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Steve_ Shaffer

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Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« on: November 14, 2010, 06:24:28 PM »
Joe Logan visits the ultra exclusive Bidermann GC:

http://www.myphillygolf.com/detail.asp?id=6919&pid=20


Less rounds per year than Gulph Mills!!!

« Last Edit: November 14, 2010, 06:32:46 PM by Steve_ Shaffer »
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Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
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TEPaul

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2010, 06:39:27 PM »
Joe:

I'm about to call you but I thought I should put it on here anyway. You mentioned Gulph Mills in your article on Bidermann and how their ethos may be pretty similar. I call that ethos "calculated nonchalance" and I can tell you few clubs do that better than those two. In that vein, I have said for many years that there is only one club I'm aware of that Gulph Mills actually looks up to or even idolizes in that way and it's definitely Bidermann!
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mike_malone

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #2 on: November 14, 2010, 06:59:29 PM »
 I loved the picnic table in the men's locker room.
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AKA Mayday

TEPaul

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #3 on: November 14, 2010, 07:15:54 PM »
You know this kind of club "ethos" mentioned in the linked article by Joe Logan about Bidermann is still around although I suppose it's getting rarer and rarer in the modern world.

The golf clubs that still manage to maintain that kind of old world simplicity in pretty much every way in my travels are:

1. Bidermann, De
2. Gulph Mills, Pa
3. Yeamans, SC
4. Myopia, Mass
5. Fishers Island and Hay Harbor, NY
6. Misquamicutt, RI
7. The Country Club, Brookline---even though it's an otherwise pretty large operation.
8. The Tarrantine GC, Isleboro, Me.
9. Rolling Rock, Pa
10. Garden City GC, NY
11. Chicago GC, Ill
11. St. Bruno, Que.
12. And of course, Cypress Point GC. Cal
13. I guess one could throw in the same ethos with NGLA, Shinnecock, Maidstone, Crystal Downs and even Pine Valley.

But do you want to know what the Daddy of them all was in THAT way? It was The Links Club, L.I., N.Y. sadly NLE now! 

If anyone really wants to see the way golf used to be in America at some of the most significant membership clubs, those are some of the best to check out. I guarantee you that you all definitely will get the feeling you are going back in time!!  ;)
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Tim Martin

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #4 on: November 14, 2010, 07:37:46 PM »
Sounds like a butlers name in Greenwich. "Oh Bidermann, please fetch me my slippers and a cognac". I love Joe`s line about the number two tee not being marked in that anybody who needs to know already knows. The place sounds good.
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Jeff Dawson

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2010, 07:43:19 PM »
TEPaul.... yo nailed it.  It's the kind of golf so rare in this country but so well done.  I am amazed at how few places really pull this off yet so many think they do. 
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Steve_ Shaffer

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2010, 07:45:07 PM »
« Last Edit: November 14, 2010, 07:46:53 PM by Steve_ Shaffer »
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"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses ... "  Adlai Stevenson
Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
Ben Hogan “The most important shot in golf is the next one”

Powell Arms

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #7 on: November 15, 2010, 09:19:59 AM »
I've had the pleasure of playing Biderman on 5 or 6 occasions, and the article is spot on.  Solid golf course, but that is surpassed by the quality of the experience - serene is probably the best word.

And for as quiet as it is, the staff is welcoming and engaging and wonderfully hospitable.  (maybe they are just happy to see someone on those days where they have only 8 golfers :) )

It is interesting that, for many years, the club was not a member of the Golf Assoc of Philadelphia.  They rejoined in 2010.  So, for years, the club did not participate in the annual spring festival that is the GAP team matches.

Don't miss Biderman if you get an invite!
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Jim Franklin

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2010, 09:22:06 AM »
The Grilled George at Bidermann is fantastic.
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Mr Hurricane

Matt Elliott

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2010, 09:36:03 AM »
It's been five years or so since I've played Biderman and I remember the round fondly. Other than the new holes coming into the club house I thought the course was really very solid. I had played Wilmington CC earlier that day and Biderman was a great finish to a great summer day. I couldn't agree more that Biderman provides a very unique experience. I played with a coworker from Baltimore and I think we were two of 10 people on the course that day. It's really unlike any other club I've visited (with the exception of Gulph Mills as has been previously mentioned.) If you ever get a chance to play Biderman take it. Biderman is definitely one of the hidden gems in the mid-atlantic region that I was lucky enough to experience. I've also had the pleasure to work for Dick Wilson and he really is a great guy. 
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TEPaul

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2010, 10:06:12 AM »
Here's an interesting little tidbit on Bidermann. Maybe ten years ago it occured to GMGC, Sunnybrook and Bidermann that there are an unusual amount of crossover members or at least a ton of mutual friends amongst those three clubs and so a three day tournament was concocted annually to be played in the spring with one day at Bidermann, one at GMGC and one at Sunnybrook, or maybe they just rotated from one to the other annually----can't remember now because I haven't played in it in some years. Anyway, it was a bit of a dilemma at first to figure out what to call the tournament. Finally some wordsmith genius from Wilmington came up with the name Menage a Trois!!!  

One of the great names for a three day three club tournament I've ever heard of and one year they had hats made with the three club logos on the front. It's a bit busy but unique nonetheless.  ;)

I just spoke with Joe and I think I have him pumped up to write the consummate essay on the entire history of the British Empire and how golf and golf architecture and club ethos interwove through the whole danged thing including one of its primary former colonies----what eventually became the Good Ole U.S. of A!   :P :-*

Pip, pip Old Chap, tallyho and all that!

« Last Edit: November 15, 2010, 10:11:21 AM by TEPaul »
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archie_struthers

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2010, 11:12:06 AM »
 ;D :D ;D

Gotta go way back in the time capsule for me to remember my one trip to Bidermann.  Jay Sigel won it (1975???)  and set the new course record that day (65 ???)  I caddied for pro Dick Hendrickson, who was quite a good player (and curmudgeon LOL) 

What amazed me that day is the old Mercedes that followed Sigel around during his record round , a real Mercedes on the course , no doubt one of the DuPont's with a very stylish golf cart. 
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mike_malone

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #12 on: November 15, 2010, 01:38:38 PM »
 I just read the article and want to correct one glaring error...  Jeff Silverman gushs easily!
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AKA Mayday

TEPaul

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #13 on: November 15, 2010, 01:52:05 PM »
"I caddied for pro Dick Hendrickson, who was quite a good player (and curmudgeon LOL)"


ARCHIE:

Do you think Dick Hendrickson may've been the biggest golfer who ever lived?  ;)

I was paired one time in the Pa Open at Saucon Valley with Hendrickson and Skee Riegal. It was some memorable time. It was soaking wet and Riegal couldn't get the ball in the air all day and Hendrickson had his wife caddying for him and he was so pissed off all day he kept burying irons in the turf right after he hit them. He would just walk off and his wife would have to try pulling them out of the ground hole after hole. If you play this game long enough it's just amazing some of the stuff you see, wouldn't you say?   

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archie_struthers

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #14 on: November 15, 2010, 02:12:41 PM »
 ;D ::) ;D

Man he could get hot ...and playing with Skee , quite a grouping .  i'd say Hendrickson was about 6'6 and 300 + -  at the time , he looked just like a lumberjack .

  Quite a good player and actually made some money on the Senior Tour ... He and Dick Smith were two big , big local pros that originally shared the small shop at the Golf Farm in Gibbsboro NJ  ...about 10 minutes from Pine Vallley and right around the corner from Woodcrest..

TEP   ...someone out there must know the story of the Mercedes following Sigel  ....I have seen lots of cars on golf courses but never one following a player during a tournament round  !!!
« Last Edit: November 15, 2010, 02:18:20 PM by archie_struthers »
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TEPaul

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #15 on: November 15, 2010, 03:25:54 PM »
ARCHIE:

I grew up driving cars on golf courses-----eg Meadowbrook, Piping Rock, Gulf Stream, Gulph Mills. It was probably about ten years ago that they asked me at GMGC to stop it. What were they thinking?
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JMEvensky

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #16 on: November 15, 2010, 03:48:06 PM »
Quote from: TEPaul on November 15, 2010, 03:25:54 PM


I grew up driving cars on golf courses-----


Was alcohol involved?
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TEPaul

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #17 on: November 15, 2010, 04:27:41 PM »
Not at all---never. I (we---eg sometimes with my father) would just drive out to a hole, park the car next to a tee and play some holes. I almost always did that in the very late afternoon or towards evening. At those clubs I mentioned back in the day I was certainly never the only one to do that.

Matter of fact, if you take a look at Shackelford's book on Cypress Point, you cannot fail to notice that Alister drove his car all over that golf course. Those were the days when everything was quieter and gentler and far more laid back than today.

However, it could go the other way for sure with some people who didn't understand that sort of thing. Back in the 1960s my father was playing the Lyford Cay course in the Bahamas and one in his group had a heart attack. Dad ran over to a house and told them to call the ambulance from Nassau. After a time the ambulance came screaming in to Lyford Cay with the siren blaring and lights flashing but when the ambulance people saw the poor guy lying out on a fairway they would not drive on the grass. My father told them in no uncertain terms to drive the God-damnded ambulance right across the God-damned golf course and fairway and right next to the guy and pick him up immediately.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2010, 04:48:39 PM by TEPaul »
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Jeffrey Conners

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #18 on: November 15, 2010, 09:28:55 PM »
It's pretty cool that the head professional is also named Dick Wilson (at least according to gapgolf.org).  I assume Bidermann is walking only?
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Mike_Trenham

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #19 on: November 15, 2010, 09:50:05 PM »
Jeff,

No lots of carts at Bidderman, the membership is not too young and the course is hilly, also a tough deal for loopers when there are only a few foursomes each day.  I understand some of the younger better players are walking now, not sure if they are using caddies or not.

Tom Paul -

There is a tale told about a Club Championship match at Merion about 40 years ago where the father of one of the finalist was following his son from his convertible and driving along the fairways.  Richie Valentine had a meeting that day with the green chairman and did his best to convince him to take a look at a few things over at the West Course but the chairman insisted on going over to holes 2-12...
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TEPaul

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #20 on: November 16, 2010, 02:37:26 PM »
Speaking of cars on golf courses, I've seen a number of photos of tournaments where there are a bunch of cars in view on the course. I even remember the finals of the A.J. Drexel Paul tournament at my golf club where the finals went so late a bunch of people brought their cars right up next to the green and turned their lights on.
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Steve_ Shaffer

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #21 on: July 14, 2011, 07:20:15 PM »
Doug Braunsdorf and I were volunteers at a GAP event today at Bidermann. What a place!! What a men's locker room!!! What a course!!!

In one of the great ironies of all time, the head pro of this Dick Wilson designed course is one Dick Wilson. I'm sure he must get tired of questions about his possible relation to the golf archictect. The answer is NO.

By the way, Bidermann was Wilson's last design.
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"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses ... "  Adlai Stevenson
Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
Ben Hogan “The most important shot in golf is the next one”

Sam Morrow

Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #22 on: July 15, 2011, 12:16:59 AM »
Wasn't Bidermann Arthur's driver?
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Steve_ Shaffer

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #23 on: July 15, 2011, 09:10:02 AM »
Bitterman was Arthur's driver:

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0222645/
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"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses ... "  Adlai Stevenson
Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
Ben Hogan “The most important shot in golf is the next one”

Doug Braunsdorf

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Re: Bidermann GC (Emmett/Wilson) in Wilmington, DE
« Reply #24 on: July 15, 2011, 11:38:29 AM »
It was great to see and experience Bidermann yesterday.  I had the great opportunity to chat with one of the committee chairmen for a long time yesterday.  I will write more later, but what I can say with certainty is, the high point of the course for me was and continues to be the 14th hole. 

The view from the landing area uphill, to a (as for now) partial skyline green is so striking and inspiring.  There are some trees to the left and right of the green, which is why I am qualifying my statement as a partial, and none directly behind the green.  Much as in the way the 5th green at The Creek is attractive in the way it sits on top of the hill, this is just as attractive. 

What I also felt was the course, for the most part, does not fight the land; holes go up, down, and across hills delicately, and different stances and shot requirements abound. 
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"Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction."
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