The Philadelphia region has some great golf. Think Aronimink, Merion, Pine Valley, and the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
They are all dreamscapes of golf, and most people will never play them, writes Laz Versalles for Skratch.golf.
That didn’t sit right with golf course architect Hugh Wilson, who designed Merion and was a top player there.
He believed public courses should be built to serve the 99.9 percent that will never see Merion.
Wilson was joined by A.W. Tillinghast and members of the Philadelphia School of Architects, who planned for a golf course at Cobbs Creek.
On Memorial Day 1916, Philadelphia had a world-class public golf course.
It was the site of the USGA PubLinks Championship in 1928, and the PGA Tour visited in 1955 and 1956.
The 36-hole facility was a place for amateurs, professionals, men, women, white, and Black—as long as you loved golf.
Still, over time, this historic course fell into disrepair and closed in 2020.
Today, the course is lovingly being brought back to life and even improved, thanks to the efforts of the Cobbs Creek Foundation, with a focus on community access and programs for youth, staying true to its public origins and heritage.
Find out the latest at the new Cobbs Creek Golf Course in Skratch.golf.
Editor’s Note: This post was initially published on DELCO Today in May 2025.
