How this $80 Ross muni was transformed into a Philadelphia gem

I will always remember my first visit Jeffersonville Golf Club. After all, who can forget stepping on a small stone bridge over a stream and, as soon as your foot hits the surface, seeing a handful of snakes slither under the ivy?

It wasn’t until a few years later, when my high school hosted our exams on the municipal course in West Norriton Township, Pa., about 35 minutes outside of Philadelphia, that I realized what a stunning layout it was. It wasn’t long until the golf world began to take notice as well.

Jeffersonville Golf Club, with a maximum weekend rate of only $80 (with or without cart), appears prominently on the first GOLF list. America’s best golf courses you can play for $100 or less.

But its transformation from a dry, nondescript public course to one of the nation’s best values ​​didn’t happen overnight.

The beginning of Jeffersonville’s current era can be traced back to the year 2000 when the city, which had been operating in 1931 Design by Donald Ross for the past 28 years, brought in Ron Pritchard to restore the course to its Ross glory. This included adding more than 40 original bunkers, installing a modern irrigation system and changing the direction of the course to finish with the tough par-4 17th and par-5 18th.

For several years, the course shone as one of the few public golf gems of the Philadelphia area, but it wasn’t long before the course fell victim to the financial crisis of 2008. The municipality was unable to commit its resources to the course.

It was around that time that I met up with a few sliding friends while playing the 8th hole (which still makes me think twice every time I walk over that bridge).

When I returned as a high school student, I began to appreciate the visuals presented by the course. Take the 8th hole, for example, a 195-yard par-3 that plays to a small, sloping green set just above a creek and surrounded by trees. Or the 18th, which requires you to cut corners twice over trees and bunkers in order to reach the green in two, and even then, you have to leave the ball on the left side of the hole because of the rough. from right to left. of the placement surface.

At the time, the money wasn’t there to stay the course the way longtime Superintendent Rich Schilling wanted. The greens were slow, the rough was spotty and some of the bunkers, even those added during the restoration, had faded back into the ground.

It was 2012, which was also the same time the township hired a new manager, Jason Bobst, who wanted to reinvest in the golf course.

“When he came on board, he really allowed (director of golf) Mike (Housley) and myself to do what we thought we needed to do to get the golf course to where it is today,” Schilling said. “And we slowly demolished the little pieces of property that were in decline and built on what we had.”

It started in 2013 with a bunker restoration on the 3rd hole. Schilling brought in Tyler Rae, a former Pritchard protégé, to help shape. He also assisted in similar projects at no. 5 and 17. Other minor improvements have been made over the past decade.

“A lot of tree removal, hundreds of trees. Bunker complexes. The new freeway cut lines, simplifying the lines, bringing it back to the original,” Schilling said. “Everything is in straight lines and not these contours around things that, you know, wouldn’t have been done in the 30s.”

Added Housley: “Just subtle little things that really make a difference.”

They have. Every time I played Jeffersonville in the last five years, the experience just kept getting better and people noticed. Almost every tee time sells out seven days in advance. The course did 50,000 rounds in 2023 and is on pace to do so again this year.

Also this year, the club opened a new $12 million clubhouse, complete with new restaurants, banquet space, a fully equipped pro shop and six Trackman golf simulators in the basement known as “The Stables” a nod to the history of site. the horse racing track, which is a theme throughout the facility.

“I get more emails, phone calls and text messages every day,” Housley said. “The popularity, I would say, is 10 times that.”

Housley said the timeline for the new building was pushed back when the old clubhouse was condemned in 2020. The club’s original plan was to build a par-3 course on land left of the 17th hole, where there used to be a range driving, but that idea has been put on hold due to parking restrictions.

The new club also added 75 jobs to the community. Construction was financed with about $5 million in grants, the balance borrowed. It was feared, due to costs, that a weekend slot would drag north of $100, but with a maintenance budget that’s still under $1 million a year, Housely and Schilling expect the course to remain a tremendous value thanks to new sources of income from the club and full sheet.

“I always feel like there’s an unwritten rule, being a municipally owned public golf course, to try to stay as affordable as possible,” Housely said.

It’s also important to note that the Philadelphia area lacks top-notch public golf. Jeffersonville is the best public access course in the state east of Hershey. None of the top 20 GOLF courses in the state they are public. There is hope given ongoing restoration at Cobbs Creek in the citybut for now, Jeffersonville is on the Pennsylvania Munis line.

“If we can pack this building for people like we pack the golf course, then we’ll all be fine and I’ll be happy,” Schilling said.

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Jack Hirsch

Editor of Golf.com

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A native of Pennsylvania, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also *tries* to remain competitive in the local amateurs. Prior to joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a television station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a multimedia journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.