Valley CC (Tillinghast/Cornish?) 1928 near Hazeleton, PA

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Has anyone played there?  Just received a Golf Now deal:

http://dealcaddy.golfnow.com/deal/philadelphia/valley-country-club?site=GN



http://standardspeaker.com/news/for-100-years-through-disasters-and-a-depression-valley-country-club-and-its-golf-course-have-managed-to-stay-above-par-1.2408

Tillie did 4 courses upstate in "Coal Country"... Valley, Irem Temple, Wyoming Valley and Fox Hill.

Here's a prior thread of interest:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,14537.0.html

[Mark McKeever]

It was one of my reciprocals when I was a member at Schuylkill....unfortunately the only one I made it to was Wyoming Valley.

I will say that Wyoming Valley is a really neat Tilly and its pretty ovbious playing it.  Heck, they have a miniature hells half acre!  It reminds me a lot of a shorter sporty version of Philadelphia Cricket.

Mark

[Mark McKeever]

I'm pretty sure Joe was out at Valley CC and took some pictures??

Mark

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Mark,

Thanks! Here's Joe Bausch's tour of Valley CC:

http://myphillygolf.com/uploads/bausch/Valley/index.html

[Chris_Blakely]

Here is another thread on Valley Country Club:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,26161.0.html

In this thread there is another reference to Geoffrey Cornish.  This course has none of the Cornish features I have viewed on any of his courses I have played.  So if anyone finds out, I would like to know if he renovated anything.  I thought the greens / holes across the road (12 through 16) were differnet than the others.  I would not be surprised if many of these were were from the 1906 course, but altered / expanded.

The green sites are the strength of the course and have to be seen to be believed.

I played the course and it is well worth the trip at that cost.


Chris

[Mark McKeever]

Chris,  Kyle Harris commented that the greens are pretty awesome as well.  I definitely want to go see it at some point soon.


Mark

[JNagle]

Valley is a cool funky short course worthy of study and provides a great round of golf.  The course was restored a little over 12 years ago.  All of the bunkers were rebuilt, restored and reinstated a few were added to enhance strategy and to restore design intent.  The 4th, 9th and 10th greens were rebuilt by us (Forse Design) at that time.  The comment about the greens being exceptional is very true.  The 4th is o.k.  We would love to have a do-over on that one.  Always enjoyed playing the course. 

[Chris_Blakely]

Valley is a cool funky short course worthy of study and provides a great round of golf.  The course was restored a little over 12 years ago.  All of the bunkers were rebuilt, restored and reinstated a few were added to enhance strategy and to restore design intent.  The 4th, 9th and 10th greens were rebuilt by us (Forse Design) at that time.  The comment about the greens being exceptional is very true.  The 4th is o.k.  We would love to have a do-over on that one.  Always enjoyed playing the course. 

During the restoration process did you guys uncover any work by Cornish?

Do you know what holes that are their now were from the original 9 holes.

[Stephen Northrup]

I'm bumping this thread, having played Valley CC in a GAP qualifier yesterday. I've driven I-81 more times than I care to remember, and always wondered about that course way below the highway, just south of the I-80 interchange. My regret is not visiting sooner than yesterday.


The greens were still rounding into shape for the season but I can't imagine them rolling too much faster without losing some possibilities for locating holes. I'm not sure why Jim Nagle in an earlier post said he'd want a "do-over" on #4 green -- it was one of my favorites with many interesting and potentially diabolical areas to place the pins. Unfortunately didn't have the chance to put a couple of tees in the greens and putt to some of those spots.


It's a well preserved Tillinghast and for me it was well worth the drive.


Fun fact: the baseball manager Joe Maddon's house is behind the 8th green. He grew up in the area and hosts an annual golf outing entitled the "Try Not to Suck in The Valley Golf Classic."

[MCirba]

Valley is super cool.   

Somewhere in the Doak 5 to 6 range IMHO.   Every time I've played it I like it better and see more cool shtuff.

[Joe Bausch]

My photo album from a visit last October is pretty good:


http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/Valley_2020/index.html

[Mike_Trenham]

Played Valley CC on Friday with Joe Bausch. I expect he will have an updated tour soon.


Made a lot of very good swings only to be places where making par were unlikely, local knowledge would have helped or just raised the doubt in my mind while making my swings…


Unlevel lies, elevation changes tied with par protected mostly at the green it really fits what I like most.  Reminds me of Somerset Hills especially the backsides of the greens on about 1/3 or even 1/4 of the green budget.  Course was in very good shape and the rough was difficult and inconsistent being both thick and thin as it should be but not allowed with a big budget operation (if you know what I mean).


In the days of the internet there are no hidden gems but there are under-appreciated courses and Valley is one.