Club History
In 1895, the Princeton Golf Club was formed by alumni, faculty and undergraduates of Princeton University. Moses Taylor Pyne, Stephen Palmer and Cornelius C. Cuyler formed the Springdale Association and raised $25,000 to buy the old Stockton Farm of 240 acres, the site of the present Graduate College and Springdale Golf Club. Work started on a new nine-hole course that opened for play in March of 1902. The property was turned over to the University in 1909.
In 1911, Gerard B. Lambert had the property surveyed and made plans to enlarge the course to 18 holes which he laid out and completed in June of 1915.
The old clubhouse was originally a tenant-farmer house, c 1860 then located behind the 2nd green. The class of 1886 purchased the house from the Springdale Association and deeded it to the University in 1903 with the provision that it be used for the reunions of the Class of 1886 and each member would be a life time member of the golf club. The old Clubhouse was moved to its present location because it was obstructing the view of the Cleveland Tower.
In the summer of 1922, the name of the club was changed to the Springdale Golf Club.
Springdale’s New Clubhouse was built in 2007. The golf course was rerouted for access from the new clubhouse. The Springdale Association is responsible for the operation of the course.
The course is 6,380 yards from the championship (blue) tees and 6,017 yards from the white tees, with par at 71 for each. From the red tees the course is 5,546 yards and is a par 72. In the past few years, the course has seen numerous renovations to the green-side and fairway bunkers. The practice area was upgraded in 2007 at the same time as the construction of the new clubhouse. Today, Springdale Golf Club enjoys a full-service Clubhouse, dining operations, professional golf shop, and a state-of-the-art practice facility that includes a short-game area and full-length driving range
Course Architects
William S. Flynn (Revisions 1926 / 1927)
Born in 1890 in Milton, Massachusetts, golf course architect William S. Flynn died at the age of 54 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Flynn graduated from Milton High School, where he had played inter-scholastic golf and competed against his friend Francis Ouimet. He laid out his first course at Hartwellville, Vermont, in 1909 and was then hired to assist Hugh Wilson with completion of the East Course at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Flynn found his services as a course architect much in demand as a result of his work at Merion. He and Wilson had hoped to form a design partnership, but Wilson's failing health prevent it. Instead, Flynn joined forces after World War I with Wilson's friend Howard Toomey, a prominent civil engineer. Flynn was responsible for design and construction while Toomey handled business and financial matters. Hugh Wilson continued to collaborate on courses until his death in 1925. William Gordon, Robert Lawrence and Dick Wilson all started out as assistants with the firm of Toomey and Flynn and all later became prominent designers in their own right.
Flynn's second love was the art of greenkeeping. He lectured at Penn State and he wrote many articles and pamphlets on the subject. He also started a number of men in the profession, including the great Joe Valentine, long-time superintendent at Merion, whom he met when he himself was serving as greenkeeper at Merion prior to World War I.
The Rulewich Group (2007 Routing, Range, and Practice Facilities)
Established in 1996, The Roger Rulewich Group, a golf course design and construction firm based in Bernardston, Massachusetts, is considered among the best in the industry. Roger and the Group have provided design and construction services worldwide, on more than 170 courses, including Adare Manor, Ireland; Celtic Manor, Wales; Playa Grande, Dominican Republic; Tuckers Point, Bermuda; Valderama, Spain; Metedeconk & Ballyowen, New Jersey; Saratoga National & Albany CC, New York; Bellerive, Missouri; Grand Dunes, South Carolina; The Robert Trent Jones Trail, Alabama.
Gerard Barnes Lambert (1886-1967)
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Lambert graduated from Princeton University (his diploma signed by President Woodrow Wilson) and studied architecture at Columbia University. He fought in World War I and then joined his father’s firm Lambert Pharmacal Company. The firm later became Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Company.
Mr. Lambert was an American merchandiser and advertiser who marketed his father’s invention Listerine mouthwash by making bad breath a social disgrace. He became know as the “Father of Halitosis”. He also founded his own advertising company, Lambert & Feasley, which became a national agency with accounts such as LifeSavers, J.W. Dant, and Phillips Petroleum. Lambert also developed a formula for toothpaste and started advertising Listerine for sore throat and dandruff, and then used the appeal of after shaving.
In addition to his design and addition of the second nine-holes at Springdale Golf Club, Mr. Lambert built the stately Albemarle estate, now the home of the American Boychoir School.