LuLu Country Club (Credit: LuLu Country Club)
I recently told you about my golf therapist, Dani. Sometimes she is also my golf sugar mama. She belongs to Lulu Country Club and invites me to play there a couple of times a year. I’ve only played a few of the country clubs in the area, and each time I consider myself the luckiest man on earth. It is a whole different way of golfing. Everyone is friendly, clean and living the dream. Caddies take your bag and clean your clubs. Snack attendants usually know the members by name. There are no grumpy starters or cashiers in the pro shop. It’s like going to Chick-fil-A on steroids.
Lulu is the golfers country club as it is geared specifically for golf. No swimming pool, tennis courts or polo fields. They have a great golf course, golf simulators, a fitness center and a cigar lounge! For the family that just wants to golf together (and smoke cigars together) it is the perfect country club. While the membership is not cheap (no country club is), it is actually very affordable compared to other country clubs.
The first thing that comes to my mind is “why do they call it Lulu, and what is a Lulu?”. Quick history lesson: the golf club was founded in 1912 by the Lulu Shriners. The Shriners were a club founded in NYC in 1870 that would provide “fun, fellowship and the principles of brotherly love, relief and truth” whatever that means. The Shriners expanded to Philadelphia in 1883 and that branch was named “Lulu” which is “Pearl” in Arabic. I have no clue whether current golf club members are Shriners, or if Shriners get a discount at Lulu?
LuLu Country Club (Credit: LuLu Country Club)This was the first course in Pennsylvania designed by the great Donald Ross. The same Ross who designed Aronimink where the PGA Championship will be played this spring. If you read my column about Jeffersonville you would know that I have a man-crush on Donald Ross. His courses always present challenges to all levels of golfers. They are filled with false fronts, bunkers and difficult strategy decisions. Like Jeffersonville, Lulu has a redone clubhouse that is spectacular. Unlike Jeffersonville, the original clubhouse burned down and was re-opened in 2020.
There are a couple of standout holes at Lulu. The first is hole number 4, a very short par 3 that does not have any water, but plays like an island green. Step up to the green, and you will see a small chasm between the tee box and the green. It is essentially a water hazard without the water. If you end up short, you will be forced to shoot a pitch shot 100 feet in the air but only going 10 yards forward. Essentially, if you don’t hit the green or get really close, you’re dead. Seems easy to do, but those little par 3’s are never as easy as they appear.
Another hole that always intrigues me is Hole 8, a long par 4 that is kind of the opposite of Hole 4. Instead of an island, the green on #8 is like a funnel, with everything around it funnelling into the hole. Seems easy enough, but it is a long par 4 of over 400 yards and that approach does need to go in high to get a favorable bounce into the green.
LuLu Country Club (Credit: LuLu Country Club)My round at Lulu would be my last round of the year as winter creeps in and temperatures fall below 50 degrees. I have a strict 50 degree rule: I won’t play when the thermometer dips below 50 degrees. Cold golf is just no fun for me. Thus, The Back Nine will go into hibernation for the winter, but I will be back in 2026 for more golf fun, insight and hi jinks, always hi jinks!
(The Back Nine is a biweekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Edward Levine. The views expressed are his own and are not representative of North Penn Now/Fideri News Network or Montgomery County.)
