Member Clubs

Green Valley Country Club

Course Information
Club Type: Private
Founded:1919
Architect:William S. Flynn
2013 Club Events
Wednesday, March 20  GAP Winter Series Event - Green Valley Country Club 
Wednesday, May 15  GAP Pro-Pres., Golf & Green 
Fri-Sat, Jun 14-15  Men’s Invitational 
General Information
Address: 201 West Ridge Pike
Lafayette Hill, PA  19444
Phone:(610) 828-3000
Fax:(610) 828-0372
Website:www.greenvalleycc.org
Club Contacts
  Golf Professional:   John J. Cooper, Jr.   (610) 828-2896 
  General Manager:   Harry Ginther   (610) 828-3000 
  Superintendent:   Sean Remington   (610) 825-2520 
Location/Directions
From Philadelphia - Take 76 West to 476 North Exit. Take exit 18A (Conshohocken) from 476 and follow Ridge Pike for approximately 1¼ miles. Entrance to club will be on left.
From Pennsylvania Turnpike - Exit 333 (Norristown) to east on Germantown Pike (Philadelphia). Right turn onto Butler Pike (2nd traffic light), left turn onto Ridge Pike (1st traffic light) to left into club Entrance (6/10 mile).
Course Yardage & Ratings
Handicap Conversion Charts:  [Mens]  [Womens]

BLUE TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
  Men  36.4 131  36.4  136 72.8 134  97.7 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445344534363544434443571
 Yards 375375530190436403550153393340519750536440437121943842241933396744
 HCP 1151715139137 14181668122410  
COMBO TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
  Men  35.9 128  36.0  135 71.9 132  96.3 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445344534363544434443571
 Yards 375345530158436381525153383328617850536439137118541342241932486534
 HCP 1151715139137 14181668122410  
WHITE TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
  Men  35.5 126  35.2  133 70.7 130  94.9 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445344534363544434443571
 Yards 359345500158424381525134383320917848330639133618541341039130936302
 HCP 1357151391711 16814412182610  
GOLD TEESFront 9Back 9Course
RatingSlopeRatingSlopeRatingSlopeBogey
  Men  34.2 126  33.7  126 67.9 126  91.3 
 HOLE123456789OUT101112131415161718INTOTAL
 Par 445344534363544434443571
 Yards 339329430139370364479119356292515944928931929914739136034227555680
 HCP 1151715139137 14181668122410  
History
When some 150 men gathered on December 8,1919, in center city to organize the Green Valley Country Club, they were not starting from scratch. The leaders of this group of business and professional men, most of them in their thirties and forties, had already acted to purchase the manor house of Harry Sacks, at Ridge Avenue and Livezey Lane, in Roxborough, plus about 145 acres of adjoining wooded and rolling—no, make that hilly—land to the north and south. Almost none of the original members had ever played golf. At that meeting Harry Sacks was elected president of the new club. Named to the board of directors were Harry Shapiro, David Phillipp, Samuel Seltzer, and Alexander Seltzer
Membership in the new club was optimistically limited to 350. A corporation called Green Valley Realty Company was formed, and each club member was required to buy at least $500 worth of shares in the company. The club hired a manager at a salary of $5,000 per year. Despite their inexperience, as the club history points out, "the officers, directors and committees proceeded to plan and build a golf course over those 145 acres of wooded mountains, stony terrain, and running creeks, to reconstruct the Sacks Mansion into a Club House, and to convert the Sacks stable into a locker room. Sixteen months later, in April of 1921, the job was done and the golf course and the Club House were opened."
Say what you will about those who laid out this eighteen, they were certainly bent on challenging their clubmates. And what could have been more formidable than a water hole to start the round! The very first shot called for a forced carry over a pond about 50 yards wide. Picture, if you will, the succession of neophytes edging fearfully up to the markers, then mournfully plopping brand new $1 golf balls, one after another, into the water. Golf at Green Valley commenced not with a bang but with a splash
But the rough edges—on both the course and the players—were gradually smoothed away, and golf became for Green Valley members a source of keen enjoyment. Interest in the game grew with the heightened prosperity of the 1920s. George Griffin, who would quickly establish himself as one of the best players among the Philadelphia club professionals, was named head professional early in 1924. Various tournaments for women as well as men dotted the calendar. Club social events consistently attracted a large turnout (in 1922 the board borrowed $35,000 in order to build an auditorium addition to the clubhouse), and though this was the Prohibition era, you would scarcely have known it.
In the spring of 1929, with good times rolling giddily along, the clubhouse facilities were deemed inadequate. Plans for an ambitious new clubhouse were drawn up. It would be located in the middle of the property, near the 10th tee. Estimated cost of construction was $200,000. Members immediately subscribed to $150,000 in mortgage bonds. At a special meeting of the membership in September, 1929, all plans were approved. On October 29, the stock market nose-dived. Bust followed boom. Another special meeting of the membership was called for October 31. At it a resolution was presented to close the doors and dissolve the club. The resolution was defeated. The club met again just a week later. The same resolution was put forth. Again it was defeated. A "never say die" attitude, perhaps bred by nearly ten years spent battling that implacable golf course, kept Green Valley alive. Now the club would hunker down as the Great Depression got its stranglehold on America.

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