Philadelphia Cricket Club's Militia Hill Course

[Tim Gavrich]

We (the W&L golf team) are scheduled to play this golf course on April 4th in a one-day, 36-hole D-I tournament.  It's a Mike Hurdzan/Dana Fry course evidently.  I didn't really see anything about it when I searched for "Philadelphia Cricket" on this site.  Hurdzan/Fry did Shelter Harbor, which is one of my favorite courses anywhere; is Militia Hill similarly excellent?

Cheers.

--Tim

[Cory Lewis]

is Militia Hill similarly excellent?

no, it's not their best effort, a decent course with some very difficult holes from the tips, lots of clover leaf bunkers.  The ladies and senior men at Cricket don't play it much because it's too difficult.

[John Kavanaugh]

Tim,

I hear that they are using asphalt as a bunker liner.  Please post pictures or report the success, failure or rumor of this method.

[Mark McKeever]

Joe Bausch has a good bid of information on the drainable asphalt that he sent to me, but I can't seem to find it in my emails.  Hopefully he chimes it in.

Mark

[Joe Bausch]

Tim,

I hear that they are using asphalt as a bunker liner.  Please post pictures or report the success, failure or rumor of this method.

That is not rumor JK.  It is fact!  I asked the super there if sand filling the pores is a problem.  His answer is below:

Regarding the bunkers, the sand will indeed cover the holes and is always the limiting drainage factor.  However, as sand drains very fast on its own (similar to water washing up on a beach then quickly disappearing) there are no problems with clogging as it bridges over the top portion of the material (similar to how a USGA green functions).  Clogging becomes an issue in all bunker construction methods as fine particles and algae slowly start to accumulate in the bunker sand itself.  This occurs from the top of the sand which is exposed to all weather elements about six months following installation.  This is when good regular maintenance techniques become important.

I have many pics of Militia Hill and I'll try to post some soon.

[Anthony_Nysse]

If you click on the link and scroll half way down the page, you will see a posting of the reconstuction of the bunkers including: method, sand and liner.

http://philacricketgm.blogspot.com/

[Brian Marion]

The problem with The Militia Hill course as I see it, is it is such a huge contrast to the original located on the same property. For all the things I love about classic, quirky golf courses, Militia Hill is just the opposite. As soon as I teed up on the first hole, I knew I had played something very similar in the past. Not so with the Wissahickon course.

Not to say it's bad, just not outstanding in my opinion.

[Wade Whitehead]

Tim:

You'll enjoy the golf course and it will be a great venue for the event.  It shares property (and, in fact, a driving range) with the older, much better, Wissahickon course.  If you have any chance to wander over there, do.

I do like the train tracks that run next to a couple of holes and the quarry feature late (right?) in the round.  At one time, I heard the Tour looked at Militia Hill as a prospective site (and that they wanted to reverse the nines (which is why I can't remember where in the round the rock face appears)).

WW

[Joe Bausch]

The hole with the quarry wall at MH is the par 5 3rd.  Perhaps this group of pics of that hole will give an Tim and idea of what he is about to tackle.  Even from the tips you young guys should be able to reach this green in two.













And this view of the green from the 4th tee, with the 12th hole of the Wissahickon course up above.

[TEPaul]

Joe:

Frankly, I never understood why that par 5 3rd green is where it is. It always seemed to me that there was so much interesting stuff behind it both straight out and to the left, I always felt like they should've gotten closer to it and used it more with a green site on that hole.

[Tim Gavrich]

Thanks for the responses and the photos, all.  It doesn't surprise me that the tournament is being held on the Militia Hill course instead of the Wissahickon, based on what I've heard and now seen.  The MH course can apparently be stretched all the way out to 7,300 yards or so, which I presume is a bit longer than the Wissahickon.  I will definitely try and have a look at Wissahickon when we're there.

Cheers.

--Tim

[Powell Arms]

I won't chime in on the course itself at the risk of being too much of a homer.  Tim, drop me an email if you like for more insight.  And I know Joe has a few more photos floating around.

Brian, the idea behind the design (opened in 2002), which most believe worked well, was to build a course that was a contrast to the 1922 Wissahickon course (Tillinghast, with Flynn redesign in 1928).  The courses clearly play differently.  Militia Hill has gotten substantially more fast and firm over the past 2 seasons, and substantially more play as a result.

John, the porous asphalt works very well.  Unfortunately, we needed to reconstruct the bunkers in 2009.  We mocked up a couple of solutions, and the porous asphalt design that our superintendent created held up well.  The entire course was redone with them over the winter of 2009-2010.  It played great this year, and substantially reduced the man hours required for bunker maintenance.  (and withstood several storm events that were in the 100 yr + storm category)

If you look at the second page of posts on http://philacricketgm.blogspot.com/ you will see photos and video of the old bunkers and their performance (or lack thereof) during significant rain events.


In this particular photo the mocked up bunker is on the left, and sand is remaining in place on a 53% sloped bunker face despite a 2" rain.

Powell

[Rory Connaughton]

Tim

  I have played both but only once and I think Militia Hill provides a terrific contrast to the Wissahickon.  As the yardage would suggest, it is a big golf course but not without variety.  Certainly, the membership has two outstanding golf courses to chose from. It is not surprising that Wissahickon gets more love.  Its had an 80 year head start. It would be hard to ask for a better overall facility.

[Jim_Coleman]

   Not a big fan.  On the back, all the holes but one (#11) go in the same direction (a la Firestone).  #'s 12 and 16 are almost the same hole.  The approach shots to #'s 2,14, and 18 are also pretty much the same, all going in the same direction to similarly situated uphill greens.  It's a typical modern course trying to be "big."  The old course, on the other hand is great.  One big difference that sticks out in my mind is the bunkering.  The old course has flashes of sand, while the new course has bunkers with grass fingers running through them.  They look contrived to me.  What's wrong with the old way?  It was good enough for pretty much all the old classics (with the possible exception of Bethpage Black and Thomas' courses).  I don't get it.

[Bill Shotzbarger]

Militia Hill is a lovely course. What's wrong with having a "huge contrast" between the 2 (here, 3) courses at one club? Frankly, I like the contrast of really trying to "think" my way around Wissahickon, hitting a lot of 3 woods and rescue clubs off the tee on holes like 2, 5, 6, etc in order to strategically set-up a good approach shot; and then swinging out of my shoes with the driver at Militia Hill on holes like 1, 2, 6, etc. The wide fairways at MH make the course very driver friendly, a necessary attribute since the courses measures WELL over 7,000 yds from the tips and the tiger tees.

On the third hole at Militia Hill, instead of bailing out to the right and having to hit a 3 wood into the green with the water creeping in on the left, on damp days I've started to intentionally pull my drive into the left rough just short of the pond. This leaves me with a better angle and a rescue or 3 iron into the green.

[Kyle Harris]

Bill:

Nice to see you posting. I agree with all your points re: Militia Hill. I think the problem many find with the course is the back nine routing does nothing to complement the more diverse front nine.

[Bill Shotzbarger]

The 6th hole at Militia Hill is an excellent par 5 where par is truly a great score and bogeys are more common than not for me. A large fairway doglegs up the hill to the right with bunkers and native grasses protecting it left and right with the range OB right. The second shot is blind and must avoid a huge bunker on the right side. Finally, the 3rd shot is blind to a green that runs front-to-back towards the 5th green at the wissahickon course. While 3 is my favorite hole on the course (it's by far the prettiest) the 6th is definitely one of the harder par 5s to score on.

Kyle, thanks for the comment. I played an excellent course in New Jersey yesterday just over the Walt Whitman Bridge which has inspired my postings today 

[Kyle Harris]

The 6th hole at Militia Hill is an excellent par 5 where par is truly a great score and bogeys are more common than not for me. A large fairway doglegs up the hill to the right with bunkers and native grasses protecting it left and right with the range OB right. The second shot is blind and must avoid a huge bunker on the right side. Finally, the 3rd shot is blind to a green that runs front-to-back towards the 5th green at the wissahickon course. While 3 is my favorite hole on the course (it's by far the prettiest) the 6th is definitely one of the harder par 5s to score on.

Kyle, thanks for the comment. I played an excellent course in New Jersey yesterday just over the Walt Whitman Bridge which has inspired my postings today 

Yes, everybody should be inspired by Riverton.

I'll be at that place on Monday, btw. You still at UPenn?

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