Galen Hall Golf Club

This may be a love it or hate it kind of course for many. It certainly is a well maintained and visually appealing site. Plenty of significant elevation changes and a fair number of blind shots. But it is a well designed layout and includes an island green (15). Five par 5's that may be reachable in 2 for many decent hitters. Par 4s with a good mix of long and short approaches. Several blind tee shots. Recommend you spend a dollar and get the course guide. Course tees, fairways and greens were in marvelous condition. Greens were sneaky fast.

Though this course is not narrow, nor overly long, it has many subtle challenges that test your shot making and course management skills. It has a signature par three moat hole that dares you, but the smart play is a lay up, yes a lay up, especially from the back tees (188 yds).

Really enjoyed the course and there were some great views. From the blue tees the course played long. Par fives could be reached after a good drive. Really nice layout to the back nine; a couple of holes on the front were blind off the tee and had a road going thru the fairway. I liked the Par 3 island hole, no room for error.

We have played here numerous times and are always happy.

This course is always fun to play and kept in good shape. The greens are very challenging and fast. The island green is a great challenge especially from the blues. Most of the tee shots will roll on the sloped fairways so you need to hit the correct side

#2 & # 18 are uphill holes. Stay as far right as you can as both are doglegs left. The course was very well kept.

Greens were aerated,sandy but soft and true. Played in 3:05!! Played two holes over public roads? Liked it enough to play another 9 after our round. Public road should be on scorecard , can't be seen from tee box and crosses fairways . Very small greens with false fronts, good sand in traps . A few areas of rough are under repair , nice wet fairways.

The course is about 100 years old, although some of the original holes are gone, replaced by a new holes 9-11. The greens are wonderful, all sloping in various directions. it's generally a friendly course, other than the par-3s which are all quite tough. The locals joke that the course plays like 18 par 4 holes, even though there's only 10 par 4s on the card. Course has the first known island par 3 green in America, the 15th which can play as long as 190 yards from the back tees.

Any day you get your first hole in one is a good day. Such was yesterday; perfect conditions, perfect weather, and a perfect 7th hole. 127 yards uphill, 9 iron, no putts. The bad news; no one actually saw the ball enter the hole, just me yelling crazily as I pulled it out. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Thanks Galen Hall for my sweetest experience golfing in over 40 years of play.

Love playing Galen Hall Golf Course. I has always been a favorite of mine. Conditions were great and there were not many people on the course. They are doing construction on one hole to add a bunker but its not really in play for long drivers.

Played here for the first time this year, all the greens were in great shape, fast, and a bit tricky. #8 par 3 tee box is in rough shape, all other tee boxes were in great shape. Only had 2 water coolers on the course.
Course is in the best shape I have seen it in the past 3 years. I will be playing here once a month this year.

Golf course was built on the side of a mountain, many uphill/downhill lies. Course was in best shape that I ever played it (this my 5th time in ten years) they had there member/guest earlier in the day and the course conditions were second to none around this area. Every tee shot makes you think before hitting the ball ,just a fun golf course to play, just wish it was a bit closer to me as I would play it more often.

Played with brothers (Dan & Derrick) and a friend (Zach). I've traveled from CC Philadelphia a few dozen times to Galen Hall to play. There's a lot of golf challenge and a ton of history here. Alex Findlay laid out the original 9 circa 1912 then Tillinghast came in 10-15 years later to revise and expand the track to 18. There are a couple questionable holes like #2 which disappears over a ridge and #18 that climbs back to the clubhouse but the overall experience is surprisingly good. Anyone (Pete Dye?) who plays GH comes away talking about the moat hole at 15 but the 4th (another one shot proposition) is also a superior golf hole. This was a playground of the wealthy Philadelphia Main Liners in the 1920s. Tillinghast wrote extensively about his work here and elsehere. I've played maybe 30 of his designs/redesigns. This isn't Baltusrol or Winged Foot but as a public course, it fits into a class with Cedar Crest in Dallas, Shawnee on the Delaware, or Bethpage Blue. Conditions are invariably good. Staff is about as nice as can possibly be. The restaurant is outstanding.. Give me a course that's 100+ years old every time. That's golf! No disrespect to the 21st Century architectural genius today (Coore & Crenshaw, Doak, Dye, Strantz) but a century has a way of weeding out weak sisters. My advice... if you see a Golden Age club for reasonable money and it has a name like Tillinghast, Ross, Thomas, Findlay, or Wilson attached, play it! You won't be sorry.

Greens and fairways are excellent . Rough is to high . Lost balls slow play . Rough makes it difficut for seniors-ladies .

Have lived 2.5 miles away for the last eight years and never played until yesterday. Short but interesting, lots of undulations on greens and fairways. Features what is believed to be the first sland green built in the US.

I played Galen Hall on the recommendation of several friends - it's about 50 miles from home but worth the trip. The course design is unusual to say the least, but really interesting. There were several memorable and beautiful holes. The greens are very contoured, and it helps to stay below the hole. Great value for the price. Not easy to walk if you don't like to ride carts.

Great course with tricky greens!
This is a short but very challenging course!

Very nice old golf course. First time playing. Small fast greens. Blind shots.
Bar and restaurant didn't open till noon on a Saturday, eat first. Snack shack was open after the turn.

Course was fairly well kept for April on a mountain. Gentleman in the clubhouse was very accomoddating and nice. A full list price of $40-$50 is steep, but hot deal brought the cost into a reasonable price range. Course design is very unique if a bit frustrating.

for the past couple of years this course was struggling with the fairways and greens, this year it seems for now that they are realizing the problems and trying to fix them. 2 greens are still struggling with disease holes 4 and 6. fairways are in great shape with the bunkers are getting new sand in them. as always with this course greens run fast with falloffs on most greens