Founders at Penn National Golf Club

The Founders Course at Penn National Golf Club is an Ed Ault design situated in the South Mountain region of Pennsylvania, near Fayetteville. Opened in the early 1970s as the club's original layout, it established Penn National as a public golf destination in the Cumberland Valley area. Ault, a prolific architect of accessible daily-fee courses throughout the Mid-Atlantic, shaped the routing to work with the property's rolling, wooded terrain characteristic of the Appalachian foothills.

The course plays through a mix of elevation changes and tree-lined corridors, with fairways that move across the natural contours of the land. Several holes feature elevated tees or greens that take advantage of the topography, while others run through lower-lying areas where strategic bunkering and green complexes provide the primary challenge. The layout reflects Ault's practical approach to design—creating variety and interest within the constraints of budget-conscious construction and maintenance.

Penn National operates as a multi-course facility that serves both local golfers and visitors to the region, which lies between Gettysburg and Chambersburg. The Founders Course functions as the club's traditional layout, complementing the later addition of the Iron Forge Course. The setting offers views of the surrounding mountains and farmland, and the course remains a straightforward test of golf that emphasizes accuracy and course management over length.