Applebrook was built with Gil Hanse sleeping in his own bed just down the road every night. I have been fortunate to be on site during construction and to have played this course repeatedly over the years. Rare is such an opportunity for an architect and for a critic. The course that came out of this process was very special. I have to find more photos for this site, but Hanse, Kittleman and Hines were all on construction daily, note the photos.

This property was prepped to be an office park with no slabs being poured, but site prep up to the point that graded plots for large buildings were ready. I believe it was 5 members of Aronimink who conceived and commissioned this project. The clubhouse seems to be 300 years old, but it was purpose-built. The two clubs have traded Head Professionals a couple of times, current pro having also served a tenure at Pine Valley. This is a course where I take golfers coming to play Pine Valley who are interested in Golf Architecture and generally interested in playing something they haven't yet played in the GAP. None of them have ever expressed anything but glee coming here after Pine Valley. High Praise.

Well-routed with angles, elevation changes, the seemingly de rigger drivable Par 4 (Obligatory these days but rarely THIS good) here the 3rd with a variety of other interesting ways to play. The following 4th, downhill is seemingly much longer than it appears, many players come up short.

Five Par 3 holes present a variety of challenges and two of them are short and shortish in an exciting dueling orientation. The Par 5 holes are a little more punishing of the wild shot than usual for Hanse, but all are reachable to the precise long hitter. A panorama of 16 green is the only photo below post completion.

Here, the sum is greater than the parts and if you're not able to see the high quality in one play, beg a second round.