Coach Brian Quinn and another principal partner purchased a 127-acre country club in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, on March 24. Quinn declined to disclose the price of purchase.
The country club, formerly known as Plymouth Country Club, has been renamed to The 1912 Club. Improvements to the grounds and facilities will be made under the new ownership. The members unanimously voted to approve the sale to Quinn, The Times Herald reported.
Quinn formed a corporation called 1912 Club LLC to formally buy the club.
“I’ve done a lot of work over the years with my playing lessons and other things, and it was time for a change there,” Quinn said. “A few members approached me about it, and we went from there.”
“This has honestly probably been about a year in the making,” Quinn added. “We are really excited to do a lot of changes on the clubhouse and the golf course. We are spending a lot of money to enhance all facets of the facility.”
Quinn’s Temple teams have practiced at the facility for about seven years, The Times Herald reported. He said “it will be a great setup for the kids.”
“What I hope to utilize the golf course for outside of this is to have a top-notch college golf tournament here,” Quinn said. “Once we get all of the stuff done, I think that will be very exciting.”
Although having a course to call home could be a recruiting tool, Quinn said he won’t talk about it with future prospects.
“I don’t want to be the guy who’s like, ‘Oh, I own this golf course,’ or, ‘This is my place,’” Quinn said. “That’s not my style. But it is Temple’s home and has been our home.”
There were several reasons Quinn thought purchasing the club was ideal. He said a huge advantage is that it’s only about a 10-minute drive from BQ Golf Academy, his school in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
“BQ will still be open for the present time,” Quinn said. “We are going to be building a state-of-the-art practice facility at The 1912 Club coming in October as well.”
One of the most important priorities for Quinn at The 1912 Club is to restore the 6,608-yard, 18-hole championship course designed by William Flynn, who also designed prominent courses like New York’s Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, which will host the U.S. Open Championship in June.
Quinn has chosen golf course architect Ron Prichard to head the project. Prichard has restored hundreds of courses, Quinn said, including some designed by Donald Ross, who created Georgia’s East Lake Golf Club that will host the PGA Tour Championship in September.
Prichard has famously redone other prominent courses in the Philadelphia area.
In 2003, he was responsible for the restoration of Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. The Ross-designed course is set to host the BMW Championship, the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs, in September. Aronimink will also host the 2027 PGA Championship, one of the four PGA tour majors.
Quinn’s uncle is a member of Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts, which was the first host of the Ryder Cup Tournament in 1927. Prichard also redesigned the course.
“Ron went up there and did magical work,” Quinn said. “Seeing it firsthand, I knew that he would be the guy for us. We are really excited about his vision, and I have some vision too of what I want to see.”
Quinn, now a coach, instructor and country club owner, ultimately strives to increase access to the game, he said. One of the biggest flaws of country club golf is that young golfers don’t get onto a course until 2 or 3 p.m, Quinn said. This is because there are many restrictions on juniors at private clubs.
Quinn hopes to make his club have a much more family-oriented atmosphere.
“Golf is a great sport but I want it to grow, and you have to do that from very young kids, giving them the opportunity to play,” Quinn said.
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