FLOURTOWN, Pa. — Sitting in a wood-paneled lounge under the guise of A.W. Tillinghast’s portrait, one can’t help but wonder what he thought when he looked out on the rolling piece of Pennsylvania farmland with a train track running through the middle that lay just outside these walls.
Tillinghast was one of the most renowned golf course architects in America at the time, having already designed Somerset Hills Country Club (1917), Quaker Ridge Golf Club (1918), Baltusrol Golf Club (1922), and consulted with George Crump on the widely considered No. 1 course in the country, Pine Valley Golf Club (1913).
But for Tillinghast, this piece of land was different. He wouldn't design a course for someone else. This was for him. This was for his family and friends.
This was home.
“For him to get the opportunity at his home club to do what was going to be a monumental golf course on a virgin piece of property, that’s an unbelievable opportunity for a young course architect,” says Dan Meersman, Philadelphia Cricket's Director of Grounds. “I think he knew how special it was.”
Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon golf course isn’t as well known nationally as the aforementioned Tillinghast designs that adorn virtually every top-100 course ranking list. It tends to get overshadowed by neighboring Merion Golf Club, Aronimink Golf Club and Pine Valley, not to mention Tillinghast’s most renowned design, Winged Foot.
From May 8–11, 2025, however, Wissahickon will take center stage and get a grand introduction to the public—and a field of elite players—when it hosts the Truist Championship, a PGA Tour signature event.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a signature event there,” says Joie Chitwood, executive director of the 2025 Truist Championship. “This was the home base of so many of these famed course designers. This is the chance to tell that story and showcase the pride the membership has in this unique, and proper, golf course.”
Fans will learn this was Tillnghast’s home course from the time it was finished in 1922 to his death in 1942 and that a portion of his ashes were spread in adjoining Wissahickon Creek, for which the course got its name. They’ll learn that Crump and fellow legendary course designer George Thomas (Riviera, Los Angeles Country Club) were members of Philly Cricket and friends of Tillinghast’s.
What they’ll learn most of all is the Wissahickon (wiss-uh-hick-on) course is a hidden gem that has been restored to its former glory with all the Tillinghast design elements he’s famous for.
“When word started leaking out to our players [that the Truist was at Philly Cricket), they couldn’t be more excited to come and compete on this course,” says Matt Rapp, PGA Tour senior vice president of championship management. “They don't get an opportunity to compete on these old courses that much, so for them it’s going to be an exciting challenge.”
This will be a rare diversion from the regular rotation of courses that host PGA Tour signature events, made possible because Quail Hollow, the traditional host site of the Truist (formerly the Wells Fargo Championship), is hosting the 2025 PGA Championship. In 2026, the Truist will return to Quail Hollow.
This one-year experience will provide fans with an exciting inside glimpse of a golden-age gem that’s been resurrected through a major renovation and has hosted several major events since.
“We play a lot of golf courses that are 'bomb it and go find it.' You can’t necessarily do that at Philly Cricket,” says Stewart Moore, PGA Tour vice president of championship management. “You have to compare it a bit to a major. It has a special lore.”
Meersman along with noted golf course architect Keith Foster led a renovation of Wissahickon starting in 2013. They redid the greens, tees, fairways and bunkers, and installed new sodding and a new irrigation system. They also cut down hundreds of trees, as overgrowth has adversely impacted the agronomy.
All of it was done to restore Tillinghast’s original vision. The results are outstanding.
Wissahickon has regained its Tillinghast touch, highlighted by the “Great Hazard,” where 13 bunkers lie in the middle of the fairway on the par-5 7th. The tree removal improved the visual challenges Tillinghast is famous for, exemplified on the par-4 2nd where an uphill approach presents the illusion of a back bunker, which is actually on the par-3 10th.
The fairways have varying slopes, forcing players to hit different shot shapes, and the undulating greens, after being extended during the renovation, have small plateaus for tough pin placements.
Since the restoration, Wissahickon has hosted the 2015 PGA Professional National Championship, 2016 Senior Players Championship and the 2024 USGA Four-Ball Championship.
“The players walked away with a healthy respect for the golf course,” says Mark Hill, managing director of USGA Championships. “I talked to a handful of players, experienced players that I know, and whose opinions we value and trust. And the feedback from players was overwhelmingly positive, for both the courses and the overall setting and culture that was created by the members.”
The other 18-hole course at Philly Cricket is Militia Hill, which runs adjacent to Wissahickon. Beyond being a strong course on its own, it also provides the land needed to host a PGA Tour event, which requires room for a TV compound, media room, hospitality tents, merchandise tents, concessions stands, a range large enough for the players and of course the fans.
The biggest adjustment the PGA Tour is making for the Truist is the routing of the holes. Players will start on what is usually the 365-yard par-4 8th and move to another short par 4 on the 9th. Then they’ll play 10 through 18 before moving to 1 and 2.
The picturesque par-3 3rd, measuring only 122 yards, will be their 14th hole. Then they’ll take on the Great Hazard for an exciting risk-reward par-5. The final three holes—the 215-yard, par-3 5th, 498-yard, par-4 6th and 517-yard, par 4 4th—will challenge anyone trying to cling to a lead.
In total, the course will measure just over 7,100 yards and play as a par-70.
The rough at Wissahickon will be shorter than the more penal Tillinghast courses that have hosted U.S. Opens, like Winged Foot and Bethpage Black. But this shouldn’t be a birdie-bonanza either.
The undulation of the greens will penalize players for being on the wrong side of the hole and the proximity of the greens to the deep greenside bunkers will present a challenge for any mishit approaches.
“We maintain a fairly championship level day-in and day-out,” Meersman said. “What’s reflective of that being evident is when the Tour comes here and says, ‘We would like to have one of our premier events here and we don’t need any course changes.’ The fact that they aren’t changing a single thing before this championship (outside of the routing) speaks volumes of the course and the team maintaining it.”
Just as Tillinghast envisioned when he first saw the land he called home.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as A Rare Glimpse at an Architectural Gem Is Coming to the PGA Tour.
