GCA ers Malcolm McKinnon and myself are long time members of Springdale G C hard against the P U campus in Princeton. I work in NYC downtown, and Malcolm has an office in the city as well, and we both live in Princeton.
Founded in 1895, the course moved to its current site in 1900. Springdale was re-designed by William Flynn in 1926. We have lots of interesting history, for example: while a student – golf team captain Hugh Wilson joined our greens committee when we moved the course to the current location. Skirmishes during the battle of Princeton were fought on a portion of the site of the course, Woodrow Wilson played golf here while President of Princeton, and as P U golf teams home course interesting characters have teed up through the years including recently deceased Hall of Famer Bill Campbell, who was US Am champ, Sr US Am 2 X, and President of USGA and a Captain of the R & A. Two founders of Springdale were involved in establishing Van Cortland Park GC in the Bronx.
A traditional yet unpretentious club, our course is challenging and charming with 17 original Flynn greens, and a unique setting in the US partially surrounded by P U Undergrad dorms, Princeton Theological Seminary and P U Graduate stone buildings including Cleveland Tower – the symbol of the club that is visible from every hole. It looks like Britain in many respects- see Joe Bausch’s photos:
http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/bausch/Springdale/index.htmlMalcolm and I hosted a GCA round a few years ago and we might be interested in doing that again and including New Yorkers if there is interest. From NYC you can take the train to Princeton Jct and the Dinky spur line to the back of campus, and actually get here via Public transportation and a short walk. We have about a dozen or so active members who live in Manhattan, some who come down every weekend.
If interested, we may be able to plan a few GCA foursomes later in the year.
Wm Flynnfan