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.\n<\/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).\n<\/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.\n<\/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.\n <\/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.\n<\/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.\n<\/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.\n<\/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.\u201d\n<\/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.\n<\/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.\n<\/p>\n
The learning lab got off to a fast start, thanks to Woods\u2019 TGR Foundation.\n<\/p>\n
Meredith Foote, the lab\u2019s 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.\n<\/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.\u201d\n<\/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.\n<\/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\n<\/p>\n
Schultz will continue her education in the fall at Drexel University and plans to return to the lab.\n<\/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\n<\/p>\n
And that is exactly what Foote wants the learning lab to instill in its participants.\n<\/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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, Cobbs Creek delivered on its promise Philadelphia-owned Cobbs Creek was established to serve those unable to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[73713,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-191398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-cobbs-creek-golf-course","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}