Day Trippin’

Kimberton Joining The Party

There’ve Been Changes, But The Family Atmosphere Remains Just West Of Phoenixville

By Tom McNichol, Contributing Writer

It’s been five years since Jimmy Maack and his brother Andy took over the operation of Kimberton Golf Club that will celebrate its 60th anniversary of golf next year in its familiar setting along Route 23 a few miles west of Phoenixville.

Maybe the last name might not be familiar to those who always associated one of the course’s founders, Bob Hays, and his son Bobby Hays Jr. with Kimberton. But Jimmy Maack’s mom Mary is the daughter of Bob Hays, so the chain that connects Kimberton with its beginnings in 1962 remains very much unbroken.

Jimmy Maack, a scholastic standout at Pottsgrove, went right to work with the family business after graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1999.

“My grandfather had always let it be known that he would like to see Kimberton stay in the family,” the 43-year-old Maack said on a sparkling May Monday with Kimberton playing host to just its second post-pandemic outing.

And in 2016 Maack and his brother -- 41-year-old Andy is the money and bigideas guy -- officially kept Kimberton in the Hays family by taking over. Maack discusses the state of Kimberton at a new deck with a couple of firepits not far from the very much new and improved clubhouse and bar at the course. The deck is the work of Maack’s dad Jim, who likes to add little touches like the deck around Kimberton when he sees the opportunity.

The 6,304-yard, par-70 Kimberton layout was the first paid gig in the fledgling design career of George Fazio, the Norristown native who was a part of golf history as a participant in the 18-hole playoff with Lloyd Mangrum and Ben Hogan in Hogan’s epic 1950 U.S. Open triumph at Merion Golf Club’s iconic East Course.

Fazio’s nephew Tom Fazio remains one of the biggest names in golf course design, but it all started for him at Kimberton.

“We ran into Tom Fazio at the PGA Show in Florida one year and after we told him where we were from, he said, ‘I was moving soil there on a backhoe when I was 14,’” said Jimmy Maack, clearly relishing Kimberton’s connection to one of the first families of golf-course design.

Jimmy and Andy Maack didn’t have any issues with the golf course when they took over in 2016. Kimberton has been part of the community for decades with leagues on weeknights and as the home course for nearby Owen J. Roberts.

Where Team Maack had its sights set was the clubhouse and bar, which seemed stuck in the 90’s a little. Poking around in the office behind the little bar on the back wall of the clubhouse, they found some exposed stone and went to work. Jim Maack Sr. designed the U-shaped bar space and a friend created the unique bar out of stained sheetmetal.

Hardwood floors were then added to bring it all together. Upgraded offerings on both the food and bar fronts as well as the addition of multiple TVs creates the rustic sports bar feel they were looking for.

“We wanted to make the bar a little bigger, but when we found the exposed stone, we decided to gut the whole room,” Maack said. “It was a lot of work and, at some point, I was thinking, ‘what have I gotten myself into.’ But it’s really a beautiful space now.”

Things were looking bleak for Kimberton and anybody involved with running a public golf course in April of 2020 with the world just coming to grips with the coronavirus pandemic. But the clouds of uncertainty parted in a big way when it quickly became apparent that golf was something people could do safely, one of the few things. Suddenly, Kimberton was doing 200 to 250 rounds a day.

Team Maack made a conscious decision not to raise Kimberton’s rates.

“We really want to make sure our prices are still in that affordable range,” Jimmy Maack said.

Kimberton lost its superintendent, Jim Kelly, who retired after 40 years in the offseason, although his institutional knowledge of the golf course remains just a phone call away. Kelly’s assistant, Ralph McNelly, will be taking over this year and Al Lewis is helping out with the transition.

Kimberton’s teaching pro is Joe Daley, a 60-year-old Philadelphia native who spent much of his professional career on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour. His biggest moment as a touring professional came in 2012 when he claimed a PGA Tour Champions major championship with his victory in the 2012 Senior Players Championship at Fox Chapel Golf Club in suburban Pittsburgh.

“He called me three years ago and said it was time to slow down a little and get off the road,” Maack said of Daley. “I think you need a good teaching professional. I used to give lessons, but I just have so many more responsibilities now, it makes it tough.”

Kimberton Golf Club

The one thing that never did come back in 2020 was the outings, some corporate and some community fund-raising events.

“We’re still not doing inside events that used to happen after outings,” Jimmy Maack said. “But we’ve had a couple of outings and we are able to do grab-and-go, barbequestyle stuff after golf. It’s probably still too soon for a lot of groups to decide whether they want to bring back their outings this year.”

One constant remains with Team Maack in charge: Jimmy and Andy are always on the lookout for ways to improve Kimberton.

“When we got the place in 2016, we knew we had to step up our game,” Jimmy Maack said. “We want to make Kimberton a little better each year. We planted 100 new trees one year. We upgraded the bar and the banquet hall.”

The Maacks are setting their sights on what used to be the Kimberview Driving Range. Even though it is adjacent to Kimberton, it was never part of the property. Team Maack is in the process of changing that and the Maacks envision a driving range that will be a nice complement to the golf course.

“It’s zoned the same as the golf course, so as long as we’re using it for golf-related purposes, we’re OK,” Jimmy Maack said. “I’d like to see it be the kind of driving range that is family friendly. We’d like to make it a destination of its own, almost like a Topgolf-type attraction.”

The challenge, of course, is to build on the new people who either rediscovered the game or were drawn to it for the very first time in 2020.

“On the weekends, we’re getting more and more people in their 20s coming here,” Jimmy Maack said. “We had a young couple in at the bar after their round recently and the woman said they had tried a couple of courses, but that they felt comfortable here. That’s what you want to hear.

“The game has to get younger and it has to get more inclusive. That’s how we can grow the game.”

And just about everything Team Maack is working on at Kimberton is with an eye toward that goal. TSG

For more information about Kimberton Golf Club, call 610.933.8836 or visit

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