Introduction

A Chronicle of the
Philadelphia Section PGA and Golf in the Philadelphia Area

By Peter C. Trenham

Welcome to a “Chronicle of the Philadelphia PGA and its Members” beginning with the first United States Open in 1895, twenty-one years before the PGA was formed.  I have attempted to mention any golf professional who worked in the area that comprises the Philadelphia Section PGA that did anything noteworthy in tournaments, PGA politics or otherwise.

During each period of time or decade there is a chronicle of the Section’s members.  At the end of each period there is a chapter on the “Leaders” and the “Legends” of that period of time.

There is an employment history of the golf professionals who are in this chronicle and were associated with the Philadelphia Section.

When any golf professional is in the text in red letters, the professional was employed in the Philadelphia Section at that time.  If the name is in black and bold, they were employed in the Section at some time as a PGA member or as a professional golfer who was not a PGA member, but who played well in a tournament.

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About Pete Trenham

APGA Pro for over 50 years and one of Philadelphia’s most accomplished golfers; Pete Trenham is also a respected historian of the sport. His writing about the game has earned him considerable acclaim, as have his accomplishments in the game across his lifetime.

A 1959 graduate of the University of Florida, Trenham was the captain of the Gator’s golf team during his senior year. While an amateur, Trenham won the Cleveland District Golf Association Championship in 1957. In 1960, Trenham “turned pro,” and started working at the Philadelphia Country Club in 1962 as assistant golf pro. Trenham won the 1963 Homestead Invitational (Hot Springs, Virginia) by five strokes with a score of 135. In 1965, he had his best showing in a PGA Tour event, when he tied for 28th at the 1965 Azalea Open.

Trenham’s next stop was the St. Davids Golf Club in suburban Philadelphia, where he served as the head professional for 29 years beginning in 1966. In 1995, Trenham left St. Davids Golf Club to work in Ireland, where he opened the Adare Golf Club. He returned to the states to serve as the Director of Golf and assistant to the owners of Reading Country Club for ten years.

Among his considerable professional accomplishments, Trenham won the PGA Philadelphia Section’s Senior Championship in 1994 and 1995. He qualified for the PGA Club Professional Championship six times, and played in the Senior Club Professional Championship three times.

Trenham was a member of six Philadelphia PGA Section Challenge Cup teams. Notably, Trenham played in the 1994 PGA Senior Championship and the 1997 U.S. Senior Open.

One of the Philadelphia PGA Section’s leading lights over the years, he has served on every Section committee, including many years on the tournament committee and the executive committee. In late 1987, Trenham became the Philadelphia Section’s 27th president, serving for two years in that prestigious role.

In 1979, Trenham was the Philadelphia PGA’s Golf Professional of the Year, earned the Philadelphia PGA’s Horton Smith Award in 1985, and the Section’s Bill Strausbaugh Award in 1986. Among his many honors and awards, Trenham was one of the original class of inductees into the Philadelphia PGA Section Hall of Famein 1992.