Bedford Springs (Old)

The course at the Bedford Springs Hotel dates back to 1895. Altered on separate occasions by A.W. Tillinghast and Donald Ross, it was renovated by Ron Forse in 2007. Today's layout is quite short (under 6,450 yards) with half the holes laid out alongside the waters of Shobers Run.

Ron Forse was interviewed by golfclubatlas.com in November 2020 and he mentioned his work at Bedford Springs: “Everything was reconsidered and rebuilt with a foothold in the history of the three architects who had worked there.

1895 Spencer Oldham from Baltimore. He designed one of the first 6,000-yard courses in the U.S. Tillinghast came in 1912 very early in his career and turned it into 9 holes. D.J. Ross, using existing holes in many cases, built a complete 18-hole layout which opened in May 1923.

Prone to severe flooding, the low portions of the course had to be raised simply to avoid play and revenue shutdown. In fact, the entire resort was shut and had to be restored. The historic hotel as well as the course had to be rebuilt/restored to the tune of $120 million. The developer said working on the golf course was simple compared to everything else for him.

Seventy thousand cubic yards of topsoil were gathered by the lowering and restoring the stream and adjacent wetlands back to pre-colonial elevations. This enabled us to raise grades as needed in the valley for positive drainage and playability. A great example of how function and architectural integrity work together.

Features from the original 1895 course were retained, even the grass on them. The entire course was restored according to the architecture of each designer yet we incorporated other improvements beyond the restoration.

New bunkers and mounds were used to build on the strategy and variety of the course, hole-by-hole, in the way appropriate to the individual architect and the entire 18-hole composition.”