Sunnybrook Golf Club’s founders purchased farmland in Flourtown in 1913 and commissioned Donald Ross to lay out a new 18-hole course there. According to the club’s history and regional associations, the course opened for play on Decoration Day, May 30, 1915, with the old farmhouse near the 13th green serving as the original clubhouse. Through the 1920s, the membership invested further in facilities and course improvements, and by the late 1920s William S. Flynn undertook redesign work at Sunnybrook—part of his extensive Philadelphia-area practice during that period. Contemporary accounts also tie Perry Maxwell to minor green renovation at Sunnybrook in 1934, a small but notable thread in the property’s pre-war evolution.
Post-war infrastructure pressures precipitated the decisive change: the alignment and construction of the modern Route 309 corridor intruded on the Flourtown site (contemporary notes often cite the loss/relocation of the 5th green). Facing right-of-way constraints and suburban subdivision pressure, Sunnybrook’s membership elected to relocate in the mid-1950s to Plymouth Meeting, where a new course by William & David Gordon opened in 1956. Springfield Township then acquired the Flourtown property; the northern portion was platted for housing (“Flourtown Gardens,” advertised from 1957), and the remaining golf ground was redesigned and contracted to nine holes under George Fazio, operating thereafter as Flourtown Country Club. The township model—municipal ownership with a club-style membership program—has persisted, with incremental facility projects (clubhouse/event renovations and pool modernization) over the last decade.
Takeaway on Ross’s direct scope: Ross’s work here was an original, from-scratch 18-hole design for Sunnybrook on this tract (opened 1915). Subsequent interventions by Flynn and Maxwell altered elements; the mid-century roadway and subdivision reshaped the landbase; and Fazio’s redesign yielded the nine-hole course in play today. There is no documentary indication that Ross returned for later phases after the 1915 opening.
Unique Design Characteristics (as tied to this site)
Because the current 9-hole Flourtown course reflects a 1950s Fazio redesign on a reduced footprint, direct, intact Ross features (e.g., original green pads or bunker configurations) should be assumed largely absent without contrary primary evidence. What may remain of Ross/Flynn are corridor alignments and macro landforms that survived right-of-way cuts and lotting. Aerial comparisons and plan overlays would be necessary to speak precisely hole-by-hole.
That caveat noted, the early Sunnybrook materials indicate technical attention to green construction and agronomy that was topical in Philadelphia at the time (period commentary on “Taylor greens” and contemporaneous praise for surface quality). If traces of those original green sites overlap today’s playing ground, they would most likely be perceptible as subtle platforms or shoulder tie-ins rather than complete Ross greens, given Fazio’s contraction and re-grading. On the present card, the defense trends toward positional—tee shots set up approach angles into relatively modestly contoured putting surfaces—consistent with a mid-century re-use of older corridors on gentle terrain. Identifying “clearest surviving Ross holes” at Flourtown cannot be responsibly done from public sources alone; it requires the original 1914–15 Ross plan and pre-1950 aerials to be mapped over the current nine.
Historical Significance
The Flourtown tract is significant in Ross’s Philadelphia story as the original Sunnybrook, organized in 1914 by a group that included major figures in the city’s golf culture. The site forms part of a regional chronology that places Ross alongside, and sometimes in sequence with, Flynn and Maxwell—a rare, layered authorship on a single property. It is also an illustrative case of how mid-century highways and suburbanization fragmented Golden-Age courses: the club’s relocation and the township’s assumption of the residual ground produced a civic-minded, smaller facility rather than a museum piece. While Flourtown Country Club itself does not figure in state or national ranking lists, the site’s earlier life as Sunnybrook and the pedigree of the architects involved give it outsized research interest relative to its present scale.
Current Condition / Integrity
Integrity to Ross (1915): Low. The routing, number of holes (18→9), and greens/bunkers were materially changed during the 1950s contraction and Fazio redesign, and a substantial portion of Ross land was converted to housing. Any surviving Ross work is, at most, in traces of corridors or earthwork terraces; confirmation requires plan/aerial overlay.
Integrity to Flynn (late 1920s): Indeterminate from public sources. Flynn’s alterations occurred before the road and subdivision era; if his changes were primarily greens/hazard re-siting, they too were likely superseded by Fazio’s later re-build.
Integrity to Fazio (1950s): High. The present 9-hole course—greens, bunkers, and routing choices within the reduced envelope—reflects mid-century Fazio design and subsequent maintenance evolution. Current club materials and university/association summaries consistently attribute the creation of Flourtown CC’s nine-hole course to Fazio following the Township’s acquisition.
What’s preserved vs. altered today:
• Preserved: Community golf use on part of the original Sunnybrook tract; some macro corridors likely echo earlier lines.
• Altered/Lost: The northern nine (sold for housing c. 1957); original Ross (and Flynn) greens and bunkers (substantially rebuilt/relocated); overall scale and hazard patterning aligned to a nine-hole municipal footprint.
• Facilities: Ongoing clubhouse/event and pool upgrades reflect the township’s dual civic-and-club operating model.
Uncertainties:
• Flynn’s exact scope and dates at Sunnybrook: Multiple secondary sources assert late-1920s redesign; precise scope (greens vs. routing vs. bunkers) is not publicly documented online
• Maxwell’s 1934 work: Reported as “minor green renovation” via historian compilations referencing interviews and newspaper notes; primary paperwork would firm up which greens were touched.
• Fazio scope/timing: Consistently cited as the post-move redesign of the remaining ground into a 9-hole course; township contract records would confirm year-by-year phasing.
• Hole-level survivals: Any direct identification (e.g., “present #X = original Ross #Y”) requires plan/aerial overlays not available in the public domain.
Sources & Notes
Flourtown Country Club — Golf page (club, current operations; yardage, ratings; statement that the original course was Ross’s Sunnybrook and the remaining grounds were redesigned by George Fazio after township acquisition).
Sunnybrook Golf Club — official history (founding at Flourtown, Ross commission; course opening Decoration Day 1915; subsequent relocation and 1956 opening in Plymouth Meeting).
Pennsylvania Golf Association: Sunnybrook page (founding and opening details, location descriptors for the Flourtown tract).
William S. Flynn Society — course list (lists “Sunnybrook Country Club NKA Flourtown Country Club,” establishing Flynn involvement with the Flourtown property).
Perry Maxwell Archive — Sunnybrook (Flourtown) (notes 1934 “minor green renovation” at Sunnybrook and contemporaneous travel entries; cites Clouser and newspaper references).
Golfadelphia — Flourtown Country Club (historical summary tying Ross 1914/15 Sunnybrook, Flynn late-1920s redesign, Route 309 impact, township takeover, sale of the northern nine, and contraction to nine holes).
Springfield Township Comprehensive Parks & Recreation Plan (municipal ownership of the Flourtown CC site; ~51–53 acres; programmatic uses including golf and pool).
Springfield Township Historical Society — 2025 newsletter (housing subdivision “Flourtown Gardens” documented as “formerly a portion of Sunnybrook Golf Course,” dating that phase of land conversion to 1957).