Philadelphia Country Club (Spring Mill)

Philadelphia Country Club is one of the oldest in the country, formed by John C. Bullit in 1890. He acquired a 60-acre property on which a polo field was laid out (hence the horse head club emblem) at Bala Cynwyd and a 9-hole golf course followed two years later. In 1899 Ruth Underhill won the fifth edition of the U.S. Women’s Amateur on the Bala course, which no longer exists.

Land was purchased at Gladwyne in 1926 for the purpose of constructing an 18-hole layout and this was designed by the William S. Flynn and Howard C. Toomey company, opening in 1930 as the Spring Mill course.

To their credit, the club has only recently finished a refurbishment program which restored the course to the playing conditions intended by the architect 80 years ago.

In addition to the classic Flynn-designed 18 holes, Philadelphia asked Tom Fazio to create another nine holes, the “Centennial Nine,” when they reached their 100th year in 1990, resulting in an outstanding 27-hole golf complex that sits very nicely alongside the tennis and squash courts, swimming pool, shooting lodge and bowling alley at the club.

The U.S. Open was held here in 1939 when Byron Nelson claimed the title and in more recent times the U.S. Women’s Amateur championship took place in 2003.