May 01, 2025
PROVIDED IMAGE/Brandon Stearns; Philadelphia Cricket Club
The Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon Course will host the Truist Championship next week. The tournament featuring some of the top golfers in the world is expecting 17,500 spectators per day.
For months, the Philadelphia Cricket Club has been preparing to host its first PGA Tour event in nearly a decade, making sure the oldest U.S. private country club is in its Sunday's best when Rory McIlroy comes to defend his title at the Truist Championship next week.
Though the PGA requested that few changes needed to be made to get the course up to the tour's elite standards, there's been one noticeable adjustment for the club's members and guests who have played the Wissahickon Course in Flourtown ahead of next week's tournament.
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"I think the biggest thing the members are excited about is the tournament buildout," said Dan Meersman, PPC's director of grounds and facilities. "When the green is framed by double-decker observation stands and seating, it's almost like getting to play a pickup baseball game in Citizens Bank Park. How cool would that be? And that's ultimately what our members and guests are getting to experience these last couple weeks."
The last PGA Tour event at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, which was founded by University of Pennsylvania students in 1854, was for the Champions Tour in 2016, when Bernhard Langer won the Senior Players Championship at 1 over par. Nearly a decade later, the PGA Tour is back — and this time with its top players.
The preparation for next week's tournament began in January, when about 160 truckloads of gravel got laid adjacent to the driving range for the construction of the TV compound. A lot of the work to get the property ready for the top golfers in the world — as well as the cameras, national media and 17,500 daily spectators — happened during the offseason. One of the most tedious tasks over that time was replacing every divot and ball mark on the entire course with grass plugs. The course reopened to members April 1.
Now, with the first round of the tournament only a week away, the PCC staff is making its final touches.
The grounds and maintenance crew — which will consist of over 100 people, including volunteers from 24 different clubs — will work in morning and afternoon waves.
"The level of detail comes up a notch because of two reasons: One, you have the available manpower that week. ... And two, they're playing for a lot of money," Meersman said.
There's a $20 million purse for the Truist Championship, with a nearly $1.5 million difference between the winner ($3.6 million) and second place ($2.16 million).
"If my members win and lose their match against their buddies, they might have missed out on $5," Meersman said. "A missed putt in this tournament could cost you ($1.5 million), so how smooth is that green matters a lot. The condition of that bunker matters a lot. Is the turf in perfect condition? It all matters a lot. There's a lot at stake for these players."
On Thursday, the grounds crew set up ropes and stakes to cordon off where the gallery can stand. The grass outside the ropes will not be cut again before the tournament. Everything inside the ropes will get mowed for the last time Tuesday. So the rough will range from 2 1/2 to 4 inches by the final round Sunday.
Electronic leaderboards soon will be placed around the property.
When the tournament begins, the greens will be paid particularly close attention. The goal is to stay ahead of growth, potentially mowing in the morning and evening to minimize speed fluctuations throughout the day. The grounds crew also will do daily rolling and apply limited amount of water to keep them firm. At the same time, the greens can't get to a speed where severe wind gusts would start blowing balls around, so the crew will be monitoring the wind forecast as well.
For the 118 bunkers on the course, which total 104,000 square feet, the crew in the evenings will lightly smooth out each one and give them a light hand watering, which allows for a nice raking in the mornings.
The Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon Course has 118 bunkers spanning 104,000 square feet.
"The nice part for our club is we maintain a pretty high standard for day-to-day member play," Meersman said. "We do have a tournament reroute, which is probably the biggest transformational change, that was spurred from the fact that we don't have a tremendous amount of space by our traditional 18th hole by the clubhouse for the corporate buildout."
The club also rerouted its course in 2016, placing the first and last holes near the driving range in the middle of the property away from the clubhouse where they are usually located. The change creates more space for spectators — and allows some to see four or five holes while standing in one spot — and sets the course up for some potential drama.
"It finishes with four of the best holes on the entire property and three of the strongest finishing holes you'll see in golf," Meersman said. "For spectators, it puts ... those finishing holes in what I call an amphitheater of golf, where the 18th green is in the lower area of the property. And as you build away from it, you have tremendous vistas given the open nature of our site."
The Truist Championship is typically played at Quail Hollow Club, but since the Charlotte course is hosting the PGA Championship later this month, the event needed a one-year temporary host. The PGA turned to the Philadelphia Cricket Club, a place that didn't need architectural changes or major overhauls to get it ready to host one of the year's signature tournaments. While the PGA Tour doesn't have another event on the Philadelphia Cricket Club's schedule, the course is ready to showcase why it shouldn't be another decade before it comes back.
