Meet the Owners

Sam Depe IV and Sam Depe III Hickory Heights Golf Club

This is the next in our series in Golfer’s Lifestyle Magazine where we introduce you to one of the owners or managers of one of our featured courses. Find out how they got their start in the golf industry, special interests and general fun facts. Western PA is the home of some incredible golf courses. Nowhere else will you find the friendly ownership groups that you’ll find in our region. For a full listing of PGO member courses visit www.golfinpa.com.

After 28 years as the head professional at South Hills Country Club, Sam Depe decided to pursue a lifelong dream and bought Hickory Heights Golf Club the beginning of this year.

Hickory Heights opened in 1991 as part of a real-estate community and was designed by Michael Hurdzan, a noted Columbus, Ohio-based architect. Hurdzan also designed Olde Stonewall Golf Club, just outside Ellwood City. Hickory Heights unique design features elevation changes, which funnel into level landing areas.

Depe has already removed than a dozen of the steep-faced sand bunkers in the fairway, creating more room for players to hit their tee shots while also eliminating hazards that were hard to maintain. Over 3,000 trees were removed on the left side of the par-5, dogleg-left 1st hole, creating more room for players to hit the fairway.

“We just opened everything up,” Depe said. “Our goal is to make our course more golfer friendly. It was claustrophobic last year. If we fix the bunkers, remove the ones that are hard to maintain, clear trees and clear weeds in one year, that’s a heck of a project. The course is tough enough.”

To help stimulate interest in the club, he has refurbished and expanded the dining and bar area and hired Scott Templeton, Mario Lemieux’s former personal chef. He has also remolded the banquet room to include heating and cooling, which is a perfect location for holiday, graduation, wedding showers, and various other parties.

“We were lucky enough to hire Mark Yates, the former assistant superintendent at The Club At Nevillewood. Mark has been here for three months and has already improved our course immensely,” said Depe.

Sammy’s Pin High Pub, which is their new bar/restaurant, offers great food at a reasonable price. The pub has 5 flat screen TV’s, which are perfect for any sporting event. The pub will be open year round.