I have thought about starting a thread similar to this in the past. It’s really an academic exercise if the framework of courses is Merion, PV and Aronimink. Who would not want to play Merion all the time?? Realistically, most of us could not join those clubs even if we could afford to.
People always ask me what my favorite golf course is and I always say our home club Springdale GC is great to play on regular basis even though I love Merion, PV is an amazing experience and I also cherish golf at Kittansett, Chechessee Creek, Somerset Hills, Royal Dornoch etc. etc.
Springdale is a great course to play on a regular basis – we have a walking culture and you can sling your bag or grab a trolley whenever you want and play a nine or a few holes. The William Flynn layout is great, compact, strategic and rolls nicely while still being pretty easy to walk, and at 6,400 yards is long enough to test all your shots without beating you up. And we have several half – par style holes. The greens are special, interesting, tight, mostly small with quite a bit of break, and some interesting features including the bunkering. Missing greens wide can be really tough on the scorecard. The site is beautiful - abutting portions of Princeton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, the Institute for Advanced Studies and P U Graduate college. It looks downright British. The symbol of the club is the Cleveland Tower that looms over the course, and provides an aiming focal point on several holes, . named after PU Trustee and US President Grover Cleveland.
Come on a weekend and I may be able to have someone play the carillon bells in Cleveland Tower. All sorts of tunes will resonate over the course, classical, pop, I even played one Halloween Sunday and out came the theme from The Addams Family !
The club is traditional yet unpretentious. Hats off inside, no cargo pants, but we are not obsessive about rules compared to many clubs. Our new clubhouse is comfortable enough without being stuffy, and the view of the course and Tower from the grill room and porch is the best in town.
Enough bragging, I won’t even get into our history with connections to Hugh Wilson, Woodrow Wilson, Bill Campbell, or tell you which of our stone bridges has an asteroid rock. I will tell you the course is worth getting to know, and the membership is special.
So, if the list is like Mike Trenham’s and includes clubs like Tavistock, Gulph Mills, St Davids and Springdale that rings true to me.
Wm Flynnfan