Matt Freed, Post-Gazette photos Chuck Long, left, and Ed Long stand in front of the greens at Quicksilver Golf Club. The brothers bought the golf course in 2002 and, along with their sister, Lorrie, own three other courses in the New Castle area.

By Gerry Dulac
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette When it attracted a Hogan Tour event in 1990, Quicksilver Golf Club was on the precipice of dramatically changing the way business was being conducted at the Midway course. Little did anyone know, Quicksilver would also change the landscape of public-course golf in Western Pennsylvania, establishing a model that other clubs sought to emulate and precipitating a rash of new daily-fee facilities that featured country-club conditions at public-course prices.

Once a browned-out, lifeless piece of property known as Fallen Timber Golf Course, Quicksilver was transformed into a monstrous and demanding layout with a dazzling new clubhouse thanks to the vision and financial commitment of Bob Murphy, a Pittsburgh-area businessman who bought the aging facility in December 1988. Greens were rebuilt, mounds were constructed and 75 sand bunkers were added to the golf course, creating the nickname "Monster of the Midway."

	Golf carts equipped with GPS Monitoring systems overlooking Quicksilver Golf Club allow course managers to monitor golfers' progress and send messages to them. Click photo for larger image. IF YOU GO What: Quicksilver Classic. When: May 22-28. Where: Quicksilver Golf Club, Midway, Pa. Yards: 7,083.

More important, a new irrigation system that pumped city water rather than the acidic mine water that contaminated the fairways of Fallen Timber was installed, turning Quicksilver into more than 7,000 yards of emerald green grass.

"People saw what we had, saw the clubhouse ... everybody was excited about playing Quicksilver," said Sean Parees, the club's director of golf. "People knew it was something special."

For three years, Quicksilver played host to the Hogan Tour, now known as the Nationwide Tour, and staged what was the richest event on the minor-league tour's circuit -- a $150,000 purse with a $30,000 first prize. Among the alumni who played there was a long-hitting unknown from Arkansas named John Daly.

Then, having proved to the PGA Tour it can stage a professional event, Quicksilver upgraded to the Senior PGA Tour, hosting a tournament for five years, until 1997, and producing such champions as Tom Weiskopf, Bob Charles and Dave Stockton, not to mention contestants such as Arnold Palmer, Ray Floyd and Lee Trevino.

Western Pennsylvania never had a regular tour stop of any kind, not until Quicksilver, and the exposure lifted the club to elite status among public-course facilities. Greens fees were $80 per round -- more than double most places in the Tri-State area -- and people came from all over to play the course played by the touring pros.

"Quicksilver was the first upscale public course in the area," Parees said. "People knew what was going on here, with the transformation, but having the tournaments expedited that. People were willing to pay a premium to play a course like Quicksilver because it had the pedigree of having big-time players play there.

"People till this day still talk about seeing John Daly here."

The advent of Quicksilver's popularity caused a phenomenon in Western Pennsylvania. Other upscale daily-fee facilities began sprouting like dandelions, including Tom's Run, Deer Run, Madison Club, The Links at Spring Church and, the best of them, Olde Stonewall, where greens fees are $160.

But it was more than that. Older, more established facilities began upgrading their course condition to keep up with the competition.

To be sure, the boom in construction of upscale daily-fee courses would likely have occurred anyway in the mid-1990s. But Quicksilver set the pace, and others quickly followed.

"I don't think there's any question," Parees said. "There was a market for that -- people willing to pay a price to play a better conditioned golf course. Everyone involved with Quicksilver took pride in that we got things started. We started driving it in that direction."

Much has changed at Quicksilver. The course began to downsize after the tour left in 1997 and Murphy sold the facility in 2002 to Chuck and Ed Long of New Castle, who, along with their sister, Lorrie, own three other courses in their hometown area. Greens fees were slashed -- though the weekday price has climbed back to $60 this year -- while the competition to lure players from the other upscale courses that Quicksilver helped spawn intensified.

But that hasn't stopped the Long family from starting a new chapter at Quicksilver. After investing an additional $2 million to restore the course, refurbish the clubhouse and install a Global Positioning System in all 72 carts, Quicksilver is getting ready to entertain another professional tour event.

It's not the Nationwide Tour or Champions Tour. But Quicksilver will host a 72-hole NGA Hooters Tour event -- a mini-tour with a $143,000 purse and $24,000 first prize -- on May 25-28. The event will be known as the Quicksilver Golf Classic presented by Ameriprise Financial.

Before anyone gets the wrong impression, the NGA Hooters Tour has produced such players as Lee Janzen, Tom Lehman, Jim Furyk, David Toms, Stewart Cink, Chad Campbell, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel since it was formed in 1988. Graduates of the Hooters Tour have combined to win nine major championships on the PGA Tour.

"I'm already shocked how many people are familiar with the Hooters Tour," Parees said. "I'm expecting them to ask, 'OK, what time do the girls get there?' "

This is how Quicksilver got started in 1990 -- a new owner, a new look, a new vision. The winner's share for the first Hogan Tour event is comparable to first prize for their inaugural Hooter's Tour event. Nobody, for the most part, will recognize the players. But nobody knew of John Daly when he played at Quicksilver in 1990. One year later, he won the PGA Championship and began a meteoric rise to stardom.

"Everyone associated with Quicksilver is excited to bring competitive, professional golf back to our championship course," said Chuck Long, who is club president.

It is a step back in time for Quicksilver, the course that never had to take a step back to anyone.