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Member Clubs
The Springhaven Club
Course Information
Club Type:
Private
Founded:
1896
Architect:
Ida E. Dixon
General Information
Address:
600 South Providence Road
Wallingford, PA 19086
Phone:
(610) 876-8187
Fax:
(610) 876-0285
Website:
www.thespringhavenclub.com
Club Contacts
Golf Professional:
Ben F. Debski
(610) 872-8461
General Manager:
T.J. Diagne
(610) 876-8187
Superintendent:
Charles J. Miller
(610) 872-4502
Club Events
2021
May 3
GAP Francis B. Warner Cup (Gross)
2018
May 29
GAP Team Championship Qualifier
2016
Aug 24
GAP Marston Cup
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to show all
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Course Yardage & Ratings
Handicap Conversion Charts: [
Mens
] [
Womens
]
BACK TEES
Front 9
Back 9
Course
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Men
35.6
126
35.0
123
70.6
125
HOLE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
OUT
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
IN
TOTAL
Par
4
5
3
4
4
3
4
5
3
35
4
4
5
3
4
4
4
4
3
35
70
Yards
415
546
186
415
380
178
447
544
174
3285
423
450
498
189
344
380
371
374
128
3157
6442
HCP
5
9
17
11
3
13
1
7
15
8
2
16
14
12
4
6
10
18
FAMILY TEE #2 TEES
Front 9
Back 9
Course
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Men
30.4
103
30.5
104
60.9
104
HOLE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
OUT
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
IN
TOTAL
Par
4
5
3
4
4
3
4
5
3
35
4
4
5
3
4
4
3
4
4
35
70
Yards
310
367
95
242
194
75
274
380
80
2017
255
297
332
100
203
245
75
233
260
2000
4017
HCP
5
9
17
11
3
13
1
7
15
8
2
16
14
12
4
6
10
18
FAMILY TEE #1 TEES
Front 9
Back 9
Course
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Men
29.0
99
28.9
94
57.9
97
HOLE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
OUT
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
IN
TOTAL
Par
4
5
3
4
4
3
4
5
3
35
4
4
5
3
4
4
3
4
4
35
70
Yards
252
271
70
158
170
65
195
284
54
1519
187
239
265
80
145
175
43
166
200
1500
3019
HCP
5
9
17
11
3
13
1
7
15
8
2
16
14
12
4
6
10
18
FORWARD TEES
Front 9
Back 9
Course
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Men
32.6
111
33.6
112
66.2
112
HOLE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
OUT
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
IN
TOTAL
Par
4
5
3
4
4
3
4
5
3
35
4
4
5
3
4
4
4
4
3
35
70
Yards
398
464
122
322
234
120
370
492
128
2650
386
404
440
167
330
358
314
330
95
2824
5474
HCP
3
11
15
17
1
13
5
7
9
8
4
18
12
10
2
14
6
16
MIDDLE TEES
Front 9
Back 9
Course
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Men
34.6
123
34.4
122
69.0
123
HOLE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
OUT
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
IN
TOTAL
Par
4
5
3
4
4
3
4
5
3
35
4
4
5
3
4
4
4
4
3
35
70
Yards
407
530
140
395
349
161
425
538
144
3089
396
437
489
175
337
368
360
361
128
3051
6140
HCP
5
9
17
11
3
13
1
7
15
8
2
16
14
12
4
6
10
18
History
Delaware County got its first club when The Springhaven Country Club, as it was initially called, was formed in October of 1896. No founding father here. A "founding mother" is closer to the truth.
Eleanor Reed toured Europe in the summer of 1896, saw golf being played in France, tried it herself, fell under its spell, and returned to her home in Media eager to organize a golf club there. Fortunately, several of her neighbors— Dr. Casper T. Miller, who had also recently played in Europe, and Henry and Ida Dixon, who had been introduced to the game some months earlier in Bermuda— were equally enthusiastic. Others, doubtless on blind faith, became believers. A parcel of pasture land (at Providence Road and Jackson Street in Media then) known as "Springhaven Farm" was leased from a dairy farmer. Included was an old springhouse to serve as a locker room. The club took over not only the farm but the name, and the Springhaven Country Club was launched. Its first president was George T. Butler. Eleanor Reed Butler was its first secretary.
The green committee laid out the nine-hole course, which had a total length of 2,940 yards and almost certainly the most exhausting start in American golf. The first hole measured 600 yards and the second hole 520 yards. Each was a par 5 1/2. In an age when a 160-yard drive by an inexperienced amateur—all Springhaven members in 1896 were inexperienced amateurs—was considered little short of herculean, these opening holes must have seemed an endless slog. In any event, the other seven holes (240 yards, 200, 434, 384, 176, 133, and 253) were what one would expect, but that start must have been demoralizing.
The club’s fee structure was typical. An Active Member paid an initiation fee of $10 and annual dues of $15. Family Membership, which included sons and daughters under 17, required a $15 initiation payment and $30 annual dues.
Springhaven’s stylish clubhouse, 1907.
Membership increased rapidly, and the simple facilities were soon outgrown. Late in 1903, what is the present property of the club, in Wallingford, was purchased. Here, on essentially level terrain, an 18-hole course was laid out. According to The Architects of Golf, by Geoffrey S. Cornish and Ronald E. Whitten, it was Ida Dixon who was responsible for the design of the course, making her the first female golf architect in America, probably in the world. Mrs. Dixon would serve as president of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia from 1911 through 1916.
Built at the same time was the splendid clubhouse (broad brick terraces; a two-story high assembly hall with beamed ceiling, an open fireplace, and a musicians’ balcony; a dining room with an open fireplace and "fitted china closets;" a cardroom; a taproom with rustic inglenook; a billiards room; locker and shower rooms; guest rooms and suites for visiting golfers). When the new Springhaven Country Club was officially dedicated on July 9,1904, the Chester Times reported that "the elite of Delaware County were in attendance," the ladies attired in the height of current fashion, a number of members arriving in that daring new contraption, the motor car.
The new Springhaven also boasted a golf professional, its first. His name was Horace Rawlins, and he is an historic figure in American golf. In 1895, at Newport Golf Club, Rhode Island, he won the inaugural U.S. Open Championship, shooting 91 in the morning and 82 in the afternoon to edge Scottish-born Willie Dunn, the favorite, by two strokes. Young Rawlins—he was then 21, English-born and reared—was awarded the top prize of $200 but had to hand back $50 in order to pay for the gold medal he received to commemorate his victory. Professional golfers were held in generally low esteem in those days. They were widely viewed as little other than hard-drinking ex-caddies. Horace Rawlins, however, seemed to have served Springhaven well, selling equipment and giving lessons till 1909.
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