BEAVER FALLS — Flexibility is the name of the game at Black Hawk Golf Course.

Having 36 holes can do that for you.

“We’re one of very few facilities in Western Pennsylvania with two 18-hole courses,” Black Hawk superintendent Mike Blackwood said. “Cedarbrook (in Belle Vernon) has 36 holes. I’m not sure of who else.

“We can host a golf outing on one course and have open golf to the public on the other. We do that quite a bit.”

The facility hosts 90 to 100 golf outings per year, with shotgun starts virtually every weekend.

In Blackwood’s mind, two of the best kept secrets at Black Hawk have to do with time.

“We’re about 30 minutes from Cranberry and the average golfer can play a round here in three and a half to four hours,” Blackwood said. “Our courses are structured that way.

“There are people who don’t play a lot of golf because of time restraints. They can’t afford to be out there all day.”

Black Hawk caters to golfers in more ways than saving time:

n It offers a loyalty and rewards program, giving customers a green card at no charge that they can use to accumulate points toward discounts on greens fees, cart use or items from the pro shop.

“My father started that program four or five years ago,” Blackwood said. “People were skeptical at first because getting the card requires an email address and folks were hesitant to provide that information.

“We only had 100 or so use the program at first. Now we’ve got 5,000 green card holders in our database.”

n While Black Hawk houses nearly 24 leagues, the course offers a syndicate league program in which a golfer can show up at the course at 11 a.m. any day Monday through Saturday, be placed on a team and tee off at 11:30.

The idea of this program is to get golfers to the course who don’t have anyone to play with that day.

“We make teams every day, threesomes or foursomes, depending on the turnout,” Blackwood said. “We get established handicaps and make competitive teams.

“That program is becoming popular. Once guys start doing it, they’re hooked on it because it’s so easy.”

n Black Hawk hosts the First Tee Foundation, a national program that provides young people of all backgrounds the opportunity to develop confidence, perseverance and other positive traits through golf and character education.

“That’s a separate entity to the golf course. We just provide use of our facility for it,” Blackwood said. “That program has gained tremendous support from the PGA.”

The First Tee Foundation promotes and builds honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment.

“We try keeping our numbers down so we can have a good ratio of instructor to kids,” Blackwood said. “Our classes have 15 to 20 kids, three to four instructors. That’s one instructor for every five kids or so.”

Black Hawk Golf Course has been owned by the Blackwood family for years. Blackwood himself is the fourth generation of his family to be involved with the course.

Blackwood, 46, has been superintendent of the course since 1990. He’s been working there since age 13.

The golf courses themselves can vary in length from 6,100 yards to 4,800 as golfers can play from any of three tee locations — white, gold and green.

One course has a 450-yard par-5, the other a 605-yard par-5. There are eight par 4’s less than 300 yards.

“Our greens are small and fast, fair to everybody,” Blackwood said. “Accuracy in one’s shot is more important here.”

A pavilion available for parties and picnics, along with a full-service restaurant, are on the grounds as well.