Member Clubs

Whitemarsh Valley Country Club

Course Information
Club Type: Private
Founded:1899
Architect:G.C. Thomas
General Information
Address: 815 Thomas Road
Lafayette Hill, PA  19444
Phone:(215) 233-3901
Fax:(215) 233-4429
Website:www.whitemarshvalleycc.com
Club Contacts
  Golf Professional:   David Pagett   (215) 233-3904 
  General Manager:   Ashly Ryan   (215) 233-3901 
  Superintendent:   Drew Goehler   (215) 643-0180 
Club Events
2022 Oct 11  GAP U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Qualifier (1) 
2020 Aug 17  GAP U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifier (1) 
2019 Jul 22  GAP J. Wood Platt Cup 
Click Here to show all

view larger map
Course Yardage & Ratings
Handicap Conversion Charts:  [Mens]  [Womens]

WHITE TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlope
  Men  36.3 131  35.8  139 72.1 135 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445354443364534443543672
 Yards 349401529235472333405449116328937349916235335241713748040131746463
 HCP 1331115591717 68161210214184  
BLACK TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlope
  Men  37.4 137  36.6  143 74.0 140 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445354443364534443543672
 Yards 351429562240495371437481124349037851218936737542315948746633566846
 HCP 1331115591717 68161210214184  
GREEN TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlope
  Men  35.2 127  35.1  131 70.3 129 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445354443364534443543672
 Yards 337369529193454318352395115306237549016535431036912348337030396101
 HCP 1331115591717 68161210214184  
GOLD TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlope
  Men  34.2 120  34.2  118 68.4 119 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445354443364534443543672
 Yards 32031643819344330235439495285535445115130627434010243237327835638
 HCP 1331115591717 68161210214184  
RED TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlope
  Men  32.9 118  33.4  117 66.3 118 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445354443364534443543672
 Yards 29928743216840523431135393258232940815126227133510039231525635145
 HCP 1331115591717 68161210214184  
History
Not all of the early golf clubs flourished. Gone is Belfield Country Club, founded in Germantown in 1899. Albert W. Tillinghast, a member who would become one of America’s half-dozen greatest golf course architects, held the course record (twice around the 2,666-yards nine in 80) there in 1903. Gone, too, is Belfield’s neighbor. Mount Airy Country Club. But its successor club thrives today. And over the years since Whitemarsh Valley’s formation, in 1908, it has certainly witnessed more rounds by the finest players of the 20th century—ranging from Jock Hutchison, who in 1917 won the wartime substitute for the U.S. Open here, to Jack Nicklaus, three-time IVB champion—than any other course in the Philadelphia area.

Whitemarsh Valley’s original clubhouse — about 1914.
Whitemarsh Valley Country Club was incorporated in April, 1908, by a group of former members of Mount Airy, which was forced to disband when the club was unable to get a satisfactory extension of its lease. William Disston was elected president, S. Boyd Carrigan first vice president, Joseph A. Slattery secretary, and William F. Kling treasurer. The bulk of the club’s land—its present property—was bought from George C. Thomas, Jr., over the next three years. Thomas had made this estate, which his father gave him when he was 21 and which he called Bloomfield Farm, his home, and he would make it an outstanding golf course.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1894, George Thomas worked with his father in the banking firm of Drexel & Co. until 1907. His early avocation was gardening—in fact, he became a recognized authority on the breeding of roses, about which he wrote several books—and this led him into the landscaping aspects of golf course design. He laid out a nine-hole course in Marion, Massachusetts, in the early 1900s, and he gained valuable insight into the art of golf architecture by observing Donald Ross’s work on the original Sunnybrook course. He also consulted with Tillinghast on his design for the Cricket Club’s course at Flourtown, and welcomed the opportunity to observe what his friends Hugh Wilson and George Crump were up to at Merion and Pine Valley, respectively.
The Whitemarsh course project, incorporating the Wissahickon Creek and embracing lovely rolling meadows that had once been the grazing land for some of America’s most famous thoroughbreds—among them, Leamington, Lexington, and Iroquois—and that had been his own home now for more than 15 years, was a natural one for Thomas. He made the most of it. In years to come his original design would be revised—more a matter of bunkering and green contouring than the basic routing of holes—first by William Flynn, then by Donald Ross. But the course we play today is, by and large, the work of George Clifford Thomas, who moved to California in 1919. Here he would become renowned as the designer of such outstanding courses as Bel-Air, Los Angeles Country Club’s North course, and Riviera. Here, too, he would write his classic Golf Architecture in America: Its Strategy and Construction. But his legacy to Philadelphia, the superlative eighteen at Whitemarsh (in 1952 Ben Hogan called it "one of the great golf courses")" is an enduring one.

[ Back to Listing ]

MY GAP LOCKER LOGIN  |  REGISTER
SECTION LINKS
 Rules of Golf
 About GAP
 Handicapping
 Tournament Schedule
 BMW GTM Home
 Junior Program
 Platt Caddie Scholarship
 Presidents’ Council
 Breakfast Seminars
 
GAP
About GAP
Contact Us
Executive Committee
GAP Chat
Meetings
Login/Register
Join/Renew Membership		TOURNAMENTS
AGA/GAP Tournaments
GAP Central Tournaments
GAP Central Series
Outing Central
Tournament Schedule
Exemptions
Rules
Play Ready Pledge
Association Policies		HANDICAPPING
Establish/Renew Your Handicap
Post a Score
Member Course & Slope Ratings		OUR CLUBS
How to Join GAP
Member Club Benefits
Member Clubs
Individual Member Benefits		OTHER PROGRAMS
Youth Programs
Member Play Days
Platt Caddie Scholarship
PLAY Golf		CONNECT
GAP Magazine
The GAP App
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Copyright © 2023 The Golf Association of Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.
Developed by AppNet Solutions