Work has started on the back nine of Jim Nagle’s renovation of the Spring Mill course at Philadelphia Country Club in Pennsylvania, following the reopening of the front nine in May 2024.
The architect’s brief is to update the course for modern playing equipment, while also respecting the original William Flynn design.
“The club needed to replace ageing infrastructure,” said Nagle. “The irrigation system was over 25 years old, bunkers were draining poorly, the greens were lacking in drainage and the subsoils required replacing. The club also took advantage of the opportunity to look to the year it hosted the US Open (1939) and attempt to restore as much of the course as possible, with the photos from the Open being a tremendous resource in the rebuilding process.”
Mottin Golf Renovations began construction on the front nine in August 2023, completing work by the start of 2024. The club aims to reopen the back nine by May 2025. Nagle and Mottin are also working with irrigation contractor Middletown Sprinklers and consultant Paul Roche.
Work completed on the front nine, and planned for the back nine, includes rebuilding and regrassing greens, regrassing fairways, adding new tees, tree management and new irrigation. Bunkers have new drainage, Better Billy Bunker liner, new sand and fescue surrounds, and are being relocated or reinstated on 10 holes.
“Historic aerials and ground level photos are enabling us to recreate the bunkering as accurately as possible,” said Nagle. “The bunkers will drain better, and washouts will be significantly reduced. The playing experience will be significantly improved through the restoration of intended lines-of-play with the wider fairways and repositioned bunkers. In the instances where a bunker is being relocated, we are able to recreate the earthworks when building the new bunker further from the tee.”
Fairway lines are being altered and widened to restore the design intent, reduce the amount of rough between the fairway and bunkers, improve playability and playing angles, and to further reveal and highlight the topographic changes throughout the course.
“The biggest change will be the rebuild of eighteen,” said Nagle. “The hole was rebuilt in 1955 and was a departure from the rest of the course in both its bunker construction and the internal undulations of the green. The new eighteenth will draw inspiration from the course’s original fifth, which no longer exists, as well as bunker concepts befitting a Flynn design, with an emphasis on a cluster of bunkers on the inside of the dogleg, where I drew inspiration from the sixteenth at Shinnecock Hills.”
GreenScan 3D has laser scanned and mapped greens. “By rebuilding them, we have the opportunity to recapture over 22,000 square feet of lost putting surface, enabling the club to reinstitute lost hole locations not seen in decades,” said Nagle. “There will be better consistency through all 18 greens, having the same engineered growing medium and surface grasses.”
For the first time in the history of the club, all greens, bunkers, fairways and tees will be constructed with the same materials and grasses. Maintenance practices will change accordingly under the expertise of Mike McNulty, the club’s long-time golf course superintendent, and his team.
While this project is being implemented for the full enjoyment of the members, the club has the distinct honour to co-host the stroke-play portion of the 2026 U.S. Amateur Championship alongside Merion Golf Club.
You can read more about Nagle’s work at Philadelphia CC, and Meridian Hills CC in Indiana, in the July 2024 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.