Sandy Run Country Club Marks Centennial With Timely Addition

By Phil Keren, Senior Editor

WHEN SANDY RUN COUNTRY CLUB in Oreland, Pa. opened in 1923, some famous American institutions were beginning to take form. In that same year, Yankee Stadium opened, Roy and Walt Disney founded The Walt Disney Co., and the iconic Hollywood sign was unveiled in California.

Sandy Run’s golf course architect J. Franklin Meehan designed a “tight and varied 18-hole course” with a topography that “was rolling but not hilly, lending itself nicely to holes with an attractive naturalness about them,” the club’s website states. The club was chartered in June 1923 as Edgehill Golf Club, but was renamed Sandy Run Country Club four years later when it used the name of the stream that winds through the property.

Sandy Run Country Club offers an 18-hole, Par 72 golf course that spans a little more than 6,600 yards, a 1,700-sq.-ft. fitness center, and a dining and banquet area.

To mark its centennial, the club will host a 100-year Gala in May, a Centennial Family Fun Day with a fireworks show in September, and a New Year’s Eve celebration, but members now see a 16-foot tall reminder of the anniversary each time they putt on the practice green. A four-sided Verdin Company clock with 36-inch LED backlit dials and Roman numerals stands next to the putting green and helps golfers make it to the first tee on time. Above the clock face, in gold lettering, is the name “Sandy Run CC,” and below the face is the year “1923,” in gold numerals.

A process that started with club leaders contacting prospective companies in fall of 2021 ended with the installation of Verdin’s timekeeping piece in February 2023. Here’s a look at how club and company officials worked together to make the project happen.

Old Clock Needed Repairs

The club previously had a two-sided street clock at its facility for about 40 years that began malfunctioning a little while ago. Facilities Chairman Brian Murphy says they found out that the parts were no longer available for the clock.

“If it needed anything, we were in trouble, and sure enough, we did,”

Murphy says. “One of the gears was worn out on it… That’s when we started getting the ball rolling with getting a replacement.”

Murphy says he reached out to a couple different companies, and the club ultimately decided to work with The Verdin Company, a six-generation, Cincinnati, Ohio-based family business that has made cast-bronze bells, carillons, tower and street clocks, and other streetscape furnishings since 1842.

“I liked the fact that Verdin was local to this area,” adds Murphy, who also serves on the club’s Board of Governors. “...The dollar amounts [between the two companies] were pretty close to each other…Verdin and their sales guy did a really nice job and were very attentive to what we were looking for.”

While they knew they wanted a new clock, club leaders were uncertain about what specific components they desired, so Verdin representatives helped officials sort through the possibilities.

“They really kind of guided us along on what we should be doing, what we should look for,” Murphy says. “This is well before we ordered a clock and before we gave them a down payment.”

Murphy provided a proposed format and layout to Verdin representatives, who then offered suggestions that were “really helpful.” Verdin shared photos of clocks that were put up at clubs in other parts of the country. Murphy also visited Old York Road Country Club and Green Valley Country Club, both of which have Verdin clocks on their property, and leaders at those clubs said they had a positive experience with the company and product.

“We got to pick [a clock] from a couple different ideas,” Murphy says.

Brian Rink, Sales Manager for Verdin, says when his firm was contacted by Sandy Run Country Club officials, a sales representative named Doug Gefvert spoke with the club’s decision makers and members about desired features such as the number of faces, the size of the dials, and the overall size of the piece.

Gefvert worked with the club on finding the best color and deciding what would appear on the clock’s header. Verdin has about eight differ- ent clock models, and various components within each model can be customized to meet a customer’s needs.

Using a standard model as a starting point, the club selected a forest green clock that was customized with the name “Sandy Run CC” and the organization’s founding year of 1923.

“I thought it was pretty neat how they can do things and what they can do,” Murphy says. “What we were looking for was… kind of basic…There’s other features that we could’ve probably went with that we opted not to do.”

After decisions were made on the specific components, Gefvert drew up a pricing sheet and an order was placed for the clock.

“Our order processing department got [Sandy Run Country Club] different drawings and specs of the clock that [the club] had to sign off on so that they knew exactly what was going to be showing up when we shipped it to them,” Rink says.

Joe Wurtz, General Manager at Sandy Run Country Club, says the club’s Board of Governors approved the design and scope of the project in January 2022. An order for the 4M/ST Howard Replica/ Seth Thomas Street Clock was placed in early 2022. Money from the club’s capital budget was used to pay for the purchase and installation of the clock. The timekeeping piece was installed adjacent to the practice green in February 2023. Sandy Run employees did the site preparation and installation, while Verdin had a representative onhand to program the clock, Murphy says.

MEMBERS ‘AWESTRUCK’ AT FIRST, BUT SOON PRAISE NEW CLOCK

Murphy says he thinks Sandy Run members were initially “a little awestruck” by the new 16-foot-high Verdin clock that sits on an elevated area next to the putting green. The old street clock, in contrast, was about 10 feet tall.

Murphy says he’s since heard from members who tell him the clock looks “great,” particularly at night with the LED lighting on each of the four faces.

“At night, it’s very, very distinctive,” notes Murphy, who adds the club’s bartenders enjoy viewing the illuminated clock. “...It really looks cool.”

“I think the clock has been a big hit with the membership,” Murphy says. “I have been getting a lot of positive comments.”

Some members at first asked why the clock was so big and why it was placed next to the practice green, but Wurtz notes, “they now love it.”

“I really like it,” Wurtz adds. “Very classy.”

Murphy and Wurtz both say they would recommend that other clubs work with Verdin if they need a similar product.

Verdin clocks are on the properties of nearly 700 clubs in all 50 states, Rink says. The company also sells clocks to cities, colleges and universities, parks, amusement parks, office buildings and private residences. The clocks are expected to last 20-plus years. Rink adds Verdin assists a customer with each step of the process.

“We’re there to help the customer with everything from design and placement of the clock to installation and then service and upkeep through the life of the clock,” Rink says. C+RB

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