{"id":793266,"date":"2026-05-13T11:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793266\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T11:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T11:00:29","slug":"a-philadelphia-golf-course-seeks-to-reclaim-its-status-as-a-force-for-opportunity-and-inclusion-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793266\/","title":{"rendered":"A Philadelphia golf course seeks to reclaim its status as a force for opportunity and inclusion | Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The Philadelphia region has welcomed major championships to five of its golf clubs, most notably Merion and this week\u2019s PGA Championship<\/a> at Aronimink<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet the area\u2019s greatest contribution to the game<\/a> may have come a few miles away in West Philadelphia, where a rebirth is taking place at Cobbs Creek Golf Club.<\/p>\n

While Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Gary Player were competing for titles and trophies at the venerable Main Line layouts, Cobbs Creek offered something more tangible: inclusion and opportunity.<\/p>\n

Opened in 1916, Cobbs Creek welcomed golfers of all backgrounds. Women could play at Cobbs Creek before they were eligible to vote. And, while very few golf courses were open to Blacks, there was no segregation at the course.<\/p>\n

Hall of Famer Charlie Sifford took advantage of the course’s open-door policy. He claimed it as his home and honed his skills there on the way to breaking golf\u2019s color barrier in 1961 as the first Black member of the PGA and among its first Black winners.<\/p>\n

Sifford\u2019s success and connection to the course helped spark a groundswell of support for the Cobbs Creek Foundation and its effort to restore the long-neglected 350-acre parcel that also touches Delaware and Montgomery counties. The effort got a significant boost with backing from Tiger Woods.<\/p>\n

A place for golf where everyone feels welcome<\/p>\n

The relationship between Woods and Sifford is well-documented. Woods credits Sifford for helping pave the way for his success and referred to him as \u201cthe grandfather I never had.\u201d He even named his son, Charlie, after Sifford.<\/p>\n

That connection led Woods to get involved with the Cobbs Creek project, opening his foundation\u2019s second TGR Learning Lab there in 2025. The educational facility with golf-related activities for youth in underserved areas is one of the cornerstones of the revitalization efforts and has been an immediate success.<\/p>\n

Woods says the renovation is as much about education and giving back to the community as golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing here, to a place he (Sifford) played, he grew up, he called home, and for me to have the support of the entire community, to be able to build something,\u201d Woods said. “A home, a safe place, innovation. … I didn\u2019t start the foundation to produce golfers that hit golf balls. I started the foundation to produce the greatest humans possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The learning lab also has a junior practice putting green, built with a $250,000 donation from the foundation of three-time major champion Jordan Spieth<\/a>. Also on property is a 68-bay driving range and a short course designed by Woods\u2019 company. All the elements play a role in the bigger project: the championship course restoration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of new ways that people are picking up the game now, and you\u2019ll have all of that available here,\u201d Spieth said at the opening of the putting green. \u201cThe accessibility for anybody, of any age, to come. Do golf however you want to do golf.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grand plan is to restore the course to the original design by Hugh Wilson, the golf course architect responsible for crafting nearby Merion. The rebuild has been made more daunting by near-constant flooding and decades of disrepair that led to the course closing in 2020.<\/p>\n

The hope is to eventually host a PGA Tour event at the site. For now, golf is just piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we were going to restore this golf course and it was going to be for the good of the public,\u201d said Cobbs Creek Foundation COO Enrique Hervada.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf is very exclusive in many ways. This is extremely inclusive. Everybody is welcome here. It was always that way, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

For decades, Cobbs Creek delivered on its promise<\/p>\n

Philadelphia-owned Cobbs Creek was established to serve those unable to golf at private clubs.<\/p>\n

Wilson is credited with the design of Cobbs Creek\u2019s \u201cOlde Course,\u201d with an assist from noted golf course architects George Crump (Pine Valley), A.W. Tillinghast (Winged Foot), George Thomas (Riviera) and William Flynn (Shinnecock Hills).<\/p>\n

The layout hosted the USGA\u2019s Amateur Public Links in 1928. A nine-hole layout, the Karakung Course, was established in 1929. In 1947, Cobbs Creek was the site of the Negro National Open, with heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis as the first-round leader. It became one of only a handful of courses in the National Black Golf Hall of Fame in 2021.<\/p>\n

Sifford and Howard \u201cButh\u201d Wheeler, a pioneer among Black golfers and multi-time United Golf Association national champion, were notable players at Cobbs Creek. Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2014. He died in 2015.<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, the original layout was tweaked to make room for four missile silos and barracks as part of the U.S. air defense system. The original layout was reconfigured and the course continued to deal with flooding. Conditions also deteriorated while under the control of different management companies.<\/p>\n

The renovation comes with a $180 million price tag. There have been numerous stops and starts during the rebuild while awaiting permitting and other hurdles. Fundraising is a near-daily endeavor for Hervada.<\/p>\n

Golf architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, who led the restoration of Aronimink, are refurbishing the \u201cOlde Course.\u201d The drainage issues have been dealt with and the plan includes restoring three miles of creek and creating more than 20 acres of wetlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people involved knew it was going to be a herculean effort,\u201d Hervada said. \u201cWe\u2019re really close, but we have a long way to go. We\u2019re building this for the next 100 years.”<\/p>\n

Profits from much of the golf will drive the TGR Learning Lab<\/p>\n

The 30,000-square foot educational facility for grades 1-12 was the first building to open on the Cobbs Creek campus, in April 2025. It is the second TGR lab, after the first in Anaheim, California, opened in 2006. Others are planned for Georgia and California.<\/p>\n

The plan is for the profits from the golf operations to help fund the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) after-school and weekend programs.<\/p>\n

The learning lab got off to a fast start, thanks to Woods\u2019 TGR Foundation.<\/p>\n

Meredith Foote, the lab’s executive director, said when the facility first opened, schools within a mile and a half radius were the targets. Now, all are welcome, and Foote says that 7,000 students have been served.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe exist to open up doors and opportunities,\u201d Foote said. \u201cAnd when the right doors to educational enrichment open, there is no limit for our students. It\u2019s really expose, expose, expose.”<\/p>\n

Corrine Schultz, 18, of Upper Darby, was excited about joining the learning lab from the moment she saw what was offered. The homeschooled high school senior is on a robotics team at TGR.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpportunity,\u201d Schultz said of what was offered. \u201cTo be part of a competitive team with the robotics. I had never been a part of a competitive team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schultz will continue her education in the fall at Drexel University and plans to return to the lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a student here,\u201d she said. \u201cBut whatever future career I decide, I want to give back to the community, to people in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is exactly what Foote wants the learning lab to instill in its participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legacy of this program is the kids who come in and are trying to find their passion and going on to do amazing things in life because of the opportunities they received here at the TGR Learning Lab,\u201d Foote said. \u201cWe\u2019re using golf as a driver to lift up this entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP golf: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/golf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The Philadelphia region has welcomed major championships to five of its golf clubs, most notably…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":793267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1245,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-793266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-nation","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116566925855938497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}