The 1912 Club

A little more than a month after the opening of Lehigh Country Club at its original location, Plymouth Country Club was granted its charter in Montgomery County Court on May 24, 1912. The site chosen for the new club was a chicken farm in Plymouth Township, which had become available under unique—and tragic—circumstances. The farm had belonged to one Alvin Haines.

Haines,the overseer of Plymouth Meeting Friends, was having trouble with chicken thieves. One day, in an attempt to scare the thieves off, he fired several shots into the air. One of the bullets, however, struck and killed a thief. More than grief-stricken, Haines, who had been reared in a Quaker family that abhorred violence, was so traumatized by the fatal accident that he died within a few months and his farm went on the market.

Included in the purchase was the Haines farmhouse. Part of that old dwelling is a section of the present clubhouse. In the club’s very early years the golf shop was located in the barn. So was the men’s locker room, though the majority of golfers chose to dress for the game at home.

The nine-hole course was laid out on the land north of Shady Hill Road, with the holes routed over 69 acres around the clubhouse. In 1924 a decision was made to purchase an additional 50 acres in order to add a second nine. The full eighteen opened late in 1927

The extent of William Flynn’s participation in the design of the course is open to conjecture. Certainly he played a role in shaping some of the holes. It is doubtful that he laid out the original nine, but he may have designed the additional nine and even remodeled the first nine. What is undeniable is that Flynn was working on the local scene for more than 20 years, first at Merion (from 1911 to 1920), then in partnership with Howard Toomey. Even today, some of the bunkering at Plymouth suggests the sure hand of William Flynn.