Pa. families win $4.24M verdict against gas driller

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Our Opinion: Pennsylvania’s new tourism slogan brings a smile; let’s hope it also brings visitors

DORRANCE &#8212; Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course has been named the No. 1 public golf course in Pennsylvania by golfadvisor.com.Based on ratings and reviews from the website, Blue Ridge Trail boasts a 4.5-star rating with 91 reviews. The course was up against more well known courses like Pittsburgh&#8217;s Foxburg Country Club &#8212; the oldest golf course in continuous use in the United States &#8212; and Philadelphia&#8217;s Merion, whose East course was rated No. 5 in 2015, by Golf Digest in the annual &#8220;America&#8217;s 100 Greatest Golf Courses.&#8221;Tony Barletta, general manager of the course, called the honor &#8220;gigantic.&#8221;Golfadvisor.com looked at &#8220;thousands of (public) reviews submitted to uncover the top 20 courses according to your ratings and reviews.&#8221;&#8220;It&#8217;s one thing to be a part of a list,&#8221; Barletta said, &#8220;but to be voted on by the public is really important to us.&#8221;The course was built by Ault, Clark and Associates on Country Club Drive in Dorrance. It first opened in 1992 as a nine-hole course. The site is now approximately 225 acres and has three nine-hole courses &#8212; Blue, Ridge and Trail. According to Barletta, to golf 18 holes would take &#8220;roughly four-and-a-half hours.&#8221;The club uses a template based on schedules to assign which two courses will make the 18 holes.Barletta said the course opened Tuesday for the year.&#8220;We had the longest season last year,&#8221; Barletta said. &#8220;We were opened until Dec. 16.&#8221;The course course has a PGA professional in Kingston native Brian Llewellyn, a driving range, putting green and a &#8220;top shelf &#8220;TrackMan&#8221; &#8212; a live Doppler radar system supplying data on ball flight and golf club swing &#8212; on site.A second &#8220;TrackMan&#8221; is also found at Blue Ridge Trail Golf Academy at the Athletic Club, off route 315, in Plains Township.The honor is the third the course had received since August. Blue Ridge Trail was named GolfAdvisor.com &#8216;s No. 23 in value in the United States in December and <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/business/378904/blue-ridge-trail-golf-club-earns-green-carpet-certification" target="_blank">received the National Woman&#8217;s Golf Alliance &#8220;Rolling Out the Green Carpet&#8221; certification in August</a>.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Melanie Mizenkommizenko@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Top public Pennsylvania Golf Courses(As named by Golf Advisor)1. Blue Ridge Trail, Dorrance2. Golden Oaks Golf Club, Fleetwood3. Wyncote Golf Club, Oxford4. Country Club at Woodloch Springs, Hawley5. Champion Lakes Golf Club, Bolivar</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko</shirttailMeta></div>

Blue Ridge Trail voted No. 1 in the state by golfadvisor.com