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Mark McKeever

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #125 on: July 23, 2013, 02:44:24 PM »
Yes, the first interpretation is correct.  I love that everything is out in the open and you can see and socialize with anyone else in the locker room at any given time.  Its very unique to me, as I have not seen anything similar.

MM
Best MGA showers - Bayonne

"Dude, he's a total d***"

Joe Bausch

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #126 on: May 05, 2014, 03:06:59 PM »
I recently found this article (April 27, 1958 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer; by sportswriter Fred Byrod) which talks about what the Gordons did at Gulph Mills:



I think The Lurker will be checking in again.   ;)
« Last Edit: December 12, 2019, 10:31:40 AM by Joe Bausch »
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Chris Mavros

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #127 on: May 09, 2014, 07:51:35 AM »
That was a terrific tour, Joe; thanks so much for posting.  What a great classic layout and those greens look like a lot of fun. 

Mark McKeever

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #128 on: May 09, 2014, 11:17:46 AM »
Removal of "obsolete traps".....such a shame.   :'(
Best MGA showers - Bayonne

"Dude, he's a total d***"

RussBaribault

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #129 on: May 09, 2014, 02:25:37 PM »
Great Post. Gulph Mills is such a great course and unless your a avid Philly golfer you would never know about it. In my opinion, it is not given enough credit as compared to the other courses in the Philadelphia area. It really is one of the many courses that makes Philly golf so great.
“Greatness courts failure, Romeo.”

“You may be right boss, but you know what, sometimes par is good enough to win”

Joe Bausch

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #130 on: May 12, 2014, 11:02:40 AM »
From the Lurker:

Joe:

Thank you for that 1957 Inquirer article mentioning the work about to be done at GMGC in 1957. Regarding the 9th green, I suppose that will mean it's had four iterations (Ross, McGovern, Gordons, RTJ). That is only equaled by the 7th green which has had as many iterations (Ross, Maxwell, Gordons, Hanse/Paul and may have another one soon (Hanse--"The Gil" and "The Jim" (who I've now renamed to that due to their extreme tightness with "The Donald")).

As to the Gordon's removing up to ten 'obsolete' bunkers, those would be the grading out of all the so-called Ross "top shot" bunkers on the first eight holes. In the 1940s Wayne Stiles recommended the removal of all Ross's top shot bunkers and the club agreed. However, it appears by "obsolete" (in those 1957-58 Inquirer articles) it only meant that they had let those "top shot" bunkers go to grass since the 1940s and not actually removed their cavities and shapes. But in the mid to late 1950s the club hit upon a ton of  "free" dirt from some outside source and so they used it to grade out their "top shot" bunkers. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, they ran out of "free" dirt to finish off filling in and grading out ALL Ross's original top shot bunkers and that is why their old shapes and cavities still remain on most of the holes from the 8th on.

Gil Hanse was dying to restore all the Ross top shot bunkers in his 2000-2003 restoration but the committee voted it down only due to expense (Gil quoted about $5,000 per bunker).*

*Most all the information about the history of the top shot bunkers came to me from that wonderful man from GMGC, Willis de LaCour, who I mentioned some years ago because of what he said to the committee about the planting of so many trees in particularly the 1950s (Mr de LaCour had been both the green chairman and the president of the club in those years). His amazing statement about the trees came when he sat on the Hanse Restoration project committee in the early 2000s when he was in his eighties. What Mr. de LaCour said at that Restoration Committee meeting was that after listening to the committee explain how trees had so overcrowded the course and created agronomic difficulties and strategic diminishment----and that he had been responsible for them----and if we wished him to, he would personally go in front of the entire membership and admit that in those earlier years they really didn't understand what the long term issues of over-treeing would be. It was an amazing experience in my architectural career. The Committee had been constantly criticizing past administrations for over-treeing, never suspecting we might be actually insulting the ultra-gentlemanly Willis de LaCour at the same time.  When he made that statement we all sat there quietly looking at the floor and damn near cried. What a wonderful man he was to say that and do that, as he did!
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Dan Herrmann

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #131 on: May 12, 2014, 11:25:06 AM »
I miss the lurker :)

PS - I LOVE Gulph Mills.  It's a wonderful golf course, great locker room, and extra friendly staff.  Very classy oasis amongst the KOP mall and its neighbors.
« Last Edit: May 12, 2014, 07:23:09 PM by Dan Herrmann »

David Amarnek

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #132 on: May 12, 2014, 01:17:00 PM »
Me too!
Excited to see what The Tom, The Gil and The Jim have in store for #7.

William_G

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #133 on: May 13, 2014, 07:25:42 PM »
Thanks Joe!

lucky to play there a few days ago

the greens are just now getting into golf shape

the head pro does a great job

fun course, nice clubhouse with a vintage locker room where it's all about the hangers, lol
It's all about the golf!

Joe Bausch

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #134 on: May 13, 2014, 07:32:15 PM »
Thanks Joe!

lucky to play there a few days ago

the greens are just now getting into golf shape

the head pro does a great job

fun course, nice clubhouse with a vintage locker room where it's all about the hangers, lol

Thanks for the invite, Doc!

 ;)

GM is one of the best in a very rich area for golf.
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

William_G

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #135 on: May 14, 2014, 03:35:52 PM »
Joe,

LOL!

We had 4, otherwise I would feel bad.   8)
It's all about the golf!

Mark McKeever

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #136 on: May 14, 2014, 03:55:35 PM »
Can't wait to get out there on Sunday!   :)

Mark
Best MGA showers - Bayonne

"Dude, he's a total d***"

Philip Caccamise

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #137 on: May 14, 2014, 10:34:00 PM »
I saw the GAP Mid-Am is there this year. Anybody playing?

Kevin_D

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #138 on: August 24, 2014, 10:47:10 AM »
I had the privilege of playing Gulph Mills last week, and as great as this photo tour is, it doesn't do the place justice. The elevation changes throughout the course - tee to fairway, and back to green - are among the biggest I've seen. #18 is instantly one of my favorite finishing holes anywhere, probably only second to Merion. Finally, the clubhouse and locker room have an amazing, hard core, old school feel, up there with San Francisco and Garden City.

Dan Herrmann

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #139 on: August 25, 2014, 04:19:12 PM »
From the GAP's website (Member Clubs):  http://www.gapgolf.org/clubs.asp?cmd=&cid=43

The history of Gulph Mills:
At times Merion was the victim of its own success. Despite the club’s two eighteens, some of its members still found conditions crowded. On June 19, 1916, a meeting was held to organize the Gulph Mills Golf Club. The founding group—Alba B. Johnson (who would be named president), Isaac H. Clothier, Jr., and A.J. Drexel Paul (vice presidents), Weston J. Hibbs (secretary-treasurer), C. Willing Hare, Thomas McKean, J. Kearsley Mitchell, J.H. Barnes, R.K. Cassatt, G.Q. Horwitz, C. Munn, and F.K. Wainwright—consisted in the main of men from Merion Cricket Club who envisioned a golf club limited to 100 or, at the most, 150 members.
A decision was made to purchase 160 acres on Swedeland Road in Gulph Mills at a cost of $60,000. Brought in to lay out the course, Donald Ross promised that Gulph Mills "will have one of the best inland courses in this country and that it will undoubtedly be a much superior course to any around Philadelphia."
Construction began in August, laborers being paid 30¢ an hour. In October a prospectus was circulated to a select list of potential members, and the course was touted even more highly than its designer had done: "... a course that will rank with the greatest inland courses in this country and Europe... will be ready for play July 1,1918 .... With this limited number of members [150], we will never be annoyed by the course becoming congested, nor will starters and starting times ever be necessary. [Because of] the close proximity to Norristown, Swedeland and Conshohocken... every man here will always be secure of having a first-class caddy at any and all times." Initiation fees and annual dues were set at $100 each.


This farmhouse, built around 1761, served as the Gulph Mills clubhouse until 1925.

By May of 1917 the club had only 45 members, and, according to the excellent history written by former president A. Willing Patterson in 1976, "Directors were asked that wherever possible they show the grounds to prospective members and talk with those invited to join." A month later the club, because of its very limited revenues, had to borrow $18,000 from the Pennsylvania Company (eight directors personally endorsed the note) and $2,000 from Isaac Clothier. In a long, informative letter to Lieutenant A.J. Drexel Paul, who had survived the sinking of a U.S. Navy convoy escort ship off the coast of France by a German submarine on November 5,1917, Weston J. Hibbs, the club’s secretary-treasurer, concluded: ". . . . We have done practically nothing about the clubhouse and we will use some sort of makeshift for it till after the war, and after we finally lick the Huns we will have some golf."
The course, with considerable work still to be completed, opened "on a War basis," July 1, 1918. On more than one occasion directors as well as Life Members would advance the club money in these formative months to keep it afloat. At the beginning of October, the board voted to close the course because the activities of the small membership could not cover the overhead. But on November 1, it was decided to cut the greens and keep the course open during the coming winter. The possibility of bringing in a flock of sheep "for the greens was discussed, but no decision was reached."
At the end of January, 1919, "the Secretary was instructed to complete construction of the course as soon as practical so that a membership campaign could be commenced at once .... It was decided to allow the Bellevue-Stratford and Ritz-Carlton Hotels to sell to their guests club cards entitling them to club privileges at $2 per day, the club to receive $1 and the hotels to retain $1, for purposes of advertisement."
On May 16,1919, the club held the formal opening of its course. The engraved invitation made it clear that prospective members would, as it were, have an opportunity to examine the merchandise: "The President and Founders of The Gulph Mills Golf Club request the honor of your company at the Opening Reception and Inspection of the Links ...." More than 1,250 people attended, but a full 18 months later, with the club’s funds once more perilously depleted, the membership roster showed only 88 active members—little more than halfway toward the goal of 150. Effective January 1,1921, annual dues were increased from $100 to $150. Nevertheless, the club continued to operate at a deficit, and Life Members were once again called upon to pony up the needed funds. However, on February 25,1922, the secretary-treasurer, in a letter to the membership, was able to announce that". . . . our limit of 150 Active Men Members has been reached, and we have a waiting list."
Not all the high drama at Gulph Mills in the early years stemmed from money matters. A letter from the secretary- treasurer, Mr. Hibbs, to the president early in 1922 cited a personnel problem:
.... I have had considerable trouble in bringing the steward and his wife to the point of view that the kitchen and clubhouse must be kept clean and that the food served to the members must be clean and fresh.... At times they fought with one another, and twice the Steward cut his wife with a knife.... They have refused to serve meals to members at times when they did not want to.... Last Sunday morning I was obliged to go to Rochester on business, and Mrs. Hibbs went to Atlantic City. She returned to the Clubhouse unexpectedly Monday morning and found the house in a complete state of disorder and the Steward’s wife intoxicated. A closet and two doors on which I had Yale locks were broken open in their efforts to find liquor or get at my private effects. Mrs. Kane (acting chairman of the House Committee) instructed me to discharge the Steward and his wife at once, which I have done.
Early in 1923 the club’s barn burned down. The board was not distressed, since a claim for $18,000 was paid in full by the insurance company. However, the fire might not have been so devastating had it not been for the golf professional’s chickens. When the volunteer firemen arrived at the burning barn, the first thing each of them did was rescue two chickens, one in each hand, and run home with them, letting the fire blaze out of control till they could get back and make a belated—and unsuccessful— effort to put it out.
It was at about this same time that the professional, who seemed more inclined toward raising chickens than dairy farming, sold the club cow without authority. He was reprimanded in writing by the secretary-treasurer.

In June, 1924, the club contracted with Toomey and Flynn to rebuild all 18 greens at a cost not to exceed $650 per green. What the Gulph Mills Golf Club then had was a Donald Ross course—the routing of these excellent holes was not changed—with greens designed by William Flynn. It might no longer have been a purebred, but it was—and is—outstanding nonetheless.
[/s]
« Last Edit: August 25, 2014, 06:59:53 PM by Dan Herrmann »

Joe Bausch

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #140 on: August 25, 2014, 04:39:27 PM »
The last part of that history from the GAP web site is not correct, Dan.  You can read the very first post in this thread which I corrected early on to reflect that Flynn regrassed 17 of the 18 greens in 1925.
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Dan Herrmann

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #141 on: August 25, 2014, 07:00:11 PM »
Thanks, Joe - correction made :)

Joe Bausch

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #142 on: January 17, 2015, 12:30:37 PM »
I wanted to add to this thread some very early newspaper accounts of Gulph Mills.

Williams Evans was a prominent golf writer in Philly and he wrote the first big article on the upcoming GM in November of 1916 for the Public Ledger:



In 1918 Evans was now writing for the Evening Public Ledger.  He wrote three substantial articles on GM.

On June 28, 1918:



On July 1, 1918:



On July 15, 1918:



I also re-processed my photo album on GM where all the pics that made it past the cutting room floor are presented:

http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/GulphMills/
« Last Edit: December 12, 2019, 10:33:44 AM by Joe Bausch »
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

John Burnes

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #143 on: January 18, 2015, 08:14:59 AM »
Jim Finegan accompanied me as I played GM.  He said the opening stretch of #'s 1,2,3 are the toughest in the region.  Of course I had just gone three putt 5 on #1, double on #2, and pickup on #3, so in his great way, he might have been trying to make me feel better.

Alas, it is in my top 5 in the region..and I'm not saying its 5th.


Dan Herrmann

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #144 on: January 18, 2015, 11:17:09 AM »
Does the club actually use the flooded quarry for swimming? (mentioned in one of the articles)

David Amarnek

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #145 on: January 21, 2015, 11:54:05 AM »
Joe, thanks for the articles.
BTW, Jeff Silverman has been engaged to write the centennial anniversary book on GMGC for next year.

KMcKeown

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #146 on: January 27, 2015, 10:08:00 PM »
Can someone post the letter from Bobby Jones invtiting the membership to play the newly opened AGNC.  One of the best letters ever written.  I'm too new to do such a thing. 

David Amarnek

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #147 on: January 28, 2015, 01:14:09 PM »
I do have a copy on my iPhone, but have no idea how to post it on this site.
It reads:
Dear _____:

We are opening the Augusta National Golf course (my course in Augusta) on January thirteenth, and Grantland Rice and Clifford Roberts are arranging a special train party of about one hundred golfers from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and such places.  I believe there are already scheduled three or four carloads out of New York.  I am wondering if you and some of your friends would not like to come down for a week-end of informal golf and a little fun.  You will note from the schedule which I enclose that the special train will pass through the West Philadelphia station at 5:26 P.M. on January twelfth.  It will arrive in Augusta at nine o'clock the following morning, and leaving Augusta Sunday afternoon, you will be back in Philadelphia at 7:13 Monday morning.

I think it would be fine if you would get up your own foursome, or perhaps two - or, if you have enough customers, even a special car- and hook it onto this train as it comes through.  You will like the crowd, I know, and I believe you will have a very pleasant week-end.  Let me know what you think about this.

Best regards,

Sincerely,

Bob Jones (signature)
RTJ-Jr.:MJJ
Enclosure - (1)

Joe Bausch

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #148 on: January 28, 2015, 02:49:03 PM »
Joe, thanks for the articles.
BTW, Jeff Silverman has been engaged to write the centennial anniversary book on GMGC for next year.

I've been helping Jeff with the research on Gulph Mills.  I'm sure you will have a very nice book!
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Jim Franklin

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Re: Gulph Mills GC: a photo tour and more (all holes up)
« Reply #149 on: May 29, 2015, 09:44:55 AM »
I played here yesterday for the first time. Fantastic. Doesn't get enough mention anywhere. It may not be fit for today's bombers, but those greens are challenging and a ton of fun. Can't wait to play it again.
Mr Hurricane

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