Improvements have made Lone Pine a ‘gem’
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
The island green of the par-5 No. 5 signature hole at Lone Pine Country Club.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
A sign marking the distance for the 8th hole at Lone Pine Country Club.
By Joe Tuscano/Staff writer/jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
The outside dining area at Lone Pine Country Club.
Take a turn off Park Avenue in South Franklin Township and onto the driveway of Lone Pine Country Club and you wind your way around some of the golf holes before reaching one of the pinnacles of the course.
On it sits the pro shop, the dining room and changing room. From the outside, it looks the same. But take a closer look and you can see the updates: a new floor for the pro shop and an outside sitting area that is large and holds two large-screen televisions for those Sunday afternoon Steelers games and such.
It’s about now that you begin to understand that this is not the same course your father grew up playing, from the even running greens to the carpet-like fairways.
A decade ago, the course was founding. A fresh infusion of cash was needed or the course would consider a shutdown. Ideas were floated, including turning the course into a semiprivate one. Membership was declining at an alarming rate.
But Joe Meneskie saw the potential and he had some friends willing to help change the culture and turn the course around.
So he bought the course from Paul Songer and got to work.
“Early on, the course was in disarray,” said Meneskie. “I’m a golfer and this is a very nice layout and deserves some loving care.”
Meneskie has Brian Leichliter as his course superintendent and the two were in sync about what needed to be done.
The 6,437-yard, 18-hole course was prone to flooding on some holes, the cart paths were too narrow, bridges needed repaired and mine subsidence cause some greens and fairways to collapse.
“The improvements alone on No. 1 and 10 made a difference,” said Meneskie. “Now, the course is a gem.”
One of the key moments for the course was, interestingly, the pandemic. The time without golfers on the course allowed Meneskie the space to make changes.
“I have a construction company and I had the resources to do a lot of things that never could have been done when Paul owned the course,” said Meneskie. “He didn’t have the resources. I had the resources and I loved golf.”
Meneskie also had friends willing to help, such as Tooter Swart. They worked on widening the cart paths and reconstructing the bridges. They also laid a new piece of cement that jazzed up the outside dining area.
More than any other improvement, the burn set on No. 1 and No. 10 stopped the flooding and made that fairway one of the softest on the course.
Like most golf courses, Lone Pine sits on what used to be farm land, this particular tract owned by developer Vernon C. Neal who converted it into a private course that would serve the community of Washington County. A show barn once sat in what is now the golf shop, and the course has undergone many changes over the years, including seceding from South Franklin Township in order to obtain a liquor license.
Meneskie saw this as a labor of love when he purchased the course from Songer. His improvements have brought people back to Lone Pine, about 250 members.
“Making the course a better course to play, that was the goal,” said Meneskie. “Cart path maintenance, irrigation, we’ve done a lot to the course. Now we just have to let it heal. The membership just loves this course.”
The signature hole on the course is the par-5 No. 4 hole that stretches along the west side of the course, past the waterway and up to an island green.
To score on this course, you have to treat it like your best girl: straight and true.