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

Grounds Crew in action

During the week of The 1854 this year we captured our crew in action preparing both courses for the event using a drone.  Below is the video created by Ryan Beck.

2015 Before and After Photos

Our employees who built the new exterior spaces at St. Martins and Flourtown were thrilled to see them creatively used by our events team, and thoroughly enjoyed by our members all year.  We have posted fun before-and-after photos which highlight their construction and eventual member-use.

Tennis Patio before

Tennis Patio after

 Cricket Patio area before

Cricket Patio area after

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Excavated soil from the East Wing construction...

...Used to build the Activity Field

Activity Field complete

Activity Field after

Zoysia Range Tee build in 2014

Zoysia Range Tee used in 2015. This allowed for the re-leveling of our Upper Range Tee without disrupting member use of the range.

Upper Range Tee established and ready for 2016!

Upper Range Tee

With the new Zoysia Practice Tee in perfect shape and recently opening for members, it was time to address the upper practice tee.  The upper practice tee was in need of being leveled and regrassed to 007 bentgrass to create a tee that would truly replicate the fairway conditions of the renovated Wissahickon course.

Zoysia Tee seeing plenty of action during the first week of opening

Upper Practice Tee Restoration

Sod cutting the existing practice tee

Removing the existing grass from the upper tee which was mostly rye grass

View from the Zoysia Practice Tee

Almost completely stripped and ready to be leveled

Before it could be leveled we went over it with seeda-vator to break up the soil.

Members using the Zoysia Practice Tee in the foreground.

Smart Leveler to ensure a perfectly level tee

Leveling the tee with the transit in the foreground.

Putting out some 70-30 tee mix before seeding.

Using knobby tires to dimple the soil after seeding to get good soil to seed contact.

The newly seeded practice tee

Putting down sod around the teaching mats so that lessons would not be disrupted.

Laying sod down around the teaching mats only.

Watering the newly seeded tee

Heavy rain just 2 days later resulted in having to reseed some areas where seed washed away.

Seed starting to germinate 6 days after initial seeding.

13 days after seeding and just after the first mowing.

17 days after seeding.  Picture taken from the other side of the range tee.