KESWICK, Va. – Pete Dye is in his late eighties now, but the most innovative golf course architect of this generation shows no signs of slowing down. His latest creation, Full Cry, is proof of that.

Full Cry opened informally in September at the Keswick Golf Club with the formal opening on Oct. 10. It’s been well received, but the acclaim will only grow in the coming months.

Dye has designed over 300 courses world-wide, and not all are as user-friendly and fun as Full Cry, the name derived from a fox-hunting term. The name hasn’t really made the rounds yet – it’s not even on the course’s scorecard – but it will once the staff at Keswick order the next wave of merchandise.

The course is actually the third version on the same property, 600 acres on the outskirts of Charlottesville, that has roots to a private estate built there in 1912. The estate was converted into a country club in 1948 when the late Fred Fraley, a Virginia architect, designed a nine-hole course.

Fraley added a second nine in the mid-1950s and Arnold Palmer’s design group renovated that course in 1992. Full Cry is nothing like what the other courses had been.

“It’s 100 percent Pete Dye,’’ said Eric McGraw, the club’s head professional for the last 15 years. “He had to tear everything up. Watching the earth-moving was a treat. It was like watching an artist.’’

Building Full Cry took awhile – 19 months to be exact. The finished product has all the Dye trademarks, especially the green complexes. It also has railroad ties in some places – around a pond and tee boxes — and materials from the course’s previous cart path were salvaged for similar purposes.

“A wonderful use of old material and beautiful to look at,’’ said McGraw – an accurate description.

The more pronounced eye-catcher, though, is the bridge leading to the tee boxes at No. 17. It’s a converted flatbed railroad car.

While a signature hole hasn’t been designated yet, the stretch between Nos. 3 and 7 has been dubbed The Gauntlet and they include two really good par-3s at Nos. 4 and 7.

McGraw’s favorite hole is the 18th, a great visual off the tee with water on the left. It’s not mine, however. I prefer the seventh. The green at the par-3 is surrounded by white sand, creating in effect an island green without any water. A really neat hole, though first-time players may better recall the 17th when their round is done simply because of the presence of the “railroad’’ bridge.

Dye installed six sets of tees at Full Cry, the shortest creating a 4,809-yard course and the layout measuring 7,134 from the tips. It’s not the challenge that his more famous courses – TPC Sawgrass in Florida, the Ocean Course at Kiawah in South Carolina or Whistling Straits in Wisconsin – present but it can be a serious test the further you move back in the tee box. As is the case with any well-designed layout, full enjoyment comes when you use the appropriate tee markers — and that’s especially true of Dye designs, including this one.

Keswick Hall and Golf Club was acquired about three years ago by Riverstone Group, which is based in Richmond, Va. It also includes the well-known Kiawah and Sea Pines golf resorts and two hotels – Hermitage in Nashville, Tenn., and Jefferson in Richmond. Riverstone is a family business that was founded by Bill Goodwin. His daughter and son-in-law live in Charlottesville.

While the focus here is on the golf, there’s much more to the Full Cry experience. Keswick Hall is a full-fledged retreat for golfers with its pleasantly elegant 48-room hotel, and accompanying recreational and dining opportunities. Just a few months after the Full Cry opening Keswick Hall was honored with the coveted Forbes Five-Star Award in recognition of its exceptional level of luxury and service.

The view of the course from the hotel is awesome, and it’s just a short walk from the hotel to the pro shop.

You need to be either a resort guest or the guest of one of Keswick’s 150 members to tee off at Full Cry. The plan is to increase the membership and lodging opportunities eventually and that shouldn’t be difficult once the popularity of Full Cry is in full force.

In February Keswick announced an exclusive partnership with famed sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella. He lives in the area and is now Keswick’s Mental Golf Coach.

While the central Virginia town of Keswick is small, the options around it aren’t. Monticello, the historically inspiring home of Thomas Jefferson, is just a few minutes away and two other presidential retreats from the country’s early years – the homes of James Madison and James Monroe – are also in the Charlottesville area.

They provide an ample look at the area’s rich past, while Full Cry is an indication of the good things coming down the road.

HOT SPRINGS, Va. – I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place quite like The Homestead. This resort – officially The Omni Homestead since July of 2013 — is about so much more than golf.

Located just 39 miles over windy two-lane roads from the West Virginia state line, The Homestead also offers such things as falconry, state-of-the-art snowmaking for skiers and snowmobilers, and a new Shooting Club House and Pavilion. There’s also a two-acre water park, a new spa, an equestrian center, clay courts for tennis buffs, a miniature golf course and elaborate trails for hikers, cross country skiers and mountain bikers. The Homestead’s traditions include movies every night, afternoon tea in the hotel’s Great Hall and ornamental gazebos around the naturally-heated springs, all chemically unique.

In fact, you might suspect that golf is being downsized, given that one of Homestead’s three 18-holers – Lower Cascades – was closed two years ago.

More than anything, though, The Homestead is all about history. Twenty-two U.S. presidents have visited the charmingly elegant hotel since the resort opened in 1766 – that’s 10 years before the United States declared its independence — and the golf played there is a prominent part of that history.

Golf was why we were there, and our two-day early November visit fell in less-than-ideal weather. Half of our round on the well-decorated Cascades Course was played in rainy weather and our tour of the Old Course was played in 37-degree temperatures and 50 mile per hour winds that knocked many of the pins out of the cups. Still, all was good.

Being a golf history buff, we were particularly intrigued by the Old Course. No course has quite the history this one does.

You’re informed before the round that the No. 1 tee is the nation’s oldest first tee in continuous use. The first tee shot was struck there in 1892 and head professional Mark Fry said 18-hole rounds were played almost from the outset. That suggested an historical controversy could be in the works, since Chicago Golf Club has long claimed to be the nation’s first 18-hole course. It also opened in 1892.

Fry, though, informed me that only six holes were available when the Old Course opened and that players covered 18 holes by playing it in three loops. So, Chicago Golf Club’s claim remained intact. The Old Course didn’t have 18 different holes until 1901. (By then Chicago Golf Club was six years into playing its second 18-holer. The original, in Belmont (now Downers Grove), is now down to a sporty, heavily-played nine-holer run by the Downers Grove Park District).

Donald Ross designed the Old Course and well-respected later architects William S. Flynn and Rees Jones eventually updated it, but the Old Course is still only 6,099 yards from the tips with well-contoured fairways that leave you side hill, uphill and downhill lies to relatively small greens.

The course is a bit quirky, too. I’ve never heard of a first hole being declared No. 1 handicap hole (but I don’t quibble with that choice here). The Old Course also is unusual in that it has back-to-back par-5s on both nines and a par-3 finishing hole.

All that is noteworthy, but – again – history is what really sets the Old Course apart. Not only does No. 1 have the nation’s oldest first tee in continuous use, it also is the place where the first sitting President of the United States played golf. William McKinley smacked his first tee shot there in 1901. He didn’t really take to the game, but William Howard Taft was an avid golfer and the Old Course may have been the course he played the most during his Presidency.

Cascades, once known as Upper Cascades, opened in 1923 and has a modern-day feature with a waterfall (above) beside the 17th green. Cascades has its history, too. The first head professional there was the legendary Sam Snead, who was born in Hot Springs and began his working life as a caddie at The Homestead when he was 17.

Snead eventually made hickory-shaft clubs in the Casino, the name given to the Old Course pro shop and tennis center, and worked on the construction crew that built Cascades.

In 1934 Snead and was named the Cascades’ head pro. Among his duties was giving lessons there, at a cost of $3. Naturally, he also played there frequently and had a best score of 61 that included nine consecutive threes on the back nine.

Snead passed on three days before his 90th birthday but his name, and family, remain prominent in the area. The road leading through Hot Springs is Sam Snead Highway and his son, Sam Snead Jr. (called Jackie) owns Sam Snead’s Tavern – a local hotspot.

It’s the first of 19 restaurants nationwide that bear Snead’s name, but the only one that is still owned by Sam Snead Jr. He has leased it to The Homestead but is a frequent visitor and was there the night we visited. Sam Snead’s Tavern is a most friendly dinner place with lots of great Snead memorabilia and good food. Jackie Snead – in an unsolicited but very nice gesture – sent us an autographed copy of the menu that includes some helpful historical data.

Cascades is considered one of the nation’s best mountain courses. It was designed by Flynn and has been ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses by Golf Digest. The Allegheny Mountains provide a breathtaking backdrop for the golfers. It’s never been a PGA Tour site, but has hosted seven U.S. Golf Assn. national championship ranging from the 1928 U.S. Women’s Amateur to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur of 2009.

Probably the biggest USGA event played at the Cascades was the 1967 U.S.Women’s Open, an event that resulted in Catherine Lacoste of France winning the title.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Setting foot on the grounds of America’s first golf course took awhile – four years to be exact. Finally, though, it happened. That’s the good news.

The unfortunate part is that Oakhurst Links, saved by a purchase by Jim Justice, owner of the Greenbrier Resort, was closed for the season a week into November. Playing this unique layout was not an option.

Some history: Oakhurst Links was a golf course from 1884 until at least 1912. Then Russell Montague, owner of the property, converted it into a horse farm. Just a few of Montague’s neighbors played the course way back when, and a book — “Oakhurst: The Birth of America’s First Golf Course’’ by Paula DiPerna and Vikki Keller (Walker & Co., 2002) – detailed the early history of the place.

Sam Snead, long a resident of the area, urged the restoration of the course and – with the help of architect Bob Cupp – it was re-opened as a 2,235-yard nine-holer in 1994. There was some initial curiosity about the place, and players were equipped hickory-shaft clubs to play it the way Montague and his neighbors did. The curiosity didn’t last long, however, and the course was closed off-and-on, including during our first visit in 2010.

Searching for the course then was an adventure in itself. A stop in this small town just over the West Virginia line was unsuccessful. The own is home to the Greenbrier, which bills itself as “America’s Resort’’ and hosts an annual PGA Tour event. Still, four years ago most of the locals – including some Greenbrier employees – had barely heard of Oakhurst. That was surprising, since it’s only a 10-minute drive from the big resort and there were landmark plaques in the town.

We followed the signs to Montague Road and apparently got within a mile of the place before a fallen tree on the narrow road curtailed any further travel.

Fast forward four years, to this November. Oakhurst had been closed off and on since our first visit and Justice eventually purchased it from long-time owner Lewis Keller. The price wasn’t disclosed but it satisfied a $700,000 lien on the property, according to published reports.

Greenbrier has been marketing Oakhurst to its guests, and many have played it. Our visit, though, indicated it was a tough sell.

The road to the poorly-marked course is narrow and winding, through a subdivision. We found a nearby course, Valley Lo Country Club, before we could locate Oakhurst. Once there, we saw sand tee boxes, like those used in the early days of American golf, and could spot a few greens. We couldn’t figure out the layout without tee markers, however, and the clubhouse was in need of repair, with paint peeling in several places.

A neighbor reported that golfers were playing the course again during the summer, but not enough of them to stall a mid-October closing for the season. Still, it’d be a shame to lose this piece of American golf history. Judging by the golf history books, it was about the only layout played in the U.S. prior to the opening of Chicago Golf Club – America’s first 18-hole course – in 1892.

CULVER, Ind. – Mission accomplished.

It took four years, but my attempt to play all seven courses on Indiana’s Pete Dye Golf Trail ended with a bang on a cold but sunny November afternoon – a most pleasant way to finish a most pleasant golf odyssey.

While Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is the most famous of the few such golf ventures, the Dye Trail is special, too. There may be fewer courses, but those included offer plenty of variety and an historical touch as well.

Dye – arguably the premier golf course architect of this generation — picked the seven for the Trail from the 25 courses he designed in his home state. They included his first-ever 18-holer, now known as Maple Creek, and – until just a month ago – his last course, the Pete Dye Course at French Lick.

Maple Creek was known as Heather Hills when it opened in 1961. Design-wise it was a joint effort between Dye and wife Alice. Dye’s latest creation is at Keswick Hall, near Charlottesville, Va. I’m scheduled to play there in two weeks.

French Lick has the most challenging of the courses on the Dye Trail. Brickyard Crossing, which has four holes inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is the most unusual. The Kampen Course on Purdue University’s campus in West Lafayette, was a joint effort with Purdue’s agronomy school and has hosted an NCAA Championship. The Fort, in Indianapolis, will host the Big Ten women’s championship in 2015. Plum Creek, in Carmel, is one of Indiana’s most upscale public facilities.

All those have their charm and special qualities. However, the last stop for us — at Mystic Hills in Culver – was the most fun. It didn’t hurt that we got in on the aftermath of the Big Cup Chili Open event, a scramble event in which 15-inch cups were in place and a chili cook-off competition and pink beer were part of the facilities.

It was a lot of laughs, to be sure. Golf needs more such events in these trying economic times.

Anyway, the Mystic Hills’ course is just fine. Opened in 1998, it has a links-style look on the front nine and more challenging holes on the back. It plays 6,795 yards from the tips with a 73.0 rating.

There’s some interesting sidelights to Mystic Hills. Dye has said it took only about $1 million to get this one built. He designed it while working with his son P.B., who is still a frequent visitor to the course.

Vicki Pugh is the course’s owner and her son Dave is the head professional and superintendent. They’ve just begun the process of creating a stay-and-play opportunity at the course that is in a mostly rural setting midway between Chicago and Indianapolis. Zoning has been approved for five on-site cabins and building of two has already begun.

Vicki Pugh grew up in the golf world. Her parents owned three Indiana courses and her brother, Steve Bonnell, is also a golf professional. Alice Dye’s family has owned a home near the course for over 100 years and Jim Irsay, owner of football’s Indianapolis Colts, is one of Mystic Hills’ members.

Playing the Dye Trail is both worthwhile and fun, but it takes an effort to hit all seven courses. Mystic Hills is the north most stop on the Trail, and it’s 224 miles from French Lick, the southern most facility. Vicki Pugh knows of only three golfers (two of them women) who completed the trail in 2014.

The range in greens fees is also interesting. Mystic Hills (from $25 to $45) and Maple Creek (from $20 to $49) are on the low end. The Pete Dye Course at French Lick (listed in the Trail Guide at $350 plus $30 per person for a forecaddie) is by far the highest.

As you might guess, I’m a big fan of Pete Dye courses. There are over 300 of them world-wide, and he’s done more famous ones outside of Indiana (the Ocean Course at Kiawah in South Carolina, TPC Sawgrass in Florida, Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin to name a few).

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels announced the creation of the Pete Dye Golf Trail on July 28, 2011, in an effort to make his state a golf destination. If you take on the Trail you’ll get a nice drive touching all the nice things that Indiana has to offer as well as a good dose of the golf history created by one of the sport’s foremost architects.

CHASKA, Minn. – In just a couple years a golf club that is just 52 years old will become only the second in history to host all of the top six championships played on American soil.

Hazeltine National, which opened in 1962, has already hosted the U.S. Open (1970, 1991), the U.S. Women’s Open (1966, 1977), the PGA Championship (2002, 2009), the U.S. Senior Open (1983) and the U.S. Amateur (2006).

All that’s missing is the Ryder Cup, and Hazeltine went on the clock to host that epic battle duel between the U.S. and Europe in 2016 after Europe continued its recent domination of the competition at Gleneagles in Scotland earlier this fall. Hazeltine will be the place to be from Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2016.

The only club to host all those big event is North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2, which opened in 1907 – 55 years before Hazeltine. Pinehurst, which became the first course to host both the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens in back-to-back weeks last June, also hosted the U.S. Senior Open (1994), PGA Championship (1936), U.S. Open (1999, 2005) and Ryder Cup (1951).

Medinah hosted the last domestic Ryder Cup in 2012, when the American side suffered a colossal meltdown in the Sunday singles matches to get saddled with a 14 ½ -13 ½ defeat in the 39th playing of the competition.

Team results aside, the Ryder Cup is the biggest event any club could host in golf. In landing the Ryder Cup a club is assured the global spotlight and an indelible spot in the history of the sport. Medinah was ready when its turn came, and it showed clearly when the world-wide lights were turned on two years ago, but Hazeltine – based on a two-day visit less than a month after the last putt dropped at Gleneagles — may be even better prepared this far in advance.

Medinah endured difficult times getting its No. 3 course ready in 2012. Superintendent Curtis Tyrrell battled major, weather-related conditioning problems right up until the teams arrived. That likely won’t be the case at Hazeltine. Tyrrell’s counterpart, Chris Tritabaugh, is supervising the most important anticipated potential problem a full two years before the matches begin.

“Our bunkers had been an issue for the course for a long time – long before I got here,’’ he said. “They would wash out, and we spent a lot of time fixing them.’’

So, Hazeltine’s members took on an assessment to cover a nearly $1 million installation of the state-of-the-art Billy Better Bunker system. It was developed by Billy Fuller, a former superintendent at Augusta National, to combat drainage problems. Gleneagles and Valhalla, the Louisville layout that has already hosted a Ryder Cup and two PGA Championships, previously benefitted from the system’s installation.

Having top-notch bunkers is especially important at Hazeltine, since the Robert Trent Jones design has an abundance of them. Hazeltine’s 108 bunkers have the same square footage as the putting surfaces – about three acres for each. That’s an eye-catching statistic, because bunkers typically are about one-third the size of the putting surfaces.

Even before the bunker work started word surfaced of a re-routing of the Hazeltine layout for Ryder Cup purposes. The last four holes of each nine were switched to make for a better spectator experience.

Well before that – immediately after the well-received 2009 PGA Championship – the Hazeltine membership approved the demolition of its old clubhouse and the building of a new one which was opened in the fall of 2010.

And now the controversies surrounding the U.S. team in the aftermath of the latest loss to the Europeans are working towards Hazeltine’s benefit.

“For everything that happened at Gleneagles, I never would have written the script that way, but it will turn out very good for us in a lot of ways,’’ said Hazeltine tournament chairman Patrick Hunt. “For one, it puts us in the best possible position to win and the attention will be bigger than it was.’’

Hazeltine sent member contingents to the last two Ryder Cups, and most who went said they benefitted more from what they saw at Medinah than what transpired at Gleneagles.

“On the big picture side, the best thing (Medinah) did for us was setting a high bar,’’ said Hunt. “We’re competitive. We always want to beat previous records, and they set all the records.’’

Hazeltine is hoping to have 84 corporate chalets, which would be more than Medinah had, and the Minnesota club has plenty of open space to accommodate spectators.

Asked if he anticipated Hazeltine being the best-attended Ryder Cup yet, Hunt responded: “I would.’’

“It has to do with the property we have and what we’ve learned from past events,’’ he said. “We’re very good at running championships. It’s our core mission. Our team has a good blend of experience. We’re very professional in our approach.’’

Like Medinah, Hazeltine hasn’t hosted a PGA Tour event even though it has had opportunities to do so.

“We were offered the BMW Championship,’’ said Hunt, “but it didn’t fit our brand.’’

The bigger annual events, though, do. In addition to its resume of major USGA and PGA championships, Hazeltine also took on the 1994 U.S. Mid-Amateur and 1999 NCAA Championship. The Ryder Cup, though, will be its biggest challenge yet. Part of it will be educating its populace.

“If you’ve attended a Ryder Cup you know what you’re in for,’’ said Hunt. “If you’re a golf fan you think you know what you’re in for – but you don’t really know. The general population of the Twin Cities doesn’t yet understand the bigness of this.’’