered if anyone else would be there.

"There were 200 cars in the parking lot," he recalls. "After we asked how soon we would get to play, the starter said - if we were lucky - 11 a.m.

"At that time, I decided to build a golf course."

That was in 1956, about the time golf was starting to grow in the American sports consciousness, thanks to the well-publicized rounds played by President Dwight Eisenhower. And a young professional from Latrobe named Arnold Palmer also helped the cause.

Two years later, J. Russell Wylie opened Rolling Green Golf Course in Eighty Four. This month, he is celebrating the course's golden anniversary.

Golfers are celebrating, too: To commemorate the occasion, Russ is rolling prices all the way back to 1958. On Friday, green fees will be $1 for nine holes and $1.50 for 18, just as they were when the first batch of customers stepped onto the course.

"On opening day, I had hoped to get 125 rounds," Russ recollects. "But instead, I got 147."

Rolling Green has been there ever since and is the oldest public course in existence in Washington County. Since 1958, two country clubs and 10 public courses have opened in the county.

That includes Lindenwood in North Strabane Township, which Russ opened in 1965 as a nine-hole on a piece of land that he wanted for his original course, because of the water supply provided by Linden Creek.

He'd attempted to buy one of two farms on which Lindenwood now sits, but when he visited the property's owner, she shut the door on his foot. Twelve years later, he finally was able to purchase the farm and complete the course, which now has 27 holes plus a nine-hole executive course.

Owning and maintaining a golf course has changed considerably in half a century, and Russ provides some contrasts:

"Each green had only one single sprinkler head located in the center of the green. Sprinklers did not exist in any fairways or tees," he says. "Today, each green at Rolling Green has at least four sprinkler heads. The fairways and tees have sprinklers which are all connected to a variable-speed, computerized pumping system."

Back then, there were no riding carts or starting times.

"Carts came along in 1963," Russ says, saying they "amounted to little three-wheeled gas buggies."

He has saved plenty of mementos from his 50 years in the business, including Rolling Green's ledger from 1958-62. In those pre-computer days, his wife, Marilyn, logged each entry with precise penmanship.

Today, Russ is semi-retired, and son David runs most of the day-to-day business. David grew up on the golf course, almost literally: "I built a house that overlooked Rolling Green," his father says.

After half a century, father and son can look over two golf courses that add up to a family success story.

Online editor Harry Funk can be reached at hfunk@observer-reporter.com.

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