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Nemacolin's Mystic Rock and Shepherd's Rock Courses Honored on Golfweek's 2025 Top Casino Courses in U.S. List

Nemacolin's Mystic Rock and Shepherd's Rock Courses Honored on Golfweek's 2025 Top Casino Courses in U.S. List

By Brian Weis


Nemacolin, Pennsylvania's premier luxury golf resort destination, is proud to announce that both of its acclaimed Pete Dye-designed golf courses, Mystic Rock and Shepherd's Rock, have once again been named to Golfweek's "Top 50 Casino Courses in the U.S." list.

"Golfweek's course rating panel consists of some of the most discriminating, well-traveled, and informed golf course architecture aficionados in the game, so it is a distinct honor to have our Mystic Rock and Shepherd's Rock course named among the Top 50 Casino Courses in the U.S.," says Nemacolin's Director of Golf Operations Chris Anderson.

On the 2025 list of golf courses owned and/or operated by or in conjunction with casinos - with data pulled from Golfweek's massive database of course rankings - Mystic Rock moved up one spot on the list to #11 while Shepherd's Rock advances three spots on the list to come in at #26.

"The hundreds of members of Golfweek's course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each that is then used to compile the Golfweek's Best course rankings," Golfweek Travel Editor and Creative Director Jason Lusk said.

Being home to two standout Pete Dye-designed golf courses and three distinctive luxury hotels - Falling Rock, The Chateau, and The Grand Lodge, all which earned the prestigious AAA Five Diamond designation in 2025 - sets Nemacolin apart and resonates uniquely in the minds of golf travelers.

Around every corner, Mystic Rock charms and beguiles golfers like few golf courses can. The hole designs are imaginative. They ask the golfer to use creativity, brawn sometimes, and problem solving throughout. The everyday conditions on this layout, and its sister course Shepherd's Rock, are pristine enough to hold a tour event at a moment's notice.

Shepherd's Rock, constructed by Dye and his associate Tim Liddy and opened in 2017, is a different brand of enigma. It features more generous landing areas off the tee but tougher approach shots and absolutely vexing greens. While Mystic Rock hits home with a gripping variety of holes a shot values, Shepherd's Rock does the same in a ruggedly beautiful natural setting with a quirkier flow and fun pace.

While staying at Nemacolin, one might consider a lesson or tune-up with all the state-of-the-art toys and top personnel at The Nemacolin Golf Academy. This golfer's indoor dreamscape features four spacious, customized hitting bays which can open up to the 25-station driving range that sits adjacent to two short-game practice areas and a large putting green. The Golf Academy, which also features a dedicated, 1,000-square-foot putting room, is optimized for expert golf training and club fitting.

Until one experiences the eclectic wonders of this larger-than-life resort nestled in the Allegheny Mountains (about one hour southeast of Pittsburgh), it's simply hard to describe. Imagine a wonderland where one could spend their days luxuriating with world-class spa treatments, relaxing with afternoon tea, admiring breathtaking works or fine art, and taking in a hands-on Italian Cooking Class. Then, another guest could play 36 holes a day of championship Pete Dye-designed golf and use their off time to take a challenging ropes course, go whitewater rafting, jeeping, or clay-target shooting. After all that, they can have a world-class dining experience followed by a visit to The Casino at Nemacolin or enjoying a signature Whiskey Tasting or a fine cigar in The Hardy Room.

At Nemacolin all of that good living is possible in one 2,200-acre footprint, just waiting to be discovered. And adored. But never forgotten.

To learn more about the incomparable golf vacation experience at Nemacolin, visit Nemacolin.com/golf.


Revised: 11/13/2025 - Article Viewed 332 Times - View Course Profile


About: Brian Weis


Brian Weis Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.



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Contact Brian Weis:

GolfTrips.com - Publisher and Golf Traveler
262-255-7600

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