Day Trippin’

Neshaminy Valley Is A Family Affair

Charlie Schneider’s Dream Of A Public Course Continues To Thrive In Bucks County

By Tom McNichol, Contributing Writer

Charlie Schneider had accomplished just about all he could as a club pro in the Philadelphia Section PGA. He had qualified for 10 PGA Championships and three U.S. Opens, competing against the greatest players in the game in the 1940s and 1950s. He had been the head pro at Concord Country Club and led the pro shop at LuLu Country Club for 20 years. He won the Philadelphia Section Championship four times and was a runnerup in the Pennsylvania Open.

But Charlie Schneider wasn’t finished in the game of golf, not by a long shot. Teaming up with sons Charlie Jr., George, Herman and Fred, Charlie Schneider left his mark on the game in a much more tangible way. Charlie Schneider and his sons built Neshaminy Valley Golf Club, 6,014 yards from the tips, in a little corner of Jamison in Warwick Township, Bucks County where the Neshaminy Creek winds its way through the property.

It was a public golf course, open for anyone to play. But Charlie Schneider also envisioned Neshaminy Valley as something that would belong to the Schneider family, a way to give back to the game and to his family.

Fifty years later that vision is still very much alive. On a warm Tuesday afternoon in August, golfers arriving in the Neshaminy Valley pro shop are greeted by Nancy Thomas, a daughter of George Schneider and a granddaughter of Charlie Schneider. Other days, it might be one of Thomas’ brothers, George or Jim Schneider, who is the president of the club.

Nancy Thomas and George and Jim Schneider are also on Neshaminy Valley’s board of directors, as are other members of the Schneider family and their friends. If you’re looking for a family atmosphere as part of your public golf experience, you’ll certainly get that at Neshaminy Valley.

“This is a family operation,” Thomas said. “It’s casual and a friendly atmosphere.”

The weekend of July 16 and 17, they celebrated at Neshaminy Valley like it was 1971, when Charlie Schneider and his sons unveiled their new golf course.

“We had a two-day tournament and we got some special hats and shirts, even some logoed golf balls, made up,” Nancy Thomas said. “We have a small membership, but we’re primarily a daily-fee course. Between our members and our regulars, we had a nice turnout.”

Like public golf courses throughout Pennsylvania, there was an anxious six weeks in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when courses were closed. When it quickly became apparent that golf was one of the few activities that people could do safely, golfers, those new to the game and those who had always played and even a few who hadn’t picked up a club in a while, flocked to the golf course.

Somehow, the pandemic that had shut

Charlie Schneider

down the game for six weeks had turned into a positive development for golf. It wasn’t like golf was dying, but the renewed interest didn’t hurt.

“Last year was good, it was great after we reopened after being closed for six weeks,” Thomas said. “We were pretty busy. A lot of people who were stuck at home got into golf. You couldn’t do very much else. People just wanted to get outside and do something. It seems like it’s continuing to be busy this year.”

Team Schneider has been able to turn some of that extra business into some improvements at Neshaminy Valley.

“We have a new patio,” Thomas said. “We put some new floors down in the clubhouse. We added a seeding mower for our maintenance crew.”

For the last 20 years, the job of keeping Neshaminy Valley in good shape has belonged to Howard Vanderslice, better known as Chip. A golf course superintendent’s job is never done. The challenges come at you every day, but Vanderslice has been around long enough to know what it takes to keep his golf course in good condition, no matter what Mother Nature deals out.

As long as she can remember, Neshaminy Valley and golf have been a part of Nancy Thomas’ life. She took up the game at age 10. She and her brothers played on the golf team at Central Bucks West.

Thomas was an LPGA professional for 20 years, taught golf in Florida and Pennsylvania and other states in the Northeast and became a Class A teaching and club professional. She came home in 2000 to help run Neshaminy Valley.

Thomas used to give lessons, but these days, helping out in the day-to-day operation of Neshaminy Valley keeps her busy. Jean Platt Spencer, an LPGA Teaching & Club Professional Division member who has been part of the Bucks County golf scene for years, offers lessons through Neshaminy Valley.

There are certainly plenty of public-course options in the suburbs of Philadelphia, although Bucks County isn’t quite as competitive as areas in the western part of Montgomery County. The Bucks Club isn’t far away in Jamison, but Thomas thinks Neshaminy Valley is pretty affordable.

“Our rates are pretty competitive,” Thomas said. “We seem to appeal to seniors with our 55-and-older specials Monday through Friday.”

And there is that appeal that a family owned and operated course brings. Corporate ownership of public golf courses never seems to match the hard work and pride that a family brings to the table.

That family pride is evident in the approach the Schneider family and friends bring to Neshaminy Valley. Charlie Schneider would approve. TSG

For more information about Neshaminy Valley Golf Club, call 215.343.6930 or visit

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Central Bucks Location 1-1/2 miles from Rt 263 & York Road Intersection 440 Almshouse Rd, Jamison, PA 18929 www.neshaminygolf.com • 215.343.6930