Champion Lakes is east of Pittsburgh and north of Ligonier on Route 711, surrounded by farmland and forests in the Laurel Highlands.

The layout provides a series of fairways along narrow, tree-lined corridors and open, links-style with heavy rough at the fairway's borders. It's an entertaining layout with the occasional sand trap along the fairways but mostly greenside, water hazards, doglegs, and uphill/downhill/sidehill lies provided by the changes in elevation. It was designed and owned by Dick Groat and Jerry Lynch, two ball players from the Pirates' 1960 Championship team, and has four sets of tees from the back tees; it's 6,608 yards, 72.5/131, course/slope ratings.