From the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger / 28 Jun 1918
Gulph Mills Will Open Its New 18-Hole Course Tomorrow Afternoon by William H. Evans
The new Gulph Mills Golf Club, the latest creation of Donald Ross, will be thrown open for play tomorrow. Ross never built a poor or indi
The new Gulph Mills Golf Club, the latest creation of Donald Ross, will be thrown open for play tomorrow. Ross never built a poor or indifferent course and he has expressed himself on a number of occasions as regarding this as one of the best links he has ever constructed. …. after two years of hard work the new eighteen-hole course is ready for play.
The club is limited to 150 members and their families, but the present membership has been cut in half, as those men are now in service in France. As a result of this condition the board of directors has decided to open the course on a war basis. The clubhouse will not be built until after the war and part of the farmhouse has been set aside for temporary club quarters, with shower bath and a locker-room and other facilities of a clubhouse.
There will be no charge for visitors this season and members will have the privilege of inviting their friends to play over the course. ….
The club can be reached by the Philadelphia and Western line from the Sixty-ninth street terminal to Gulph Mills station, cars running every twenty minutes. The club automobile will meet the cars leaving the terminal at 12:40 and 1 o’clock on Saturdays. The nearestfferent course and he has expressed himself on a number of occasions as regarding this as one of the best links he has ever constructed. …. after two years of hard work the new eighteen-hole course is ready for play.
The club is limited to 150 members and their families, but the present membership has been cut in half, as those men are now in service in France. As a result of this condition the board of directors has decided to open the course on a war basis. The clubhouse will not be built until after the war and part of the farmhouse has been set aside for temporary club quarters, with shower bath and a locker-room and other facilities of a clubhouse.
There will be no charge for visitors this season and members will have the privilege of inviting their friends to play over the course. ….
The club can be reached by the Philadelphia and Western line from the Sixty-ninth street terminal to Gulph Mills station, cars running every twenty minutes. The club automobile will meet the cars leaving the terminal at 12:40 and 1 o’clock on Saturdays. The nearest station on the Pennsylvanian is Radnor. Caddie fees are twenty cents an hour….
Gulph Mills is located at the corner of Swedeland and King of Prussia roads, the latter being a continuation of Montgomery avenue, and to reach it by motor take the King of Prussia road to the Bird-in-Hand Tavern, then turn right at the first road, the road ending at the course.
A few years ago, when it was thought for a while that St. Davids was going to lose its course, an option was taken on the present Gulph Mills, but, as matters were adjusted to the satisfaction of St. Davids, Mr. Hubbs took over the option, and the new club is the result. The property is about 160 acres in extent and lies in Upper Merion township, in the beautiful Chester Valley, one of the most picturesquely scenic sections of the State.
The land was originally deeded by William Penn, and up to the time the club bought it it had but three owners. Much of it was used as pasture land, and some of it was virgin soil that had never been cultivated. It was plowed over and harrowed and seeded, and the turf is so excellent now that good lies are possible everywhere, but the club permits the players to tee the balls through the fairways, if they prefer. The bunkering is yet to be completed, and the pits are there as they were first built. They will be finished later. The greens are in perfect condition.
From the spot where the clubhouse will be erected the entire course can be seen sweeping in all directions. There are no parallel holes and it is all but impossible for the players to slice or pull from one fairway into another. Looking from the clubhouse site the first impression is that the climbs to the greens are stiff, but actually they are not. The ground is gently undulating, and as the holes run virtually to all points of the compass the players will get the wind from all sections.
There is not a poor hole on the course. The greens are large and every one is undulating. ….
The course is 6420 yards long from the short tees and 6673 from the long tees. The par on the shorter course is 70 and on the longer 74.
