Tom Fazio and Donald Ross: Jeffersonville Golf CL

[Martin Del Vecchio]

From the July issue of Golf Magazine:

Just a few miles away in West Norriston [Pennsylvania] is Jeffersonville Golf Club...  Its charm is based less on service and amenities than on its newly restored Donald Ross Layout.

Ross installed his resourceful routing way back in 1931, but it was only recently that the facility's management rediscovered its architectural heritage when a longtime resident remembered seeing the Ross name on a sign for the course.   A subsequent search of receipts proved that recollection correct...

The refurbished Jeffersonville course reopened last year.  Historic touches abound, as evidenced by a terrific stretch on the front nine.  There's the squarish shape of the roller-coaster green on the 576-yard 6th, the platform putting surface on the 383-yeard 7th, and the terrifying, downhill 195-yard 8th, where a creek runs directly in front of the green.  Perhaps it was features such as these that inspired a young Tom Fazio, who grew up caddieing at this very course.

[Brad Klein]

Any time you write an article in the subjunctive mode like this Golf Magazine snippet you are asking for trouble - like Germans who speak in the "what if" tense. (Wenn es waere sicher . . . .)

Besides, if the place had inspired Fazio, he might have mentioned it once - in his book, in an interview, in the half a dozen talks I've heard him give. Otherwise, it's pure (irresponsible) speculation, though it would be nice if it were true - and even better if the evidence were there in terms of design work.

[TEPaul]

I certainly don't know if anything that may shine through at Jeffersonville either originally or with Ron Prichard's nice recent restoration of Jeffersonville G.C influenced Tom Fazio's own work but Ron Prichard did say that Tom Fazio was personally and directly very supportive and complimentary of both Jeffersonville G.C. and the work he (Prichard) did at Jeffersonville G.C.

[Mike Cirba]

Actually, I have it on very good account that the two courses Tom Fazio grew up playing were Cobb's Creek and Bala.

Supposedly, these were his uncle George's two favorite courses in the region, and George was the pro at Cobb's Creek in the 1950's.

He, with Superintendent Garrett Renn (who went on to design about ten courses in the region including Little Mill), were responsible for re-routing Cobb's Creek after a Nike Missile base took about 15% of the land available.   Thankfully, their clever re-routing was able to utilize all original greensites.

It was George Fazio's first golf course work of any kind.   A few years later, he would start building original golf courses for some friends who asked him, and almost from the get-go employed his nephew Tom to help.

And  now...in the immortal words of Paul Harvey...you know the rest of the story.

[Ryan Farrow]

The world needs more Jeffersonville's!

[Mike Cirba]

The world needs more Jeffersonville's!

Ryan,

Wholly agreed, although there was an interesting point/counter-point in the latest GolfWeek debating whether municipal golf courses are a good thing or not.  

Personally, I believe they (can) provide access and entry to the game to large amounts of the population with no recourse otherwise, financially or logistically, which is something that doesn't show up on a balance sheet.

In the case of J'ville, the restoration done by Prichard bumped the annual rounds there significantly when it was done.   I don't know if they've been able to maintain their gains but Mr. Harris was out there last week and he said the place was packed.

[Michael Huber]

The few times I played Jeffersonville, the course was busy and, unfortunately, the rounds were very long. 

Even though there are two courses very close by...General Washington (or whatever the hell its called now, i forget), and Westover...those courses have their own merits, but Jeffersonville is a better course than the other two. 

And really, when you think about it, there just aren't that many public courses in that section of Montgomery County when you consider a.) the number of private clubs and b.) the population.  There are plenty when you go farther north, but Turtle Creek and Spring Hollow and Bella Vista and what not are somewhat farther away.  So I guess thats why Jeffersonville is probably so busy all the time.