Member Clubs

Gulph Mills Golf Club

Course Information
Club Type: Private
Founded:1916
Architect:Donald Ross
General Information
Address: 200 Swedeland Road
King of Prussia, PA  19406
Phone:(610) 828-0717
Fax:(610) 828-1478
Club Contacts
  Golf Professional:   Tom P. Gilbert   (610) 828-9370 
  General Manager:   Helen D. Lojewski   (610) 828-0717 x12 
  Superintendent:   Robert Sawicki   (610) 828-0253 
Location/Directions
From Philadelphia - Take 76 West to Gulph Mills Exit 330. Take left at 1st stop sign, then take immediate right at the traffic light. Bear left at fork in road where Rt. 320 bears off to right. Go past Septa Train Station on left and at top of hill, turn right onto Swedeland Road. Driveway is on left.
From Wilmington - Take 476 North to 76 West (Valley Forge). Once on 76 West, exit immediately at Gulph Mills Exit. Follow Philadelphia directions above.
From New Jersey via PA Turnpike - Take Turnpike to Exit 20 and follow signs to 476 South. Once on 476 South, exit at 76 West. Once on 76 West exit immediately at Gulph Mills Exit. Follow Philadelphia directions above.
From Central Pennsylvania via PA Turnpike - Take Turnpike to Exit 326 (Valley Forge). After toll booth stay in left lanes and follow 76 East. Go 3 miles to Gulph Mills Exit. Once on exit ramp, stay to left and turn left at traffic light onto South Gulph Rd. Pass Septa Train Station on right and make next right after station. Cross bridge and make immediate left onto Swedeland Rd. Driveway is on left.
Course Yardage & Ratings
Handicap Conversion Charts:  [Mens]  [Womens]

BLUE TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
  Men  36.2 142  36.6  137 72.8 140  98.7 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 444343544354454344353671
 Yards 415404460117435173496351377322841736352343519039440021346433996627
 HCP 3711711155139 21264161081418  
WHITE TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
  Men  35.5 136  36.0  135 71.5 136  96.6 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 444343544354454344353671
 Yards 389383427112398149464327367301641131849840117038438620942131986214
 HCP 3711711155139 21264161081418  
YELLOW TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
  Men  33.9 126  34.8  132 68.7 129  92.7 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 444343544354454344353671
 Yards 389350423108362125444261301276338230447337316434033719140829725735
 HCP 3711711155139 21264161081418  
Tee SetFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
 Red Men  33.0 127  32.9  121 65.9 124  88.9 
History
At times Merion was the victim of its own success. Despite the club’s two eighteens, some of its members still found conditions crowded. On June 19, 1916, a meeting was held to organize the Gulph Mills Golf Club. The founding group—Alba B. Johnson (who would be named president), Isaac H. Clothier, Jr., and A.J. Drexel Paul (vice presidents), Weston J. Hibbs (secretary-treasurer), C. Willing Hare, Thomas McKean, J. Kearsley Mitchell, J.H. Barnes, R.K. Cassatt, G.Q. Horwitz, C. Munn, and F.K. Wainwright—consisted in the main of men from Merion Cricket Club who envisioned a golf club limited to 100 or, at the most, 150 members.
A decision was made to purchase 160 acres on Swedeland Road in Gulph Mills at a cost of $60,000. Brought in to lay out the course, Donald Ross promised that Gulph Mills "will have one of the best inland courses in this country and that it will undoubtedly be a much superior course to any around Philadelphia."
Construction began in August, laborers being paid 30¢ an hour. In October a prospectus was circulated to a select list of potential members, and the course was touted even more highly than its designer had done: "... a course that will rank with the greatest inland courses in this country and Europe... will be ready for play July 1,1918 .... With this limited number of members [150], we will never be annoyed by the course becoming congested, nor will starters and starting times ever be necessary. [Because of] the close proximity to Norristown, Swedeland and Conshohocken... every man here will always be secure of having a first-class caddy at any and all times." Initiation fees and annual dues were set at $100 each.

This farmhouse, built around 1761, served as the Gulph Mills clubhouse until 1925.
By May of 1917 the club had only 45 members, and, according to the excellent history written by former president A. Willing Patterson in 1976, "Directors were asked that wherever possible they show the grounds to prospective members and talk with those invited to join." A month later the club, because of its very limited revenues, had to borrow $18,000 from the Pennsylvania Company (eight directors personally endorsed the note) and $2,000 from Isaac Clothier. In a long, informative letter to Lieutenant A.J. Drexel Paul, who had survived the sinking of a U.S. Navy convoy escort ship off the coast of France by a German submarine on November 5,1917, Weston J. Hibbs, the club’s secretary-treasurer, concluded: ". . . . We have done practically nothing about the clubhouse and we will use some sort of makeshift for it till after the war, and after we finally lick the Huns we will have some golf."
The course, with considerable work still to be completed, opened "on a War basis," July 1, 1918. On more than one occasion directors as well as Life Members would advance the club money in these formative months to keep it afloat. At the beginning of October, the board voted to close the course because the activities of the small membership could not cover the overhead. But on November 1, it was decided to cut the greens and keep the course open during the coming winter. The possibility of bringing in a flock of sheep "for the greens was discussed, but no decision was reached."
At the end of January, 1919, "the Secretary was instructed to complete construction of the course as soon as practical so that a membership campaign could be commenced at once .... It was decided to allow the Bellevue-Stratford and Ritz-Carlton Hotels to sell to their guests club cards entitling them to club privileges at $2 per day, the club to receive $1 and the hotels to retain $1, for purposes of advertisement."
On May 16,1919, the club held the formal opening of its course. The engraved invitation made it clear that prospective members would, as it were, have an opportunity to examine the merchandise: "The President and Founders of The Gulph Mills Golf Club request the honor of your company at the Opening Reception and Inspection of the Links ...." More than 1,250 people attended, but a full 18 months later, with the club’s funds once more perilously depleted, the membership roster showed only 88 active members—little more than halfway toward the goal of 150. Effective January 1,1921, annual dues were increased from $100 to $150. Nevertheless, the club continued to operate at a deficit, and Life Members were once again called upon to pony up the needed funds. However, on February 25,1922, the secretary-treasurer, in a letter to the membership, was able to announce that". . . . our limit of 150 Active Men Members has been reached, and we have a waiting list."
Not all the high drama at Gulph Mills in the early years stemmed from money matters. A letter from the secretary- treasurer, Mr. Hibbs, to the president early in 1922 cited a personnel problem:
.... I have had considerable trouble in bringing the steward and his wife to the point of view that the kitchen and clubhouse must be kept clean and that the food served to the members must be clean and fresh.... At times they fought with one another, and twice the Steward cut his wife with a knife.... They have refused to serve meals to members at times when they did not want to.... Last Sunday morning I was obliged to go to Rochester on business, and Mrs. Hibbs went to Atlantic City. She returned to the Clubhouse unexpectedly Monday morning and found the house in a complete state of disorder and the Steward’s wife intoxicated. A closet and two doors on which I had Yale locks were broken open in their efforts to find liquor or get at my private effects. Mrs. Kane (acting chairman of the House Committee) instructed me to discharge the Steward and his wife at once, which I have done.
Early in 1923 the club’s barn burned down. The board was not distressed, since a claim for $18,000 was paid in full by the insurance company. However, the fire might not have been so devastating had it not been for the golf professional’s chickens. When the volunteer firemen arrived at the burning barn, the first thing each of them did was rescue two chickens, one in each hand, and run home with them, letting the fire blaze out of control till they could get back and make a belated—and unsuccessful— effort to put it out.
It was at about this same time that the professional, who seemed more inclined toward raising chickens than dairy farming, sold the club cow without authority. He was reprimanded in writing by the secretary-treasurer.
In June, 1924, the club contracted with Toomey and Flynn to rebuild all 18 greens at a cost not to exceed $650 per green. What the Gulph Mills Golf Club then had was a Donald Ross course—the routing of these excellent holes was not changed—with greens designed by William Flynn. It might no longer have been a purebred, but it was—and is—outstanding nonetheless.

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