A masterpiece comes into view

Mike Cirba recalls a moment, early in 2010, walking the Cobbs Creek property with Jim Wagner. The Friends of Cobbs Creek – which includes Cirba, Joe Bausch and Geoff Walsh – were detailing their research on the history of the layout and preservation efforts. Reaching the end of their walkabout, they turned to Wagner and asked: “Are we nuts?”

“Restoring a masterpiece is never a bad idea,” Wagner replied. He did, however, note they may be a little nuts to suggest the cost would be ‘a few million’.

About those early course walks, Wagner, the long-time design partner of Gil Hanse, says: “They were incredibly important to our design concepts... in developing short par fours, drama along the creek, and lots of thought-provoking strategy.”

Cobbs Creek opened in 1916 with a course designed by Hugh Wilson (shortly after his design at Merion, just four miles up the creek) and with contributions from Tillinghast, Flynn, Crump and others in the ‘Philadelphia School’. “Having grown up in the Philly area and playing Cobbs as a kid makes the project rewarding on a personal level” Wagner told me, referencing “the social aspect and past history of the course and club culture, and the ability to bring this back to the local community while restoring a work of art for the city.”

The city came on board in 2018 when The Friends of Cobbs Creek became the Cobbs Creek Foundation. Founding CEO Chris Lange worked closely to secure a long-term lease for the parkland. Lange was also fundamental in securing the largesse of the Maguire Family Foundation, among others, and to begin philanthropic activities.

And it’s not only the locals and long traditions that are buzzing here. Tiger Woods has designed a short course (opening this spring) as well as only the world’s second TGR Learning Center. Jordan Spieth has come on board and put in a putting and chipping centre. And Hanse and Wagner have, for 14 years, steered a masterplan and are teed up to begin a nine-hole course of their own design to complement the restoration of Wilson’s masterpiece. The total project costs (estimated at $175 million) include rerouting Cobbs Creek and expanding wetlands.

“What gets lost in a lot of this is the huge environmental benefit that wetland creation and stream restoration will have,” says Wagner. “The development in the area has obviously changed in 100 years, but what is crazy is the amount it has changed in the last 15. Flooding started to become an annual event leading up to the recent closing.”

The creek work will create wetlands to control floodwaters and release at a controllable pace, which will help with flooding downstream as you enter the city of Philadelphia proper.

Cirba and Wagner both note another feature of the property: the nearby trainline. Cirba is convinced that the founders located the land for the course because of the line as the same train runs from Philadelphia, past the course and up to Merion.

“When my wife and I went to the final round of the 2013 US Open, we parked down at the 69th Street Station and took that train ride past Cobbs Creek to a station adjacent to the twelfth green at Merion,” says Cirba. “I had goosebumps the whole ride.”

On my recent visit, Enrique Hervada, COO of Cobbs Creek Foundation, said: “Jim looks for four features to play with – elevation changes, water features, dramatic views and train tracks bordering the property. In the old country, all courses have train stations nearby.”

Cobbs was the home course of Charlie Sifford, who left North Carolina in the 1930s looking for a welcoming place to hone his skills, before going on to become the first person of colour to win on the PGA Tour.

Cobbs has welcomed all, “since day one,” says Hervada, including Howard ‘Butch’ Wheeler, Joe Louis, Thelma Cowens, Ethel Funches and Althea Gibson. In the 1920s, 30s and 40s, Cobbs, being the finest public course in early American golf, would be the site of numerous early Public Links Championships as well as three National Opens of the United Golfers Association.

Riding through the property with Hervada, the skyline of Philly peeks in and out of view. The creek cuts a valley for drama of risk and reward on Wilson’s Olde course. A short distance away sit the bare hills of what was once the Karakung course at Cobbs Creek, which will be the site of the new Hanse-Wagner nine. Surveying all this, both Hervada and Cirba have winning enthusiasm about how golf history, architecture and the game of golf itself can bring sense to an indifferent universe.

Is it hard to balance history with sentiment while working with top professionals?

“I think you have to separate out the two,” Wagner says. “Our goal is to focus on design and ensure we bring back original intent while blending with current environmental realities present today and beyond. Sure, there is huge social and sentimental value that will come with bringing Cobbs back to life; lots of history will be preserved as an educational tool.”

With the Spieth and Woods foundations involved, one might ask if the architects would take the opportunity to consult with the pros.

“We are restoring and renovating a classic design,” Wagner says. “Asking guidance from touring pros from a play standpoint may be considered contradictory, since our goal focuses on original intent from a design standpoint rather than play standpoint.”

The original Cobbs shared many similarities with Merion, where Hanse and Wagner completed a renovation in 2018.

“One revealing aspect,” Wagner says, “is how spectacular this property is when we got back to its original routing. All those years of overgrowth made it difficult to see just how spectacular it truly is.” Some cleared trees will be laid into the ground to serve as sponges for new wetlands.

In an intriguing design twist, four new holes laid into the Karakung site will join 14 holes from the original Cobbs layout to form a composite course for larger-scale professional events. “What is so cool about Karakung,” Wagner enthuses, “is the ability for beginners to learn golf without intimidation from full-scale courses. Similar to our design for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, we have created plans to open golf up to children and beginners.”

Players can learn how to swing along with basics on driving ranges before moving onto TGR Design’s par-three course for skill enhancement while grasping what golf entails. From there they can transition onto a nine-hole course playing at various distances as they refine their skills comfortably on courses suited for their abilities.

Read more: Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia takes next steps in transformation.

“This is also great for family enjoyment,” Wagner says, “which usually includes different skill levels. As their games and confidence levels improve, they can move onto Olde course for high-level play developed throughout this entire property through programmes offered by TGR, the Spieth Foundation, and the club.”

For Hervada, all of the above requires significant assistance. As we ride his four-wheeler over the cresting terrain on the eighteenth hole, we encounter one crew among many laying sod for driving range greens. Hervada waves towards the foreman, cheerfully yelling out: “Greenside up! That stuff goes greenside up!”

We are sitting on a plateau, which will serve as a target for drives from the eighteenth tee box. Golfers will aim for this high perch that has views of the creek, the skyline and a wide expanse of golf holes bisected by the city avenues and the trainline. A second swing will be a mid-iron onto an expansive green in the valley of the creek that has witnessed 111 years of golf’s finest.

Cirba now calls himself and Joe Bausch the unofficial historians of Cobbs Creek, though they might also be viewed as resident philosophers.

“Sometimes dreams come true,” Cirba sighs, with a knowing chuckle.

The TGR centre along with the short course opens this spring, during the same months when Wagner and Hanse will begin implementing plans for their new nine, while peeling back years off of a work art in City Brotherly Love.

Mark Wagner is the author of ‘Native Links: The Surprising History of Our First People in Golf’ (published in 2024 by Back Nine Press) and is the founding director of the Binienda Center for Civic Engagement at Worcester State.

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