Pennsylvania preservation

Jeffersonville Golf Club stands as an ongoing tribute to Donald Ross, who designed the layout and personally supervised its construction.

Located in West Norriton, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, the semi-private club opened for play in 1931. West Norriton Township assumed ownership of the property in 1972. And for 23 years now, Jeffersonville Golf Club has been Rich Shilling’s professional home.

Shilling took over as the superintendent in January of 2001, when architect/restoration specialist Ron Prichard was in the early stages of a renovation effort with the goal of restoring as much of Ross’s original design as was practical. (William Gordon repositioned several holes in 1964 in deference to the Continental Pipeline.)

“To be honest with you, I was probably in over my head at 22, maintaining this golf course during a restoration,” Shilling says. “But I learned a lot. Learned a lot from my mistakes and learned a lot from Ron as well. Ron is very knowledgeable; he really understands and gets what Ross wanted here.”

When Shilling, a graduate of the two-year program at Rutgers, assumed his post, Prichard had completed two holes of the renovation — today’s 17th and 18th.

“I got here and we had the rest of the golf course to do,” Shilling recalls. “And, of course, we did the restoration in the summer months and we were still open throughout the whole process.”

The restoration included the construction of three new greens and, perhaps most important, the installation of a state-of-the-art irrigation system. Prior to that, only greens were irrigated.

When Shilling was hired, he was beset with challenges.

“We were maintaining a golf course with equipment that was probably 20 years too old,” he says. “It was a drought summer. We were laying 10,000 square feet of sod every day and the irrigation system wasn’t complete. We were watering with water tanks and trying to keep everything alive through that summer and maintain the golf course as well.”

Today, Shilling sees his role, in part, as something of a museum curator.

“Twenty-four years ago, I barely knew who Donald Ross was,” he says. “And I didn’t know anything really about the history of this golf course. I was just focused on turf. Now, it’s about preserving the intent of the architect, the intent of Donald Ross, and bringing small details back into the golf course with the flagsticks and the tee markers and all of the furniture that is built by us. It’s special for me to be involved with preserving this place.”

Jeffersonville circa 2024 has an old-time feel to it.

“(Prichard) set us up here pretty well with the tees,” Shilling says. “Any greens that were restored were restored with a pushup-style green, so everything is pretty similar.”

Today, Shilling is supporting his assistant, Brian Bralies, who’s been with him for 17 years, and mechanic Bill Regar, who’s been at the club for 30 years.

“Those two guys are the most important staff members you could have,” Shilling says. “People you can leave and get away for a little bit and trust that, when you get back, things haven’t changed too much.”

Shilling calculates that his team equates to 13 full-time workers, with plenty of part-timers in the mix. “Retired guys, weekend workers. Enough guys that come in in the morning and can get set up quickly,” he says. “It’s important that we get out and get things done and then move on to those second jobs with our full-time staff members.”

Getting the day started with dispatch is an issue at a lot of clubs but especially so at Jeffersonville, which hosts more than 50,000 annual rounds. Shilling takes several steps to promote healthy turf. The property features two and a half acres of greens, three acres of tees, and 27 acres of fairways.

“The priorities are your high-value areas,” Shilling says. “Greens, tees and fairways. Tees and divots have to get done every day with that amount of play. Even the par 4s and 5s, there are plenty of divots. Tees are important. The first impression is on the tee. And then the greens are very important. We want to be sure they’re smooth and reasonably quick without being unreasonable. These are Donald Ross greens, so some of the pins can be pretty tricky.”

The volume of play mandates that Shilling and his team take extra steps to protect their greens.

“We fertilize a little bit more,” he says. “We’re putting down foliar fertilizer pretty much every week. We water a little bit more than your typical country club because we can’t get out there and hand water a lot. There are three groups on each hole every day, so chasing hot spots in the afternoons is not going to work for us.

“We water up in the mornings and we’re moving cups every day. You can’t leave a pin in the same spot for two days here because you’ll have worn-out spots everywhere.”

Shilling has maintained a tree-removal program since 2012. Some 400 trees, most of them white pines, have been removed in the years since. “The removal of those trees allowed us to expand fairways and collection areas,” he says. “It really gave the players more options.”

Billy Mullen is Jeffersonville’s head golf professional. He was introduced to the game at the club — his grandfather was a starter there, and he has a unique perspective on how the club has evolved. “The conditions are fantastic,” he says. “On par, if not better, than some of the country clubs in this area.

“Playing a golf course that’s in that good of a condition all the time is special, but I think the thing that impresses me the most is the yardage hasn’t changed much,” — the course checks in at 6,430 yards and par 70 from the back tees. “It hasn’t gotten that much longer, but it’s a much more difficult golf course because of the conditions. The greens are obviously faster even though it’s not a long golf course. If you don’t hit the ball in the right spot, you’re going to make bogey.”

For his part, Shilling is proud of what he and his team have accomplished at Jeffersonville and the experience they’re providing to their members and customers.

“I’m really proud of the staff that I’ve built, and they’ve bought into what the vision is here,” Shilling says. “Every day there’s a group of golfers that comes through here and we want to exceed their expectations, so I want to surprise and delight them.

“The guys that play here every day expect that. But the guys that play here for the first time are very surprised.”

Rick Woelfel is a Philadelphia-based writer and senior Golf Course Industry contributor.