2016 Year in Review

Thanks to our members & volunteers!

Membership Office before new hardscape

After

Before

After

Great Lawn with classic tennis set-up and drinking locations

Grass tennis fence before

After transparent fence

Pool Pergola built in-house

Nursery construction allowed cost-effective 

re-sodding of Lower Range Tee

Upper Range Tee re-grade & grow in 

Upper Range Tee newly opened

Lower Range Tee re-grade for sod preparation

Fall 2016 new Lower Range Tee

2016 Constellation Senior Players Championship

Player Quotes- (field accounted for 28 Major Championships won)

“It’s a real major, it’s like playing in the U.S. Open or whatever where par is a good score.  So don’t blame guys when they play for the middle of the green here and there because there’s some long holes out there, some tough holes where most of the guys would be extremely happy to be in the middle of the green.  That’s what you have to do at times.”- Bernhard Langer

“Yeah, it’s a U.S. Open caliber golf and scoring, you know.  Like I said, if we had four days of perfect 80-degree weather and 5-mile an hour winds, it still ain’t 12-14 under.”-Scott Dunlap

“Of course they could hold any event here.  You could make this golf course so hard, it’s unbelievable.  They still have a few hundred yards, some back tees, they can tighten these fairways and let the rough grow and you won’t even be able to find a golf ball.”- Bernhard Langer

“The golf course is a magnificent golf course.  Beautiful.  People say it’s always nice and we play with a lot of wind here but the condition of the course is perfect and it’s a great track”- Miguel Angel Jimenez

“It’s so much of a challenge, you know?  Where par every hole means something.  It feels good, it feels great.  Love it because this is what majors should be, you know?  You should feel like it’s a major and it is.  Love it, love it here—absolutely love it.”- Colin Montgomerie

Advanced tournament staging managed to minimally affect the member-experience

Smooth event coordination

Volunteer hospitality

Wonderful team effort

The next day we got to work restoring course for members

Wissahickon was restored in one month after event

June 2016

July 2016

See you in 2017!

Curtis Harder Named Superintendent at Blue Bell Country Club

We are pleased to congratulate Curtis Harder on accepting the Golf Course Superintendent position at Blue Bell Country Club.

Curtis came to PCC this March and while he wasn't here long, he was integral to providing championship conditions on Militia Hill this year.  As regional and national events were scheduled on Wissahickon this year, Curtis proved to be the ultimate team player in sharing resources to help PCC be at its best.  

Curtis worked tirelessly to also ensure that Militia Hill continued to play like a true championship course.  He oversaw a full freshening up of the Militia Hill bunkers this fall just before he left.  He was able to accomplish this in a timely manner to quickly make Militia Hill feel like a brand new course in time for the fall golf season. 

Curtis exhibited consistent dedication to the club and served as a great mentor to our many assistants.  We are excited to see Curtis find continued success locally at Blue Bell Country Club.  We also wanted to be sure to thank PCC members.  Whether reaching out to your personal contacts, or helping perform mock interviews, PCC members have always played an integral role in helping our superintendents become their best and achieve their own positions.  Curtis is the eighth superintendent to be promoted in such a manner in the last six years.  This form of positive turn-over helps PCC to continue to recruit top talent from across the U.S., which in turn, continues to help our courses constantly improve.

For those members who would like to congratulate Curtis, we have placed a link to his email below. 

Curtis's Email 

Congrats Curtis!   

August Update

Flourtown

Despite this week's heat and humidity, our aerification on Wissahickon went nearly perfect and with the anticipated cooler night temperatures heading our way we are hoping for a quick recovery on Wissahickon as we transition to Militia Hill.

Aerating Wissahickon #1

Cleaning up after aerating Wissahickon #10

Watering Wissahickon #2 after clean up before Topdressing

St Martins

Through the practices of evenly spreading matches and traffic along with the diligent hand watering of Jordan Caplan and his team, the Great Lawn has produced conditioning-levels not seen before in August.  

PCC welcomes the USTA National Grass Court Championships

St Martins golf course is truly dialed in with the Zoysia grass fairways absolutely glowing this time of year.

#1 and #9 fairways at St Martins

Before and After Update 7/9/16

Constellation Senior Players Championship

June 7, 2016

 

After the Constellation Senior Players Championship

July 8, 2016

 

Before

Area outside of membership offices

 

After

Area outside of membership offices

 

Before

Facing the Club House from West Willow Grove Ave

After

Facing the Club House from West Willow Grove Ave

 

Before

Seasonal Tennis Fencing

 

After

Seasonal Tennis Fencing

 

Pergola Construction

PCC Carpenter, George Snear, working on the Pergola

 

Pergola from the kiddie pool

Pergola Completed

 

 

Inside Golf covers the Constellation Senior Players Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club

 

Inside Golf was back at the Philadelphia Cricket Club; this time to cover the lead up to the Constellation Senior Players Championship being held on the Wissahickon course.  Host, Harry Donahue interviews a few of the key members and staff at Philadelphia Cricket Club as well as Joe Rotellini, the PGA executive director of the tournament.  Club President: Dr. Vergare, Director of Grounds: Dan Meersman, and Director of Golf: Jim Smith are who are interviewed and the course is showcased in the background during all of these interviews as well.

 

Enjoy the video below.

 

Andrew Goehler Named Superintendent at Old York Road Country Club

We are pleased to congratulate Andrew Goehler on accepting the Golf Course Superintendent position at Old York Road Country Club.

Andrew came to PCC in 2012, and immediately had a strong impact on the club. That year, Andrew worked with golf course architect, Keith Foster in accomplishing a full-scale restoration of our 1800’s St. Martins golf course.  Much of this work was executed in-season while balancing daily course conditioning.  He also oversaw the quality control of the St. Martins irrigation installation that offseason.  

During the 2013 Wissahickon Restoration, Andrew led our in-house rough sodding and fairway seeding programs, and also worked tirelessly on our greens grow-in process.  The fact that our newly sodded Wissahickon greens performed so well so quickly can be attributed to Andrew’s eye for detail, and willingness to give them the frequent attention they required.

As added member value, Andrew held leadership roles in all of the hardscape and patio areas we have constructed at both campuses.  This work included constructing our Militia Hill patio, the Flourtown porches and patios, as well as all of the new St. Martins patios and brick-work.  Andrew also enhanced the PCC community by ensuring that our golf courses consistently exceeded the high standards of our members and guests, day-in and day-out.  

We wanted to be sure to thank PCC members, as many stepped up to help Andrew during this process.  PCC members have always played an integral role in helping our superintendents become their best and achieve their own positions.  Andrew was the seventh PCC superintendent to be promoted in such a manner in the last six years.  This form of positive turn-over helps PCC to continue to recruit top talent from across the U.S., which in turn, continues to help our courses constantly improve.

For those members who would like to congratulate Andrew, we have placed a link to his email below.

Andrew Goehler

Tony Steppich Named Superintendent at Rock Manor Golf Club





Congratulations to Tony Steppich on being named the golf course superintendent at Rock Manor Golf Club in Wilmington, DE!

Tony came to PCC in November of 2012, prior to the Wissahickon restoration close period of 2013.  That summer, Tony did an excellent job maintaining Militia Hill during a year when our entire membership was consolidated to playing the course.  Following Wissahickon’s re-opening and gaining popularity Tony continued to do an excellent job maintaining Militia Hill.  As regional and national events were scheduled on Wissahickon, Tony proved to be the ultimate team player in sharing resources to help PCC be at its best.  We were thrilled to see in our 2015 member surveys that Militia Hill maintained equally high member satisfaction results.

Tony exhibited consistent dedication to the club and served as a great mentor to our many assistants.  We are excited to see Tony find continued success, and are happy for his family that his new position is so close to home.

We also wanted to be sure to thank PCC members.  Whether reaching out to your personal contacts, or helping perform mock interviews, PCC members have always played an integral role in helping our superintendents become their best and achieve their own positions.  Tony was the sixth superintendent to be promoted in such a manner in the last six years.  This form of positive turn-over helps PCC to continue to recruit top talent from across the U.S., which in turn, continues to help our courses constantly improve.

For those members who would like to congratulate Tony, we have placed a link to his email below.

Tony's Email

Congrats Tony!   

Constellation Senior Players Championship

This year, the Philadelphia Cricket Club will be hosting the Constellation Senior Players Championship.  The event will take place from June 6th to June 12th.  The 4 rounds of championship golf will be played on the Wissahickon course and showcase golfers such as Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, and John Daly.  The event is going to be broadcast by the Golf Channel.

To help ensure a successful tournament we are asking for volunteers starting June 6th, when the practice rounds begin to June 12th, the final round of the tournament.  If you or anybody else would be interested in volunteering, please click on the link below and fill out the volunteer form.  We will be following up with more information for all the volunteers as the tournament gets closer.

Constellation Senior Players Championship Turf Volunteer Form

Tee & Green Nursery

This fall we began construction on a very large nursery tee and green on Militia Hill between holes 6 and 8.  The nursery will be primarily used for our season-long divot-plugging efforts, as well as range sod replacement.

Laser Level Grading of Nursery Tee


Fusing Sections of HDPE Irrigation Pipe


Trenches Are Dug For Our Irrigation Pipe


Wiring Sprinkler Heads for the Irrigation System


Excavating the Nursery Green to a Depth of 16 inches


Final Shape of Nursery Green Sub-Grade


Drainage Channels Installed


Drainage Gravel Layer


Filling the Greens Cavity with 12 inches of Sand Mix