Progress continues at Cobbs Creek Golf Course

The reinventing of West Philadelphia’s historic Cobbs Creek Golf Course advanced another round as it named Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises to provide world-class food and hospitality to the revitalized golf campus

The Cobbs Creek Foundation announced the partnership on June 25 as Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises will offer a full-service restaurant and bar, service to 68 driving range bays, catered private and community events, refreshment carts on the golf courses and more.

Although the new championship golf course isn’t expected to be completed until 2027, other amenities will open much sooner. 

This fall, Fitler and Strother Enterprises will open The Little Horse Tavern, named after pioneering PGA golfer Charlie Sifford. The restaurant will be located in the Lincoln Financial Center at Cobbs Creek, the central hub building on campus that will house a double-decker golf practice and entertainment facility, indoor/outdoor lounge, event space, heritage center and retail shop.

“We believe the combined talents of Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises will offer an experience and venue that people in the community will be excited about and will want to come back to time and again,” said Jeff Shanahan, president of the Cobbs Creek Foundation. “Like the Cobbs Creek Foundation, Fitler Club and Strother Enterprises are catalysts for positive change in this community. Both partners share our commitment to creating a destination that is welcoming for all guests, providing golfers and non-golfers a world-class experience in an open, inclusive environment.”

Cobbs Creek Golf Course was established in 1916 but suffered a fire to its clubhouse in the year of its 100-year anniversary. The lease expired in 2019 and the course closed. Soon after, the Cobbs Creek Foundation was formed and is facilitating a $100 million renovation including the restoration of the 18-hole “Olde Course” and a short nine-hole chip and putt course. Tiger Woods’ TGR Foundation is designing the nine-hole course and provided funding for the on-site TGR learning lab that opened this year.

Once complete, operations within the driving range complex will create 50 new jobs, representing one-third of the expected 150 total jobs created on the campus through food and beverage service, hospitality, golf operations, agronomy and education.

“Fitler Club is honored to join Strother Enterprises in supporting the incredibly important work at Cobbs Creek,” said Fitler Club President Jacob Smith. “We see this partnership as an extension of our community-minded mission, and we’re excited to engage the local community and the city at large in supporting this world-class project.”

Strothers Enterprises, a Philadelphia-based organization, already has a presence at South Philly sporting venues Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field as well as the Pennsylvania Convention Center. 

“As a minority-owned, veteran-owned and family-owned business, community is at the heart of what we do – and we see our values reflected in the Cobbs Creek project,” said Natasha Strother Lassiter, chief strategy officer for Strother Enterprises. “We’re excited about this partnership with Fitler Club and Cobbs Creek Foundation to make a lasting impact in our hometown by providing inspired food service, creating jobs and continuing our work to champion diversity and increase opportunities for residents of our city.”