Philadelphia CC

[John Shimony]

Philadelphia Country Club is hosting a GAP Winter Series event this Wednesday, Nov. 3rd.  I've heard very good things about this Flynn course.  Mr. Morrissett somewhere describes their bunkering as the best in the country.  I'll be participating in the event and I hope to see some discussion group members there if I'm lucky.  It will be the first Flynn course I will be lucky enough to play and I can't wait.

[JESII]

Others were just descrobing their green contours in a similar light..."world class" I think, not quite best in the country.

For me, I like Philly Country but cannot see quite that high acclaim.

Good luck.

[TEPaul]

"Mr. Morrissett somewhere describes their bunkering as the best in the country."


He does??

Mr. Morrissett is a very fine course reviewer, perhaps even an ultra-fine course reviewer but knowing him as long as I have, it's undeniable he is occasionally prone to the ultra-dud opinion!  

I saw it happen on a particular hole at Pacific Dunes and then again on a particular hole at Sand Hills. It was almost as if some alien incantation momentarily took over his mind.

I find the best response to these shocking momentary lapses in architectural analysis and opinion is to say nothing, wait about 10-15 seconds, and then just cut a very loud fart.

[archie_struthers]

 


Philly CC is quite good with a fine mix of good par threes interesting fives and short fours.  Not a lot of long par fours , and distance is not really an issue.    The first is a really neat short four that can start you off poorly ,,play really safe to middle of green .

Fifteen is the hardest hole on the course a tough uphill par three that requires a premium shot of almost 225 yards, It's one of the toughest par threes in Philly.

I hate the bunker on #14 left side fairway,  but no one will agree with me and rip it out!   LOL


Excellent golf course lots of fun play well   !!!!!

[John Shimony]

From Mr. Morrissett's HVCC review, "While Rolling Green has more eye-popping holes and PCC has perhaps the best bunkering in the county, the overall picture at HVCC is the pick of the lot."  He did qualify his remarks, I see.

Mr. Paul, your take on such pronouncements is priceless.

[JESII]

John,

Is the R supposed to be in there or not?

County or Country?

[JESII]

I hate the bunker on #14 left side fairway,  but no one will agree with me and rip it out!   LOL

Hey Arch, you should start a thread about that bunker...

[Bill Boonn]

John,

I will also be at this GAP event and am looking forward to playing PCC for the first time.  If you're interested in seeing more Flynn, I'd be happy to host you at Rolling Green.

Bill Boonn

[Steve_ Shaffer]

John & Bill,

I'll be there too.

[Bill Shotzbarger]

Philly Country is one of my favorites out of all the best courses in the area. I've played it a handful of times for fun and for tournaments, and walked it in 2005 for the Am. The 17th is all-world; make sure to drop a ball by the Byron Nelson plaque in the fairway 200 yards out and TRY to hole it.

One thing I like about Philly Country are the short par 4 holes like 1, 2, 13, 16, and 18 where hitting driver isn't always a terrible option. While courses like Pine Valley and Merion take driver out of the good player's hands on some holes with their sand and penal rough, Philly Country allows the player to swing away and seek birdies instead of avoiding birdies. While this definitely makes it an easier course to play, I find it more a lot more fun and interesting.

[John Shimony]

Bill, thanks for the offer.  I'll look for you and Steve tomorrow and introduce myself. 

And Jim Sullivan, you are correct.  It does say "county" not "country".  I copied and pasted it into the thread.  What a difference.  I guess I just glossed over the sentence.  Whatever their bunker situation I look forward to playing the course.

[JESII]

You'll have fun. This time of year doesn't really allow it to be very firm, but it's a really good course with some great, diverse par 3's.

[JMEvensky]

A little off topic,but does the GAP include all the Philly private clubs or do some choose not to be involved?

[Dan Boerger]

JM -- Not sure ... but here's a list of clubs:

http://gapgolf.org/clubs.asp?id=7


Not all clubs play in the GAP Matches, however.

[JMEvensky]

JM -- Not sure ... but here's a list of clubs:

http://gapgolf.org/clubs.asp?id=7


Not all clubs play in the GAP Matches, however.

Thanks.

[Bob Harris]

Most of the GAP clubs do participate in Team matches, I may have missed a few but the notable exceptions:
Pine Valley
Saucon Valley
Squires
Stonewall
Meteteconk
Galloway

[JMEvensky]

Most of the GAP clubs do participate in Team matches, I may have missed a few but the notable exceptions:
Pine Valley
Saucon Valley
Squires
Stonewall
Meteteconk
Galloway

If XYZ club decides to participate in the matches,does this mean that,at some point,XYZ club will have to host a GAP tournament?In Memphis,the Memphis GA consists of all private clubs.So,each club will host a day of some tournament every couple of years.

I was just curious if the same was true in Philly.

[Rory Connaughton]

Stonewall participated this year Bob.

[Bob Harris]

Sorry, Rory, you're right.

[Bob Harris]

[

If XYZ club decides to participate in the matches,does this mean that,at some point,XYZ club will have to host a GAP tournament?In Memphis,the Memphis GA consists of all private clubs.So,each club will host a day of some tournament every couple of years.

I was just curious if the same was true in Philly.

Hosting an event is not a requirement to participate in Team Matches. 

[TEPaul]

BobH:

My club, Gulph Mills GC, has never played in the men's GAP team matches but they sure have and do in the Ladies GAP team matches.

I do not believe there is another local golf association in America that has had something like the GAP Team Matches (originally known as the Suburban League Matches) at least nowhere near as large and as long as GAP has had it----eg over a century. I think there are maybe 3,500 + or - players competing in it every spring.

When I was on the GAP board I think GAP had between 110-115 member clubs. I don't know what it's up to today, maybe 140 plus which still makes it a pretty small regional association. When I came on GAP had a 50 mile radius membership limitation but they changed that about 20 years ago to a 150 mile radius. The radius starts from Penn's Hat, by the way.

The increased radius created some distinct logisitical problems with the GAP team matches with formatting and potential travel time. With the new 150 mile radius it was possible that some teams might have to travel up to 300 miles in a day.

By the way, GAP is the second oldest golf association in America, a year younger than the USGA.

[mike_malone]

 One week I traveled to Wildwood then the next to Scranton. That was 1 1/2 each way each week. As the captain I had a hard time finding 5 others to go along.

[TEPaul]

AKA Mayday:


I think I was the chairman of the Membership Committee of GAP for like 5-6 years (and actually I think I did a pretty piss-poor job of it  ) but in my time going out to interview prospective member clubs the biggest draw of all through those years was unquestionably the GAP Team Matches (back then we called it the Suburban League Matches). For some reason every single prospective candidate for GAP membership thought they would then be able to play Merion in the Matches.