Practicing for Delaware

Driving Range
Bensalem Township Country Club
200 Brown Ave.
Bensalem, Pa
215/639-5556

Tuesday night I hit the driving range at Bensalem Township Country Club to hit a large bucket of balls. My visit was the result of several factors: the hot weather and death of a close friend keeping me off the course for a week-and-a-half, a new driver in the bag, and preparation for a trip to Lower Delaware.

 The Driving Range at Bensalem

I warmed up by hitting 10 sand wedges, then hit 10 7-irons. While hitting the 7-irons, I opened my stance slightly and found I hitting the straighter or with a slight draw. I then worked on hitting the driver. I put a new TaylorMade Burner Superfast 2.0 in my bag prior to my last round at Horsham Valley Golf Club, but only hit it three times during play. So I wanted to get a better feel for this club moving forward. I focused on my balance, rhythm and making solid contact as I hit 30 balls with it. I hit a few duck hooks and pushed a few shots, I mostly I hit shots that would find the fairway, an aspect of my game that has been sorely missing this season. I then hit 12 3-woods off the mat, 12 4-irons and finished off with five balls hit with my hybrid for a total of 79 balls hit. Overall, I pleased with how I hit the ball. I now need to take that from the driving range to the first tee.

 The Rookery in Milton, Delaware

Speaking of the first tee, I am traveling to the Delaware Shore this weekend to visit family and I am looking forward to teeing it up with my cousins. This used to be a Labor Day weekend tradition for me and my cousins, but we haven't been able to do it since 2010. So I am really looking forward to it. The clubs are all packed and ready to go. I am also looking forward to playing one of the courses down there, since I haven't teed it up down there in a while.

Farewell to Horsham Valley

Horsham Valley Golf Club
Ambler, Pa
Yards: 2536/2579 - 5115
Par: 33/33 - 66
Rating: 62.2, Slope: 101
Score: 43/51 = 94
Date: June 29, 2012

Yesterday I teed it up one last time at Horsham Valley Golf Club, which will be closing for good on July 3. The property will reportedly be developed for housing in the not-to-distant future. The closing of HVGC is a sad event for the region's golfing landscape. While the course would never remind anyone of an upscale country club, this 5,115-yard, par 66 course was a fun and challenging course to play. Joe Logan, former golf writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer who now runs the My Philly Golf web site, once compared Horsham Valley to a neighborhood tavern--friendly and comfortable.

 I've played HVGC about a dozen times over the years and always enjoyed the experience. It is a course where I once recorded a 21 on a single hole and had eight pars during another round. I've birdied the 364-yard First Hole twice and the 493-yard Par Eighteenth Hole once. The 184-yard Par 3  Fifteenth Hole, which has a creek that runs across the front and right side of the green, has given me fits over the years. It is one of the holes in my Nightmare Nine. While I won't necessarily miss the Fifteenth Hole, or the power lines that come into play on the back nine, I will miss the fun times at HVGC. Like the time my buddy and I were buzzed by the A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from nearby Willow Grove Naval Air Station while we walked up and down the fairways. I did get one souvenir from my final round at Horsham Valley. I bought the last HVGC polo shirt hanging on the rack in the almost empty pro shop. I'll wear it with fond memories.

As for my round, it was the same as usual. A good front nine and a bad back nine. I put a new TaylorMade Burner Superfast 2.0 and a Never Compromise Z/I Omega putter in my bag for the round. I struggled early, as usual, with triple bogey 7s on the first two holes. But I then parred four of the next seven holes, including all three Par 3s on the front for a 43. One problem I was having throughout the round was my lack of conviction on my pitches and chips. I was babying the ball and left a lot of easy shots short.

The back nine started OK with three straight bogeys, but lost balls on the tee shots at the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Holes, as well as having trouble with a fairway bunker at the Fourteenth, gave me a 7 and 9 respectively on the scorecard. By this time, my legs were giving out on the extremely hot and humid afternoon. I'm sure having walking 18 holes on Wednesday at Middletown Country Club also contributed. I played very loose golf the last four holes and limped home with a 51. This gave me round of 94. I think I will try to find time to hit the practice range this week to work on some things before I tee it up again, hopefully next weekend.

Memories of Horsham Valley Golf Club:

Photos by The Muni Golfer

At Least It Isn't Snow

The past two weeks have seen the Delaware Valley bombarded with rain showers which has made golfing difficult. Last weekend it was a nor'easter that brought rain and very cold temperatures bother Saturday and Sunday. Today, I was scheduled to play a round at Horsham Valley Golf Club in Ambler, Pa. The temperature was more like last summer, reaching a high of 72 degrees, but off-and-on rain since Friday night caused a cancellation of today's round. The weather forecast calls for clear skies tomorrow and I'm hoping to hit the links at either Juniata Golf Club or John F. Byrne Golf Club.

Horsham Valley Golf Club: Short, Challenging and Almost Gone

Horsham Valley Golf Club
Ambler, Pa
Yards: 2536/2579 - 5115
Par: 33/33 - 66
Rating: 62.2, Slope: 101
Score: 41/47 = 88
Date: August 16, 2008

Horsham Valley is a short, but challenging public course located in lower Montgomery County. Designed and built by Jock and Doug Melville, the course opened on July 4th, 1964 and has been serving the local golf community ever since. Although it plays to a Par 66 at just over 5,000 yards, the course is no pushover. As it is described on the course's Web site:

"Horsham Valley Golf Club places a premium on accuracy. With over 1,200 pine trees and small greens, you must be precise with your tee shots and have a solid short game. Water comes into play on holes 13 through 16. Hole #15 is the signature hole. This par 3, playing 170 yards from the middle tees, has ruined many a good round. The green has water front and right and bunkers left and long. Par is great but the average score is 5. If you keep the ball in play and avoid the many hazards, you will have an enjoyable round of golf."

Horsham Valley Scorecard

The course is especially popular with junior golfers, beginners, seniors and high-handicappers. Play can be painfully slow, but the challenge of the course more than makes up for it. But alas, all good things must come to end. Now owned by the Barbin family, who also own Chesapeake Bay Golf Clubs in North East and Rising Sun, MD., Horsham Valley is scheduled to close at the end of the 2009 season.

The narrow tee shot at the 2nd Hole

As I have stated, Horsham is short, but challenging. This becomes clear on the 2nd Hole, where you must thread your tee shot shot through a roughly 10-yard opening in a line of tall pines about 100 yards off the tee. The 4th and 8th Holes are both short Par 3s, 127 and 122 yards respectively, that play slightly uphill, are guarded in the front by bunkers and have greens that slope severely from back-to-front. The 6th Hole is another Par 3 that plays about 170 yards to a green that slopes severely from back-to-front, as well as off the sides.

A large sand waste area guards the Par 3 8th Hole

The back nine is where the real test begins. The 10th Hole is a uphill Par 3 that plays at least a club longer than the listed 171 yards. The 11th is a short, but narrow downhill 296-yard Par 4. The 13th Hole is a dogleg left that has Power Lines crossing in front of an elevated tee and a creek fronting a plateaued green. The 14th Hole features a tee short over that same creek and a large sand trap and trees in the middle of the fairway about 100 yards from the green. The 15th Hole, Horsham Valley's signature hole, is a 186 yard Par 3 that has the creek running in front of and around the right side of the green, while trees and bunkers guard the left and back parts of the green. The 16th Hole, another short Par 4, features a tee shot out of a narrow chute of trees. The 17th Hole is an uphill, 184-yrad Par 3 to a raised green. The 18th, the only Par 5 on the course, features and blind tee shot, with trees blocking the right side and a downhill approach to a slightly raised green.

Power lines cross in front of the tee at the 13th Hole

My round got off to a good start, with an 8-foot birdie at the 1st Hole, and pars at the 2nd and 4th Holes. I didn't drive the ball that well, but I was able to give myself chances and I putted well for a 41 on the front 9. I played steady golf through most of the back, even surviving a wet tee shot at the 15th. But it all feel apart at the 17th. My tee shot was long and chunked my first chip shot. My second ran about 25 feet past the flag and I cozied my putt up to about a foot-and-half left of the hole. That's when the real fun began. I lipped out twice and burned the edge for tapping in for an 8! At the closing 18th, my draw off the tee managed to catch the tree on the right and I was forced to chip out sideways lefthanded from behind the tree. My third shot had to be a lay-up and I missed the green shot and right on my fourth shot. I though I had hit a good chip with my fifth shot, but it just rolled right off the left side of the green. I two-putted from there for a 7 and 47 on the back, for a total of 88.

The Signature Hole at Horsham Valley: The Challenging Par 3 15th Hole

I would recommend trying to play a round at Horsham Valley before it closes. The price is reasonable and the conditions are still pretty good, although the tee boxes were quite chewed up when I played. I have seen the course in better condition in the past, but I have also played more expensive courses recently that were in worse shape than Horsham Valley.

A few more images of Horsham Valley:

The dog-leg 5th Hole, a 387-yard Par 4

The approach over the creek to the 13th Green

The blind tee shot at the 18th Hole

The downhill approach to the 18th Green

Photos by The Muni Golfer