Manufactureres Golf & country Club
By: Chris Mavros ~ www.Golfadelphia.com
6,188 – 6,300 yards, 133 slope from the Golds
Course: In Fort Washington and about 20-30 minutes away from downtown is Manufacturers’ Golf and Country Club, a club founded by industrial leaders in 1887. The golf course was designed by William Flynn in 1925. Ron Forse did restoration work in 2014, which consisted of bunker work and taking out a lot of the trees that had overgrown throughout the years. “Mannie’s” borders LuLu and is on similar rolling terrain, but is hillier, with a lot more hollows and knobs that Flynn used fabulously. You gotta love Philadelphia; a classic Donald Ross on one side of the road and one of Flynn’s best on the other.
Mannie’s features greens that use the slopes and terrain brilliantly, with what feels like movement every where, that opens up much of the strategy, options and accessibility of the course. Like most Flynn courses, the routing is very good, starting off on the top of the hill where the clubhouse sits, looping around to the bottom of the hill, then going back out again before looping back and either finishing at the bottom or top of the hill, depending on which green is being used. There is great quirk here that makes the course stand out and a lot of fun around the greens. The character and creativity seen in using the terrain, including the quarry in which a short par 3 was placed with a punchbowl green, are memorable. A perfect site for the clubhouse resting above the course and almost sprawling the width of it, there’s a balance of grandiose with the charm and uniqueness of the course.
My experience with Flynn courses has grown this year, as has my appreciation for him. While I’ve always loved his routings, I’m starting to really like and understand just how diverse a designer he was. From Rolling Green with its timeless challenge to Harrisburg with its severity of terrain and quirk, Mannie’s shines with intrigue and diversity. While all these courses are on hillier terrain, they are all different from one another while still maintaining common themes such as terrific routing, interest around and on the greens, and complex challenge. Mannie’s is definitely my favorite Flynn course played up to this point. In fact, it’s one of my favorite in the area. And to think, I haven’t even scratched the surface of courses considered among Flynn’s best!
Very similar to Llanerch, I was aware of Mannie’s and had heard really good things about it, but didn’t know much about it other than you take a tram from the Eighteenth green to the clubhouse if you finish to the par 4 green. While I had seen photos of the holes, I have come to learn it’s difficult to appreciate them unless you have been there and played it. So even though I knew of the holes and had heard great things, I had no idea why it was generally regarded as a good course. Discovering that for myself was one of the highlights of the season.
I played Mannie’s on one of the hottest days of the season. Sunny and clear with not a hint of wind. That wore me towards the end of the round, but bounced back with a par at the end. Even so, the heat wouldn’t stop me from the elation that I was out on the course yet again, amongst one of its masterpieces..... Click Here To Read Hole By Hole
6,188 – 6,300 yards, 133 slope from the Golds
Course: In Fort Washington and about 20-30 minutes away from downtown is Manufacturers’ Golf and Country Club, a club founded by industrial leaders in 1887. The golf course was designed by William Flynn in 1925. Ron Forse did restoration work in 2014, which consisted of bunker work and taking out a lot of the trees that had overgrown throughout the years. “Mannie’s” borders LuLu and is on similar rolling terrain, but is hillier, with a lot more hollows and knobs that Flynn used fabulously. You gotta love Philadelphia; a classic Donald Ross on one side of the road and one of Flynn’s best on the other.
Mannie’s features greens that use the slopes and terrain brilliantly, with what feels like movement every where, that opens up much of the strategy, options and accessibility of the course. Like most Flynn courses, the routing is very good, starting off on the top of the hill where the clubhouse sits, looping around to the bottom of the hill, then going back out again before looping back and either finishing at the bottom or top of the hill, depending on which green is being used. There is great quirk here that makes the course stand out and a lot of fun around the greens. The character and creativity seen in using the terrain, including the quarry in which a short par 3 was placed with a punchbowl green, are memorable. A perfect site for the clubhouse resting above the course and almost sprawling the width of it, there’s a balance of grandiose with the charm and uniqueness of the course.
My experience with Flynn courses has grown this year, as has my appreciation for him. While I’ve always loved his routings, I’m starting to really like and understand just how diverse a designer he was. From Rolling Green with its timeless challenge to Harrisburg with its severity of terrain and quirk, Mannie’s shines with intrigue and diversity. While all these courses are on hillier terrain, they are all different from one another while still maintaining common themes such as terrific routing, interest around and on the greens, and complex challenge. Mannie’s is definitely my favorite Flynn course played up to this point. In fact, it’s one of my favorite in the area. And to think, I haven’t even scratched the surface of courses considered among Flynn’s best!
Very similar to Llanerch, I was aware of Mannie’s and had heard really good things about it, but didn’t know much about it other than you take a tram from the Eighteenth green to the clubhouse if you finish to the par 4 green. While I had seen photos of the holes, I have come to learn it’s difficult to appreciate them unless you have been there and played it. So even though I knew of the holes and had heard great things, I had no idea why it was generally regarded as a good course. Discovering that for myself was one of the highlights of the season.
I played Mannie’s on one of the hottest days of the season. Sunny and clear with not a hint of wind. That wore me towards the end of the round, but bounced back with a par at the end. Even so, the heat wouldn’t stop me from the elation that I was out on the course yet again, amongst one of its masterpieces..... Click Here To Read Hole By Hole