In 1958 Harry and Marge Waldron, an engineer and a chemist, decided to build a pitch-and-putt golf course. They purchased 13 acres on Rt. 286 in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, where they built a house with the help of Mrs. Waldron's father, Frank Davis, and designed and constructed a 9-hole par 3 course by themselves. Named "Fore Acres," the course had no clubhouse, so greens fees were sold from the front porch of the Waldrons' home. Fore Acres turned into a successful venture. In 1964, with real estate in the Monroeville area becoming more desirable, they received a good offer for the property from a car dealership. They decided to accept the offer and use it to acquire property on which to build a regulation-size golf course.

At that time all golfers walked, so the object was to find fairly level ground near a major highway. The Waldrons consulted U.S. geological survey maps to find the best laying land, and after a year of searching, they decided on a farm in Sarver, Pennsylvania. Although Rt. 28, which would run from Pittsburgh to Sarver, was still under construction, the Waldrons knew that once completed the highway would make the course easily accessible to the entire Pittsburgh region. Construction began on the new course in 1966, and once again the Waldrons designed and built the course, but this time they enlisted the help of a local contractor to operate the large earth-moving machines necessary for the job.