High school golf team not welcomed back to Nevillewood

Chartiers Valley High School golfers will no longer stroll the same fairways as Mario Lemieux and Michael Jordan.

The Club at Nevillewood in Collier has given the Chartiers Valley golf team the boot.

School Athletic Director Gus Marquis said he was notified early this year by course officials that the team no longer would be permitted to play its home matches at The Club.

The Jack Nicklaus-designed course has served as home to Chartiers Valley for the past 10 years and the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational, which draws some of the nation's best-known professional athletes, for the past five.

"It's just a shame Nevillewood has thrown us off their golf course," said school board member Jeff Choura, as other school board members nodded in agreement.

Marquis said course officials did not explain the decision. Choura drew his own conclusions.

"Nevillewood was mad at their (property) assessments, that's all. But it wasn't the school district that did that — that was (Allegheny) County's fault," Choura said. "Now they won't let our kids play on the course."

Neither Nevillewood board President Jim DeBlasio nor general manager Maureen Valentine could be reached for comment.

According to township tax records, the assessed value of the 14 parcels of land that encompass the golf course property spiked from about $3.9 million in 2000 to about $7.8 million this year.

School board members said they received a letter this week from Scenic Valley Golf Course officials stating the golf team would be allowed to use the 1 ¹ / ₂ -year-old Peters Township course for the 2002 season.

Marquis said he was notified in January by The Club that the golf team no longer would be permitted to play there.

"I waited and waited to hear something. Then, finally, we received notice from Nevillewood," Marquis said. "In June, I realized that we needed to make a decision."

Marquis said most area courses already were being used by other districts.

Marquis met with Scenic Valley officials in June and presented them a list of practice times and matches.

The 10-member team will have one match and one practice per week, Marquis said. The first practice will be Aug. 12, and the first match Aug. 19.

The district will pay $12 per team member for every round they play. The district also will have to pick up the extra cost of busing students to the course from the school a half-hour away. Chartiers Valley used The Club free of charge.

The distance troubles Choura.

"That's really bad. The kids loved it up at Nevillewood. I feel bad for the golf kids' parents," Choura said. "I wished we could have kept everything real nice and in the community."

Marquis said the golf team looks forward to using the new golf course.

"It is a new course, but it is very challenging," he said.

Marquis said there wasn't any ill will between the district and Nevillewood.

"They have treated us nice overall," he said. "But it was difficult to get practice time over there."