Spring Ford Country Club Keeping Up to Date
By Fred Behringer
Spring Ford Country Club can look back on more than 80 years of tradition, but club leaders are concentrating on today and tomorrow while improving facilities that will let them compete successfully in a rapidly growing area.
The private club's name comes from Spring City in Chester County and neighboring Royersford in Montgomery County, communities that are part of one of the most rapidly growing areas in the Philadelphia suburbs. The busy Route 422 expressway runs right by the golf course.
New private and daily-fee operations have invaded Spring Ford's turf, but on the other hand, new businesses and homes are bringing potential golfers to former farm properties close to the club. One developer, in fact, has arranged with Spring Ford to provide associate memberships to each homebuyer.
Ray Clarke, who became president of Spring Ford in February of this year, recognizes the competitive and marketing challenges. "I saw that Spring Ford Country Club is not very well known in the community," he says. "It's a great, challenging golf course, and we've never done enough to get out and market the club to the community.
"We've never really taken a pro-active approach. We've always relied on people stopping by and hoping they find us, and most times that's not the case. With the increase in course competition that we have in the neighborhood, we realize now that we need to make a more pro-active stand and move forward."
Spring Ford has much progress to report to the community. The golf course has been making substantial improvements under a master plan developed by architect Gil Hanse, and a $1.5 million irrigation system is nearing completion. New electric carts replaced worn gas carts. Walking and cart bridges have been replaced or renovated. Renovations to the banquet room and grill room further modernized a clubhouse that had undergone a major expansion.
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Did you know that we have members from the following towns?
Boyertown, Gilberstville, Upper Merion, Graterford, Oaks, Jeffersonville, Trooper, Trappe, Skippack, Kimberton, Norristown, Audubon, Chester Springs, Exton, Downingtown, Valley Forge, Birchrunville, Lionville, New Hanover, Harleysville, Schwenksville, Pottstown, Sanatoga, Limerick, Linfield, Spring City, Royersford, Eagleville, Mont Clare, Phoenixville, Charlestown, Malvern, King of Prussia, Paoli, Radnor, Wayne, Frazer, Berwyn, and many more in the suburban Philadelphia area!
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The golf course, which opened in 1924, long has been known as one of the most testing in the region. Work on the course in recent years included bunker renovation by Hanse. Tree removal on the second hole, one of the most memorable on the course, made a strong hole even better.
Head professional Tony DeGisi, who has been at Spring Ford for 34 years, says members are gradually accepting the need to remove some of the trees which line many of the holes.
"The golf course is our biggest asset," says Ray Clarke. "It's the biggest and best thing we have. It's a very challenging golf course. Having played here for 23 years, I can tell you that every time I play, I wind up in some place I've never been before. The course is what attracts people to the club."
 In addition to improvement of the facilities, Clarke and his fellow officers and board members have been overseeing changes in club management and operations. "I always looked at the club from a golf and leisure standpoint," Clark recalls. "When I assumed the presidency, my first thought was to get out of that mode and start treating this as I do my own business and see what needs to be fixed, what needs to be changed.
"As a member-owned club, we have 300 owners, and those 300 owners obviously have rights and would like to be fully informed about what goes on. But at the same time, the board needs to be forward thinking and continually bring new ideas to the table.
"We've taken a long look at how we do business in all the facets the golf course, the groundskeeper, the dining room, the pub – and time and time again, when you ask what it is that drives us to do it this particular way, the answer comes back, 'Well, we've always done it that way.' To me that's never been an acceptable way to justify any program. You've got to find new ways."
One of the first decisions of the current board was to bring in a general manager, Craig Komatz, who had 20 years of experience in the golf business in Western Pennsylvania, including 10 years as general manager of Rolling Hills Country Club. He began at Spring Ford in the spring.
Clarke thinks Spring Ford will work best with the management team running day-to-day operations while the board serves in an advisory capacity. He is intent on preserving a club that satisfies its members while getting the word out to golfers who have not stopped by, letting them know about a family club that's part of the community's history but new in many ways.
Robert Miller, a Spring Ford member, contributed to these articles.
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